The Saturday workshop, which drew around 70 attendees to the Clarion Bayview Hotel, was set up to obtain input from San Diego residents and stakeholders in regard to the city's community plan update. Brainstorming exercises were held in conjunction with the unveiling of three different options for the amendment of Downtown's current community plan.

The three scenarios presented were Alternative 1: Concentrated Office Core, Maximum Residential; Alternative 2: Double-Multi-Use Cores, Expanded Residential Area; and Alternative 3: Large Multi-Use Core, Waterfront Retail District. According to the CCDC, the first alternative "preserves the Core District for high-intensity office development, spreading residential development through the remaining seven districts." The second option "allows for office, hotel and some residential development in the Core and Columbia Districts, with the majority of new residential development taking place in the surrounding neighborhoods." Thw third scenario "provides for a large, mixed-use core district, similar to the existing one, with continued residential development in the surrounding neighborhoods."

The workshop's brainstorming sessions produced several main objectives concerning Downtown's development, according to Michelle Brega of LJ Black Consulting Group, the public outreach consultant involved with the project. Brega tells GlobeSt.com that open space and waterfront access are "extremely important to these folks," as well as keeping space open for future commercial office development and setting aside land for additional infrastructure, such as schools and fire departments. As Brega points out, downtown San Diego is in "hyper-residential development mode right now," and there are only 280 acres left to build on. As a result, the revision to the community plan will probably involve a combination of all three alternatives, he adds..