San Diego Infill density opportunities - Complete Communities
Much of the conversation around building more housing in San Diego County is with infill development opportunities. I chatted with Howard Blackson about how the housing regulation landscape is shifting and what could be coming in the days ahead.
Blackson is an urban designer with 25+ years of experience working with cities and developers in areas of writing zoning ordinances, community plans along with doing physical development, feasibility analysis, and master planned developments.
San Diego County is many disparate cities, with the City of San Diego and Chula Vista being the largest. We are going to focus primarily on the City of San Diego because it has adopted the most expansive plans to allow for more development of housing, beyond what the state of CA is dictating. Other cities in the County are going the other direction.
I’ve written about investment areas and Complete Communities here:
Other areas in the County with future development opportunities
Chula Vista - downtown & waterfront. Chula Vista’s bay front is undergoing an extensive $1B+ revitalization
National City has a downtown plan and a Federal OZ
Carlsbad village
San Marcos & Oceanside have expanded their development opportunities on the transit corridors
Several other cities have adopted more streamlined ADU guidelines, but little beyond that
Unincorporated areas of the County- up-zoned infill parcels in town, but have downzoned in greenfield, open spaces, agriculture or undeveloped lands. No new master planned communities are being built currently
City of San Diego opportunities:
What does it mean to be a Sustainable Development Areas (SDA), Transit Priority Area (TPA), Complete Communities (CC)? SDA is going to replace TPA. Read the press release here
There are effectively 2 channels for building more housing using the City’s guidelines
Major infill opportunities using CC
ADUs & density bonus - I covered lending on ADU’s & bonus density here which is critical to understand BEFORE you decide what to build
These areas identified by the City are within communities that are already highly attractive to renters due to offering a vibrant urban landscape. Access to transit, coastal climate, centrally located, walkable neighborhoods, diversity of shops, restaurants, museums, parks, jobs, universities, hospitals
Within the County, this is also where you will find many of the existing smaller multi-family buildings that are older and do not offer the amenities of the new MF builds or streets that already offer a mix of mixed use, commercial, MF and single family
Blackson & I covered FAQs on Complete Communities:
What is CC? CC is an initiative to promote construction of new multi-family housing and mixed use development in areas served by transit
Why is CC so attractive to developers? This is By Right Development. There are no discretionary reviews involving hearing bodies. No community recommendations to the building department, planning commission nor city council approval
How do I as a developer, investor, or owner who is considering selling property identify if the property sits within CC or determine the areas to target?
Check the City CC map for boundaries
Read the Community Plans- the ones being actively updated are areas the City is focusing on most intently to allow more density
Check that existing property is not in an existing historical district or in a potential district. The City treats existing & potential districts similarly
Any property that is 45 or more years old is subject to historical review
Hire a historical property consultant before you acquire the first parcel, especially in an assemblage
Request a historical resources board hearing which can have a lead time of several months
How do I understand what can be built? How many units?
Determine what type of building you want to construct based on economic goals & constraints. Are you wanting to build Type 5 Wood Frame, Type 3 Podium, Type 1 Concrete & Glass towers?
Hire an architect or urban designer with experience on CC projects to conduct a feasibility analysis which should include zoning and regulatory policy review. You should also hire the firm to create architectural concepts
These firms can also help a developer understand how many affordable units must be built depending the number incentives the developer wants to leverage that are offered by the City
You need a strong team of real estate lawyers, engineers, architects, designers all with expertise in CC. The big developers have in house expertise but have also been leveraging SMEs and developing relationships all across this vendor & city official landscape for years. If you are a new or out of area developer, leverage local experts who have many of these relationships
Once you have the feasibility analysis working with your architect & designer, + architectural concepts, request a City pre-development meeting. Getting on the schedule can take several weeks. Blackson says the more info you have about what you want to build, the more likely you are to get helpful information from the City
Please remember, there are NO GUARANTEES as to what you can you definitively build, as there is a lot of discretion within the City guidelines on what can and can’t be built. Until you go through the complete submittal / permitting process, you should expect changes to your plans
How do affordable units get calculated?
What is existing?
How many incentives or waivers are needed? Blackson indicates the more incentives a developer needs to use, the more affordable units need to be included
Incentives are used to make the project economically feasible for the developer to build affordable housing. Examples include density, height and FAR
Waivers for Development Standards: site specific, community/building specific requirements such as landscaping requirements, common open space, setbacks, balconies
What is the timeline to obtain a permit?
This is ever evolving so check with the City. Today, from the time you acquire the property, expect 1.5-2 years if you are moving fast with all of your vendors on your end and submit correctly to get through the city permit process
Once you obtain approved plans & entitlement, plan for several more months of working with the Building Department and your architect to fine tune what will be allowed to be built to obtain your Building Permit
What should I expect for costs?
Costs have increased significantly due to materials issues with supply chain. All in costs have increased by $100-200 PPSF depending on building type
Depends on whether labor agreements are required or needed
How can I look to what is next?
Relatively early in this trend towards major urban infill density development that has been evolving over the past 10 years
A lot of laws & plans will be challenge or litigated
Things are shifting- the Midway & Sports Arena project is an example of the City of San Diego lifting the height limit in that zone. The height limit change is not just for that project, but for the entire zone so other developers considering that area will benefit
Blackson shares conventional master planned housing developments has clear zoning and lending rules to build massive amounts of new housing to meet demand. Greenfield suburban developments are not being built today. We need clear zoning and lending rules to build massive amounts of infill housing
Look to what Cities within the County are updating their city plans, or which Community Plans within the City of San Diego are being updated outside of the core urban zones for future development opportunities