An excerpt from the in-depth VOSD article about One Paseo in CV:

Rendering of mixed-use development in Carmel Valley (One Paseo)

Depending on who you talk to, the proposed One Paseo development is either the culmination of a 30-year vision or a total contradiction of current land use policy.

The 23-acre parcel in question is presently zoned for the construction of 500,000 square feet of office space. One Paseo includes 500,000 square foot of office space, in addition to all kinds of other projects.

Changing the entitlement to allow a mixed-use project with much more square footage requires an amendment to the zone’s planning document. The city is accepting comments on the proposed amendment through May.

“They say this is smart growth, it’s mixed-use, all the buzzwords used in planning circles,” Fuchs said. “Carmel Valley is a suburban neighborhood, and they’re using all these euphemistic comparisons that don’t stack up.”

But the Carmel Valley Community Plan, adopted in 1975, described a vision for the area that would eventually make it a self-reliant neighborhood in line with the city-of-villages concept San Diego adopted nearly 30 years later.

That adds to the stalemate: The parcel-specific use and the neighborhood-level plan side with the opposition; the developers have the community and general plans on their side.

Elyse Lowe, executive director of Move San Diego, an advocacy group for transit-oriented development that has endorsed the project, said the opposition should have objected to the general plan update at the time.

“The developer could have just built office space, but the reality is we need mixed-use,” Lowe said. “It’s such a unique parcel, there aren’t many parcels in that proximity to jobs and community amenities, so it’s really something they need to treat as unique and get the most out of it.”

Read the full story here:

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/land-use/article_9e5128c6-5ac4-11e2-986f-001a4bcf887a.html?mode=story

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