The metropolis of San Diego is calling upon its dwellers for a brainstorm on the latest urban development strategy, dubbed Blueprint SD. Launched this week, the plan is the city's latest draft aimed at rallying homes and jobs snugly around the convenience of transit, parks, and services. According to a document published by San Diego, citizens are beckoned to review and drop their two cents on the proposal. The blueprint is a chess move in the long game - revising policies within the city’s General Plan that dictates the rules of growth and urban evolution.
Driving solo appears to be San Diegans' ticket to ride, with data from the U.S. Census Bureau revealing the majority fancy the lone commute, twisting the knife deeper into the city’s climate wound by racking up over half the greenhouse gas emissions. Blueprint SD, aiming to counter this trend, proposes a future where housing sprouts like spring blooms next to hubs of jobs and civic life, and where public transit isn't just an afterthought. It chisels into the city's fabric the echoing goals of the City’s Climate Action Plan and the grand transit scheme by the San Diego Association of Governments, the 5 Big Moves.
The blueprint doesn’t just paint a pretty picture; it promenades room for potentially hundreds of thousands of new abodes, whose blueprint will be sketched out through community plan updates – all while juggling community desires and public opinion. The plan cut its teeth by heralding second draft updates for the University Community Plan Update and the Hillcrest Focused Plan Amendment. It’s a broad stroke, complete with an accompanying draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) inviting public scrutiny. Mayor Todd Gloria leaves no stone unturned, asserting these updates are part of a "sustained effort to ensure our community plans support our goals of building more housing and improving our neighborhoods now and into the future."
Woven into the fabric of the urban push is the University Community Plan Update, rolling out blueprints for lands use, mobility, and more over the next two decades. Not to be upstaged, Plan Hillcrest, as it is also known, serves as an amendment to the adopted Uptown Community Plan of 2016. It pledges allegiance to the neighborhood’s needs, stitching together place-making, connectivity, and the fabric of housing. In a city planning direction, Heidi Vonblum drives the point home, "Blueprint SD will ensure we achieve just that – thriving communities with easy access to schools, jobs, parks, shopping, and services – while making sure the City is doing its part to address the climate crisis."
Blueprint SD wields the potential to hack years off the community planning process, promising a snappier 2-3 year completion horizon rather than 4-5 year long hauls. Suiting up communities in a more decisive role, it looks to embed the power to mold their destinies. The curtain call for public commentary isn't far– residents have the floor till the end of April 2024. The City Planning Department, toting a basket full of feedback, will refine the final draft. Following the public hearing chorus line, the plans will waltz over to the City Council stage for a summer adoption. Details on the blueprint and public commenting avenues can be marshaled via the Blueprint SD webpage, University Community Plan Update webpage, and Hillcrest Focused Amendment webpage.
