Letter from Protect Our Preserves to San Diego City Council

The multi-story Cisterra project with be built on the mesa top along the far left.

By Kathryn Burton and Lisa Ross

Dear Councilmembers,

On behalf of Protect Our Preserves San Diego, we'd like to ask you, at the Tuesday, Sept. 10, meeting of San Diego City Council,  to reconsider the majority decision to approve an amendment to the Torrey Highlands Community Plan that enables construction of a 430,000 square foot office complex surrounded by the publicly-owned and habitat-sensitive Del Mar Mesa Preserve. The Council based their Aug. 5th vote to approve the rezoning on incomplete and erroneous information, listed below:

1. The action was taken without a City Attorney opinion regarding our attorney's assertion that an amendment to the Torrey Highlands Community Plan must go on the ballot. The Council accepted a policy interpretation by City Staff in lieu of a legal opinion from the City Attorney.
   
   
2. Councilmembers Kersey (D-5) and Cate (D-6) asserted that their constituents prefer the Cisterra project to an exaggerated, imagined project under current zoning. Any project under current zoning is subject to a Conditional Use Permit that could require conformance to the surrounding habitat preserve and serve the neighborhoods as described in the voter approved Torrey Highlands Community Plan.
   
   
3. Councilmember Ward (D-3) said a $450,000 contribution to habitat restoration influenced his decision. In fact, the contribution, according to Cisterra's attorney, would be earmarked for 15 years' worth of trail maintenance, which has little to do with habitat preservation at the site. Furthermore, after City overhead is factored in, the amount doesn't come close to ameliorating the environmental damage caused by construction of the project.
   
   
4. The windfall profit (Cisterra paid $8 million) that this one particular developer shall garner from this vote was not conditioned on anything benefitting the public or taxpayer that could mitigate the impact to Del Mar Mesa Preserve and Rancho Peñasquitos neighborhoods. It is the epitome of a bad deal. Previously, Councilmember Campbell (D-2) objected to a land swap to complete the preserve with underused City property for that reason.
   
   
5. Cisterra's attorney was quoted in the Aug. 22nd edition of the San Diego Business Journal as saying that Cisterra, as of yet, does not have a tenant. Under the zoning approved by City Council, any future tenant could ask for an increase up to 13 stories which would require only administrative approval.
   
   
6. This project is not in conformance with the City's Climate Action Plan because no transit is planned for that area.

We thank Council President Gómez (D-9), Council President Pro Tem Bry (D-1), and Councilmember Montgomery (D-4) for their opposition to a project that simply benefits one developer at the cost of what is left of San Diego's habitat heritage. We ask that others reconsider their decision.

We had hoped that Cisterra Development would have allowed more time to pursue a land option appropriate for a swap with the City, and that public officials and staff would have made this win-win idea a priority.

Please note this letter from attorney Cory Briggs addressed to San Diego City Council.

​Thank you for your kind consideration.

Club members Kathryn Burton and Lisa Ross serve as co-chairs of Protect Our Preserves San Diego.

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