Grassroots group fighting developer-driven densification in neighborhoods

SAN DIEGO An anti-density housing movement is gaining traction A grassroots nonprofit Neighbors for a Better California has emerged to champion growing local opposition to developer-driven densification and overdevelopment throughout San Diego That battle is manifesting itself in numerous procedures from new strident opposition to the city s Accessory Dwelling Unit Bonus Initiative to growing opposition toward local proposed high-density projects Those include the Vela Pencil Tower a -story high-rise at Turquoise St in North Pacific Beach and Rosecrans St a four-story -unit mixed-use building next to Cabrillo Elementary School in Point Loma Marcella Bothwell a former surgeon and chair of Pacific Beach Planning Group founded Neighbors for a Better California in response to the -story Project Vela growth proposed in PB as well as other such projects in the maturation pipeline Beach Bay Press conducted a Q A with Bothwell to get a better idea of what Neighbors is all about BBP How did we get to where we are now with these new high-rise projects being proposed in single-family neighborhoods Bothwell Rent prices and land values have just been skyrocketing in a concept I ve been referring to as the financialization of our housing territory Neighbors has no matter with developers making an honest income But since the housing predicament developers have been more focused on making a quick buck financially which is straining our housing sector These companies which have no connection to the district are raising rents and saying See you later That s why I m so passionate about this cause BBP What is the goal of Neighbors Bothwell Change is going to happen We re not opposed to change not even opposed to more housing But you have these corporations coming in and driving land values so high that people can t get a leg up in the housing sector The short-term goal is to expose what these new state laws like SB and California s Density Bonus Law designed to encourage affordable housing construction are doing It sounds good to put more housing near transit But when you combine these two bills you end up with projects that are too tall in single-family neighborhoods This is going to inflate land values and prices BBP What s the answer to curbing this inflationary housing pricing cycle Bothwell It s got to be a state process where they don t allow these laws to combine The state used to pass laws that required accountability But now they re not even doing scenario analysis At specific point you have to have guardrails We do not have guardrails The Building Industry Association is funding a lot of these state legislature bills This is just nuts Developers can make money but once you start hurting people that s when I get angry BBP What would Neighbors like to see happen in the future with affordable housing Bothwell Developers hijacked a good and decent movement for affordable housing and corrupted it into a money grab We d like to see ourselves living in a society where people gain home equity and they don t have to work to death until they re We d like to achieve a society that cares about people