NEIGHBORS OF ENCANTO SAY “NO” TO
INVESTOR ADU APARTMENT
COMPLEXES
Join Neighbors for Encanto, our grassroots community group, and all neighborhoods within District 4, in our effort to protect our neighborhood from greedy investors who plan to cram 40+ families in single parcels, where single family dwellings have been for years. They are not investing in our community. They are investing in themselves.
Join the fight. We need you
CURRENT PROPOSED BONUS ADU PROJECTS FOR ENCANTO - can zoom in with your fingers, when viewing on a phone, to read about each proposed project
We had such a great turnout to voice our concerns to the city council on January 15th!
Join us again on January 28th at the City Council Meeting - 202 C street at 2pm. Get there around 1:30 to get a seat with us. Please keep your yellow shirt under wraps until the meeting begins.
NEXT UP:
Neighborhood meeting + Potluck Sunday, January 26th
2PM
Encanto Rec Center
Bring a dish or drinks to share, if you can. Get ready to meet some incredible neighbors.
We will go into detail on what information we have on these projects and the loopholes that have made it possible for these developers to come in and plop these giant projects in our neighborhood without much oversight and no community infrastructure improvements.
ACTION ITEMS - What can you do NOW?
Write or call your concerns to these people ASAP (and regularly):
Mayor Todd Gloria’s representative, Korral Taylor: TaylorK@SanDiego.gov
Council-President
Joe LaCava - District 1
619-236-6611
JoeLaCava@sandiego.gov
Our District 4 Representative Henry Foster
Henry Foster’s Team: team@henryfoster4sd.com
619-236-6644
Henry's Chief of Staff, Dan Horton: hortond@sandiego.gov
Councilmember
Jennifer Campbell - District 2
619-236-6622
jennifercampbell@sandiego.gov
Councilmember
Stephen Whitburn - District 3
619-236-6633
Councilmember
Marni von Wilpert - District 5
619-236-6655
Councilmember
Kent Lee - District 6
619-236-6616
Councilmember
Raul Campillo - District 7
619-236-6677
Councilmember
Vivian Moreno - District 8
619-236-6688
State Assemlymembers
Call LaShae’s office: 619-465-7903
Sample script: "As a resident of Southeast San Diego, I am asking you to repeal footnote 7 on the January 28th agenda. Also, please stop all projects that would be grandfathered in as a result of this footnote. Additionally, I am not ok with the Bonus ADU program targeting my district that threatens to implode an already crumbling infrastructure here in Encanto. This program does not fit into our community plan for land use as low build. We simply do not have proper infrastructure, retail, parking, grocery stores or street quality to sustain this 2000% increase in density. Many of these projects are illegal and are over the 1 mile walking distance to major transit. 90% of our streets do not have sidewalks making these projects illegal by the guidelines set forth by The Americans with Disabilities Act. FInally, Encanto is an extreme fire risk area and these projects would be putting all of us in District 4 at huge risk. Let LA be a lesson and not a forecast for us. "
A FEW WORDS FROM OUR PETITION COMMENTS SECTION
“The city’s bonus ADU program will permanently change our community. No parking, no improvements to infrastructure and massive amounts of traffic with no additional grocery stores to accommodate the amount of people moving in. The city council has sold our community out by choosing to support big investors instead of its residents! I highly encourage Council Member Henry Foster to stand up for our District 4 and say NO to this bonus ADU program that will not benefit us!!!”
“We need to hold county officials accountable for their actions before they start allowing developers to do anything they want to our community.”
“As a resident of the street with a project for 42 ADUs on a single parcel, I am concerned that our crumbling infrastructure is inadequate to accommodate 42 units of ADUs. For instance, the future residents of these 42 units will not have dedicated parking spot and will be forced to to find street parking. Tarbox St’s width cannot accommodate cars parking both sides of the street. When there are two cars, it is almost impossible for a car to pass and poses a traffic hazard. In addition, the road is not fitted with proper storm drains. Any run off from this future development will be detrimental to the properties adjacent to it. Lastly, the street condition of Tarbox is already bad. The impact of potential traffic will reduce the road into a dirt road, unless the city allocates resources to repair the street, which we already know the city is reluctant to do so.”
“My neighborhood and it’s livelihood are incredibly important to me. While housing is essential, it is imperative that we construct mindfully and purposefully.”
A LETTER TO OUR COUNCIL MEMBERS FROM OUR NEIGHBOR, ROB
Greetings Council members and senior staff,
Except for Henry Foster, the rest of you voted in 2023 on the 2022 Land Development Code update which included the new definition, Sustainable Development Area.
The effects of this decision on Encanto are just starting to become clear. Neighbors have been reaching out, devastated as our dreams are being crushed. We have poured their blood, sweat and tears into our homes and neighborhood, oftentimes, our entire life savings into our home.
