San Diego City Council Approves One Paseo Project in Carmel Valley
February 24, 2015
Full article appears on Del Mar Times.
San Diego City Council approved the One Paseo development in Carmel Valley with a 7-2 vote on Feb. 23. The meeting stretched for seven hours, and hundreds of project opponents filled council chambers and overflow rooms.
Only Council President Sherri Lightner and Council President Pro-tem Marti Emerald voted against the motion, which approved the mixed-use One Paseo at 1.4 million square feet with 246,500 square feet of retail, 484,000 square feet of office space and 608 residential units on El Camino Real and Del Mar Heights Road.
Councilmembers approved the project on the conditions that 10 percent of the residential units are affordable housing; that the project’s transportation shuttle be implemented before the first certificate of occupancy; and that Kilroy’s benefit of an adaptive control system for the traffic signals be a permit condition.
Councilmember Lorie Zapf said this was one of the most difficult decisions the council has had to make in a long time.
“We want to build a sustainable San Diego, but we also want to build a San Diego that all income levels can afford,” Zapf said, noting that the project will include the affordable middle-class housing that the city lacks.
Zapf said One Paseo was “smart growth,” representing the mixed-use community of the future for San Diego, a place where people can live, work and play while reducing the burden on the city’s freeways.
“It is a well-thought-out project, it is the growth our city needs to experience,” said Marcela Escobar-Eck, representing Kilroy. “One Paseo stands to be one of the most progressive and sustainable projects in San Diego.”