Media coverage

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

Behind the San Diego Democrats' vote against Measure A Does the surprise move by San Diego Democrats to endorse a “No” vote on Measure A signal a sea change for the party that has long stood up to developers? Or does it say that certain members of the San Diego County Democratic Central Committee can be moved into the pro-developer column by financial incentives provided by the BIA (Building

JANUARY 27, 2020

Measure A Would Dramatically Change How Rural Land Is Developed In San Diego County San Diego County voters will decide in March whether they should get a say in deciding the fate of backcountry housing projects… J.P. Theberge is in charge of the group Grow the San Diego Way. He stood next to a busy construction site in Valley Center.

DECEMBER 18, 2019

What You Need to Know About Two Contentious 2020 Housing Measures  When County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher appeared on the VOSD Podcast in October, he said he opposes Measure A, the March 2020 ballot initiative that would require voters to sign off on housing developments that don’t comply with the county’s general plan.

AUGUST 8, 2019

Campaign dollars for supervisor race come from developers, out of district Semi-annual campaign finance disclosure data is in for San Diego County races. And it shows that over half a million dollars in campaign funds went to the three leading candidates for the San Diego County Board of Supervisors District 3 race during the first half of 2019.

JULY 29, 2019

Environmental Laws Don't Impede Development The biggest housing booms in state history have occurred under the California Environmental Quality Act. The measure is not the problem the building industry would like to make it out to be. San Diego County, like the rest of California, is facing an affordable housing crisis of…

JULY 16, 2019

Critical issues of land use and housing in San Diego County Market research expert, smart-growth housing and land use advocate JP Theberge joined Good Morning San Diego to debunk what he said are some of the industry spin on the critical issues of land use and housing in San Diego County.

JULY 9, 2019

Luxury Homes Won't Solve the Housing Crisis The recent op-ed by Tony Manolatos is a stark reminder that the power of public affairs firms to mislead the public should not be underestimated. His firm, Manolatos Nelson and Murphy, represents Lilac Hills Ranch, a project funded by Merced Capital, a company that describes itself as a “multi-billion dollar opportunistic investment firm.”

 JUNE 5, 2019

Stop Dismissing Concerns About the Risks of New Homes in Wildfire Zones Pro-sprawl activists claim that the county will protect these far flung, sprawl developments through hardened construction standards, shelter-in-place policies and orderly, staged evacuations. But none of this is backed by science and, in fact, puts people at risk.

JULY 24, 2018

San Diego County Fast-Tracks Waivers To General Plan For New Housing Years of community planning may be abandoned in an effort to address San Diego’s housing shortage. The San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday will take the first of several votes that could ultimately allow developers to build approximately 10,000 new homes.

JUNE 29, 2018

Proposed North County Housing Development Moves Ahead The Newland Sierra master-planned community development in North County has a green light from the county’s planning commission, but it could still face hurdles. The proposed project would add more than 2,000 homes to the hills north of San Marcos and is one of the largest new developments the…

JUNE 19, 2018

Ignoring the Problem of Housing Affordability Won't Make It Go Away Kirk Effinger, a Realtor and writer from Escondido, gets very defensive in his letter to Voice of San Diego in response to a recent op-ed by Russell York. In Effinger’s letter, his aggressive tone would suggest that York hit a raw nerve by pointing out the fly in the ointment of the “build anywhere and everywhere”

paradigm.

JUNE 4, 2018

San Diego's Housing Crisis Does Not Affect Everyone Equally Developers are playing on the hysteria of the moment to get around the county’s general plan and build tens of thousands of new units that only the well-to-do can afford. We don’t have a housing crisis — we have a lopsided inventory crisis.

MAY 16, 2018

EAST COUNTY CALIFORNIAN: County to consider approving addition of 10,000 housing units this year The San Diego County Board of Supervisors will be considering approval for the development of 10,129 new housing units before the end of the year. Although the county’s general plan only allows for three amendments a year, the developments – seven projects in total – are

MAY 13, 2018

EAST COUNTY MAGAZINE: COUNTY PLANNING DIRECTOR SEEKS TO “BUNDLE” MULTIPLE BIG DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS TO BYPASS STATE LAW LIMITING GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENTS California law restricts counties from approving more than four General Plan amendments a year, a law meant to prevent developers from pushing through excessive waivers.

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