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Dear Friend: Excellent
news on our fight to end mini dorms in the College area:
City to tighten its definition of what constitutes a
bedroom. Read more in this special eNewsletter for
residents of the College area. Following the mini-dorm session, I sent a letter on October 3, 2006 to the President of SDSU, Dr. Stephen Weber. . On October 11, 2006, Dr. Weber sent back a very thoughtful reply to my letter. I viewed this letter as an excellent start to work with the University in working to solve the mini-dorm issue, among other things. . . . Seldom have I seen a topic of such divisiveness and passion as the topic of this special edition of my eNewsletter. Some call them mini dorms. Some call them new style boarding houses. Some call them nuisance properties. I call them a tremendous problem we must solve. Now! I view it as an intolerable situation that has to be fixed without delay. Some in a position of leadership have shied away from tackling this tough issue since there is no easy fix, numerous jurisdictions are involved and the problem affects specific areas of our city. Obviously in District 7 it is primarily the College Area that is impacted because of the proximity to San Diego State University (SDSU). This problem in reality, is everywhere. As you know, on September 19th I held a community forum on the topic of mini dorms in the College Area. To say it was well attended is the understatement of the year. In fact, we had to, unfortunately, turn people away due to lack of space. For those of you who missed it, . I want to update you on some developments: First, I am bringing this vital issue to the City Council’s Land Use & Housing Committee. As LU&H Chair, I’ve docketed it for the Wednesday, November 29th meeting at 2:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. I need you at this committee meeting. Through vital dialogue with the community, input from experts and ideas that came to me while exploring all the components of this issue, I’ve raised questions to be addressed at this meeting. Various City departments including the Development Services Department, Code Enforcement Department and the City Attorney’s office will address these points such as: 1) Why aren’t mini dorms, which are a business, subject to the same rules and regulations that apply to operating a home business? 2) What are the necessary steps to impose a temporary building/conversion moratorium? 3) What are the necessary steps to impose a temporary garage conversion moratorium? 4) How can the City ensure that rooms are not converted into bedrooms after the City has signed off on a building permit? 5) What liability can the City of San Diego assess against SDSU? . I invite you to attend the November 29th LU&H meeting and please tell everyone you know who has an interest in this topic. The other important development is a firmer commitment to this issue and a new can-do approach by the City of San Diego. Mayor Jerry Sanders deserves credit for recognizing how far reaching this issue is. A concrete example of this resolve is a memo issued yesterday by the City’s new Development Services Director Marcela Escobar-Eck and the Deputy Chief Operating Officer of Land Use and Economic Development, Jim Waring . I applaud what they say in this report. To sum it up in a sentence, the City will now tighten its definition of what constitutes a bedroom and therefore restricts plans for rooms that could be converted to a bedroom. This will help end the cat-and-mouse games when mini dorm owners represent garages and dens for use as stated and later convert them to bedrooms for rent. I am also encouraged by the City’s efforts to have an ordinance for the College Area Overlay Zone that would require one additional off-street parking space for each additional bedroom added to a mini dorm house. We are working on many angles to solving this problem but it requires your continued help and pressure at all levels of City government. At the free-wheeling public community meeting in September, I restated my pledge to bring all parties to the table and find legal, feasible, practical solutions to the mini dorm issue. Again, I understand the dilemma of students on a tight budget who need housing they can afford. And property owners who want to rent their single family homes to people are well within their rights. However, it becomes a problem when homeowners in neighborhoods with single family homes see their quality of life severely compromised due to the actions of mini dorm residents. That should not be tolerated and I intend to right this wrong. There is much more to this story – and I am working with the Police Department as well. I will keep you updated. Thank you for your support, suggestions and commitment to combating what I call “mini dorm madness.” Jim. Neighborhood E-Watch Keeps You Informed
The City of San Diego's Neighborhood eWatch provides information about crime incidents in the City of San Diego to the public for free via the Internet and is updated every 24 hours. I introduced this popular service in 2002 and encourage you to use it. The web site address is: .Thanks for reading the eNewsletter In the meantime, please don't hesitate to send
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