State Density Law Lets Pacific Beach Tower Top Height Limit

A Los Angeles-based developer has invoked state density bonuses for affordable housing to move forward with a 22-story mixed-use tower in a Pacific Beach neighborhood that for decades has had a height limit preventing buildings of more than 30 feet.

Kalonymus LCC has filed a building permit application in San Diego to build a 239-foot tower on four parcels on Turquoise Street that currently are occupied by a gym, a liquor store, a shuttered bar and The French Gourmet, a restaurant.

The four parcels between 954 and 980 Turquoise, which encompass a total of about 29K SF on less than an acre, are zoned for mixed-use that supports high-density commercial uses and 31 housing units, city officials told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Kalonymous is relying on two density bonuses from the state and two density bonuses from the city to build a tower with 74 apartment units and 139 units designated as hotel rooms as well as parking for 311 vehicles on the site.

The hotel rooms will be offered as long-term market-rate apartment rentals, which was allowed by San Diego’s municipal code at the time the permit application was filed. The 213-unit project will include 10 residential units reserved for very-low and middle-income families, the report said.

Under the state’s density bonus law, housing developments that deed-restrict a percentage of residential units for very low, low- or middle-income households are eligible for density bonuses and waivers to bypass local regulations including zone-based height restrictions.

San Diego’s coastal zone, known as the Coastal Height Limit Overlay Zone, was established by a 1972 ballot initiative known as Proposition D. The local law prevents buildings over 30 feet west of Interstate 5, with carve-outs for downtown, National City and parts of Mission Bay. The Pacific Beach community is sandwiched on the coast between Mission Bay to the south and La Jolla to the north.

In a letter to the Pacific Beach Planning Group, a city-chartered community planning group, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said the city will work with state legislators to close what the mayor characterized as a “loophole” in the state density bonus law. That allowed the mixed-use tower project in Pacific Beach, known as 970 Turquoise Street, to gain ministerial approval without zone changes.

“This project does not align with state or city policies intended to build more affordable homes. We must not allow pro-housing policies to be usurped for purposes that do not meet a public benefit or respond to the state’s affordability crisis,” Gloria said in the letter.

The mayor also asked California’s Department of Housing and Community Development to weigh in. However, the state agency has previously determined that state housing law supersedes local voter initiatives. Gloria’s letter does not say the city will try to block the project, the report said.

Matt Awbrey, a spokesperson for Kalonymous, told the Union-Tribune that the Turquoise Street project complies with all applicable housing laws.

“This project is made possible largely through new state laws that encourage home building on a scale that acknowledges California’s housing crisis,” he said. “The project team has been working with experts for quite some time to craft a building that complies with all applicable housing laws.”

The Turquoise project is reserving five residential units for very-low-income households and five residential units for moderate-income households. The developer is entitled by the state density bonus law to build 16 additional market-rate units because of the very-low-income units.

Assembly Bill 1287, effective this year and authored by David Alvarez, who represents San Diego, grants developers an additional density bonus for middle-income units, which allows Kalonymus to add 16 more market-rate units to the project.

The developer also is entitled to build an additional 11 residential units by using a local density bonus for including three-bedroom units. Plus, Kalonymus is requesting a Floor Area Ratio, or FAR, incentive to maximize the commercial density on the site. FAR is the ratio of a building’s gross floor area to the size of the land. The lot area multiplied by the FAR determines the buildable square footage.

Regarding the 139 units designated as hotel rooms, technically known as “visitor accommodations,” the developer intends to rent them as market-rate apartments. Awbrey said city zoning regulations at the time the project was submitted and vested specified that visitor accommodation uses permitted long-term stays.

The city enacted a code update this month specifying that visitor accommodation lodging, other than single-room occupancy units, can no longer be used for stays of more than 30 days.