POPULATION GROWTH IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY

San Diego County’s population continues to grow and the problem of land use is increasingly difficult to solve. Many planners try to foster the idea of smart growth; building up and close in. For some time the region has had plans of mixed-use development, including the city of San Diego. Garnering considerable attention among other planning experts, the “City of Villages” blueprint for growth has not gotten far from the drawing tables.

The plan was approved four years ago but communities so opposed the idea that the City Council backed off on increased densities that call for as many as 37,000 more homes to be built beyond what existing land-use plans allow. Older communities have made a stand that they will not accept significantly more growth until there is a commitment from the city to upgrade aging or inadequate public facilities, such as streets, parks, and fire stations. The price tag is in the three billions of dollars range.

Regionally, similar efforts of smart growth have been undertaken, with the added effort to tie the urban development to mass transit. The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), a group of representatives from the 18 cities and the county, approved a region-wide plan for growth two years ago. That blueprint is similar to the City of Villages plan. The agency has no land-use authority but the plan allows SANDAG to dole out extra transportation funds to cities that make a commitment to smart growth projects.

Regional cooperation has not always worked well. Clearly, there seems to be a difference between employment centers and the affordable housing areas. The proof is in the traffic-clogged freeways.

However, a prime example where regional cooperation has worked well is the San Dieguito River Valley project. This is a broad greenbelt running continuously from Volcan Mountain near Julian, all the way to the ocean in Del Mar, 55 miles away. The cities of Del Mar, Escondido, Poway, San Diego and Solana Beach have had joint powers of authority for the project since 1989. It is their vision that the river valley will not follow the same fate the once pristine river valley of Mission Valley has by attracting residential and commercial growth.           downtown San Diego real estate

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