SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Hillcrest has long been home to the LGBTQ+ community.
The San Diego City Council on Tuesday approved a plan that recognized that history, and approved a plan that will change the size of the community for the next 30 years.
The council unanimously approved adding 17,200 more homes to the area, lifting the build out to 52,800 homes for the next three decades. More than 50 people signed up to comment at the meeting.
The vote also designated Hillcrest as an LGTBQ+ cultural district.
"The really hidden jewel today in the plan today is the L-G-B-T-Q cultural district, which will really preserve Hillcrest as the gayborhood as the home to the LGBTQ community in perpetuity," Benjamin Nicholls, executive director of the Hillcrest Business Association, told ABC 10 News.
Nicholls, whose group represents 1,800 members, said the plan has been in the works for more than four years.
He said it also calls for adding a trolley service in the area, and it will create market and below-market rate homes.
He added that the plan will allow more people to live and work in Hillcrest.
He said currently only 300 people among the thousands who live in Hillcrest live and work there.
Some community members were not happy with the plan.
They said the community already is too dense, and the city needs to add more open spaces and parks in Hillcrest.
A city official said the plan provides opportunities for a variety of new homes for people of all incomes over the next 30 years and beyond.