The SDA specifically targeted the most affordable properties in the least resourced neighborhoods. When combined with the Bonus ADU program, this has resulted in apartment complexes being built on single-family lots as far as a mile away from transit. We don’t have sidewalks in may of these areas of Encanto, including the project mentioned below.
Consider Project #1127220 at 1348 Tarbox Street in Encanto as an example. This one-acre lot, located in the RS-1-2 zone, is currently under review by DSD for the construction of 21 new two-story ADUs, resulting in a total of 43 dwelling units. According to our Community Plan, the Environmental Impact Report already evaluated this site for RS-1-2 buildout and identified significant, unmitigated issues. This location falls within the Environmental Justice area defined in the General Plan adopted in July 2024, poor air quality, poor health outcomes. Yet, despite these considerations, we are poised to receive 43 dwelling units on a lot designed for a maximum density of 4 DU. A 1,075% density increase and around a 2,150% density increase over the base zone of RS-1-2.
Encanto didn’t create the housing crisis. On the contrary, we are home to some of the most affordable housing in San Diego. Yet, time and time again, Encanto is treated as second-rate by those outside our community.
In the 1960s and 1970s, our open spaces were celebrated, with school children visiting on field trips to experience the beauty of our neighborhood and nature first hand. That stopped in the late 1970s when the city decided to develop much of our open space into a trailer park. We fought back and managed to secure single-family homes in Emerald Hills (Coronado View), but we lost the connection with those children and the pride they brought to our community along with the lessons they learned about nature. They no longer come to us to study the natural environment, now the majority of open space is north of I8 because that was prioritized over ours.
In 1990, when Habitat for Humanity proposed building 10 homes on our only historical property—the land tied to Edwin Capps, a two-time Mayor of San Diego, we pushed back, not because we opposed affordable housing, but because it meant losing yet another piece of our community’s history and natural resources. That project was reduced to seven homes, but we still lost access to our historic heritage.
More recently, in 2019, the city approved Footnote 7, yet another land grab for developers. Even though some of our land was designated for park expansion, it was sold off for maximum density development right under our noses. When the planning department was called out for this, they began backtracking, but not without first trying to hold on to what they’d taken.
Now we face the SDA and Bonus ADU programs. Once again, Encanto is a primary target. Our community has the largest lots in the poorest areas of the city. It’s a profiteer’s dream. What do we get in return? No development impact fees. No relief from the harmful effects of vehicle pollution and increased traffic. We get more people and no more resources to help. Instead, we are expected to shoulder the burden of solving the housing crisis while areas like La Jolla, with the most open space, green space, and largest lots, remain unchanged.
You are not asking all communities to share this responsibility equally. The SDA disproportionately targets neighborhoods like Encanto. We are an area with low median incomes and no Maintenance Assessment Districts to protect us. You cannot ignore the stark racial and economic disparities in this policy. Areas excluded from the SDA are significantly whiter and less Hispanic or Latino.
We are not asking for special treatment; we are asking for fairness. Protect the people of Encanto. Recognize the sacrifices we have already made and the resources we have lost. Do not continue to burden us disproportionately while wealthier communities remain untouched.
I’d like to thank the No vote on the 2022 LDC update and the SDA:
Joe LaCava
Jennifer Campbell
Marni von Wilpert
Raul A. Campillo
I am urging you, with the strongest plea: please remove the SDA from the municipal code or make serious modifications. If we are truly committed to solving the housing crisis, we must place the burden where it belongs. That is on those who have the most resources, not on those who have the least.
Use the State of California’s CTCAC/HCD opportunity map as a guide. Require that any Bonus ADU developments be built only in the highest-resource neighborhoods. These are the areas best equipped to absorb growth without furthering inequality or harming vulnerable communities.
Our goal should be to narrow the gap, bringing down the Area Median Income (AMI) in the wealthiest, highest-resource neighborhoods while lifting up the AMI in our lowest-resource communities. This is how we can begin to dismantle systemic inequities. Start making policies that reflect this vision! Stop concentrating poverty in already struggling neighborhoods and start creating real equity. It’s well past time to level the playing field.
I urge you to read Matthew Desmond’s 2023 book, Poverty, By America. If you do, you will be horrified by the policies and practices that have been perpetuated by the planning department in recent years. This is not the path to justice, nor is it the way forward for a truly equitable San Diego.
Make choices that uplift all of our communities, not just the whitest, wealthiest ones. Together, we can create a city where everyone has a fair chance at prosperity.
I’m happy to have any of you visit my neighborhood. And we will walk it, on foot, just like the planning department says you can from the 62nd street trolly stop. I would be honored.
Sincerely,
Rob C.
PS: Our fire station is #51 and it operates out of a tent and trailer. Street view it on Google.
