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Stories by Sheila Pell

Del Mar bluffs cause heartache

Propping up Del Mar's failing bluffs with piles, plants and seawalls is a temporary fix until the railway can be relocated. But many see the work causing lasting changes. A skinnier beach. Industrial looking bluffs. …

August 3, 2021
How San Diego thinks it will keep outdoor dining

As the city moves to make outdoor dining permanent, a few hitches remain. Spaces as Places, a post-pandemic draft plan to develop the many outdoor niches discovered during lockdown more fully, isn't only about dining. …

A plan for Escondido's crime motels

Some Escondido motels have become crime magnets, and the pandemic didn't help. At one motel, police found there was a 420 percent increase in calls for service last year. Hoping to give some of those …

Has highway design crept into Encinitas bike trails?

The next segment of the growing Coastal Rail Trail will be built in Encinitas, adding another half-mile to a network planned to yield 44 miles of car-free links from Oceanside to San Diego. Running along …

City council sides with Scripps on Hillcrest demo

In some cities, sea rise is claiming historic buildings. In Hillcrest, a modernist tower built with San Diego's sunny climate in mind is up against modern medicine. Its owner, Scripps Health, wants to replace it …

Why lead still falls from sky at Montgomery airport

A plan to bring Kearny Mesa's aging Montgomery Gibbs airport into the 21st century misses the mark on one count. The airport, one of the nation’s busiest, still uses avgas (aviation gas), the only remaining …

Encinitas tries subsidizing granny flats

Encinitas has tabled a pilot program that would have funded eight new affordable homes - granny flats - and helped the city meet its share of the region's low income housing. Meanwhile, city planners say …

Dog owners win the battle of Fiesta Island

Few who enjoy the outdoors on Fiesta Island care that it's a man-made landscape. Its 470 acres and six miles of shoreline, part of the much larger Mission Bay Park, are a rare find in …

Chaos at La Jolla sea lion rookery

As the pandemic lockdown lifts, beach-goers have headed to La Jolla Cove en masse - right into the start of sea lion pupping season. And neither signs warning people to stay away from the animals …

San Diego parks fall in ratings

San Diego's vast park system has fallen from a top spot in a national ranking study due to a new factor used in 2021: equity. Every year since 2009, the Trust for Public Land has …

Escondido debates marijuana

After delaying a discussion in March on whether or not to allow cannabis sales, Escondido has again hit snooze. The city has been studying potential regulations since last August, but despite the fact that about …

Santee tosses Mesa Road to county like a hot potato

Just before Mesa Road spills into Mission Trails Regional Park in Santee, that last quarter mile is still a dirt path built before the auto, riddled with potholes. In 1884 it was declared a public …

May 18, 2021
San Diego workers hopping back in cars

Even though many people are still working from home, traffic is almost back to pre-pandemic levels. Telework, it turns out, won't exactly crush San Diego's auto emissions. "If you put those additional people onto roadways, …

May 11, 2021
Why sharks have moved to San Diego

As summer nears, sharks are on the move. And so are people, packed like sardines on beaches and in the water where sometimes, a large predatory fish swims right below, unnoticed. Over the last five …

Thomas House near Balboa Park gets reprieve

The City Council has upheld the historic designation of a Bankers Hill home that advocates say is a rare architectural gem, while others call it Frankenstein. The mixed-style house sits in a mixed-use neighborhood rich …

Seven-fold growth in area near Rose Creek

The Balboa Avenue Station Specific Plan ends right where one of the largest urban wetland restoration projects in the state begins. Over the next 10 years, a construction boom is expected to add thousands of …

The city of San Diego and San Diego Unified plan 45 new parks

There's a divide in the county when it comes to outdoor recreation. North of the 8, parks unfurl in all directions. In the South Bay, you have to squint to see them. Thanks to San …

Pacific Beach parks get curfews

More corners of the city will soon be off limits overnight to those without a place to sleep. An ordinance passed by the San Diego City Council on April 6 will make it illegal to …

Pepper tree fight spreads beyond Kensington

In the past two months, the city has cut down four of Kensington's historic pepper trees that are as old as the subdivision itself. Since there are only about 32 left, neighbors wonder where will …

Mira Mesa imagines walking to work

Unlike neighborhoods where new housing is seen as a scourge, residents of Mira Mesa are welcoming density. And the possibility of actually walking to work. Surveys for the community plan update found that slightly more …

March 23, 2021
National City says no to marijuana

A year ago, as National City began drafting its first ordinance to allow commercial cannabis, the city council even voted to include consumption lounges. Until then, the city was hardly at the forefront of cannabis …

San Diego Ambrosia plants moved to make way for Amazon

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors postponed a vote that would approve building a warehouse distribution center at Gillespie Field - which Amazon is expected to lease - in order to review the environmental …

Del Mar jousts over where to put poor people

After Del Mar re-zoned its North Commercial area last fall to help meet affordable housing goals, locals moved swiftly to reverse the change. Now, it's the city council pushing back on the effort to thwart …

March 2, 2021
San Diego County cities hustle to digest green trash

Del Mar doesn't have food waste pickup. But by next year, it will have to. And restaurants, hard hit by the pandemic, are sweating the new costs, from dumpsters to rodent control. State regulations aimed …

February 23, 2021
Improvements planned for Barrio Logan, just as rents drive out the locals

Barrio Logan has fewer residents today than in 2010, a reverse trend from most of San Diego. But as its new community plan takes shape, chock full of improvements from parks and bikeway links to …

February 16, 2021
Alpine struggles to stay safe from fires

In Alpine's latest Community Plan Update, wildfire has its own standalone section, a result of changes to the environmental review process made by the state in 2018. The idea was to put the brakes on …

February 9, 2021
The right mountain in East San Diego County to plant that wind turbine

Where's the best place for renewable energy? Many backcountry locals think San Diego rooftops would be ideal. The county, however, is eyeing the wide open spaces of the desert. Out where bighorn sheep roam, the …

The pepper tree fight of Kensington

A battle to save 35 stately old pepper trees, the last to frame the streets of Kensington, is far from over. It's already too late for Karla, a centurion located at 4190 Monroe Street - …

January 26, 2021
San Diego parks open for business

City parks will temporarily make room for certain brick and mortar businesses to carry on outdoors - against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s regional stay-at-home order. The San Diego City Council passed an emergency ordinance last week …

January 19, 2021
The danger of those quiet train engines on the Del Mar rails

The North County Transit District held off on plans to install the Del Mar portion of its rail corridor fencing last fall due to intense opposition, but as the year begins, the waiting is over. …

January 12, 2021
El Cajon considers, then rejects free air purifiers

How to fight the virus in the year ahead? A post-holiday surge of cases is expected, and getting most people vaccinated will take more than a few months. Any tool that might help slow the …

December 29, 2020
Last gasp for Famosa Slough

A favorite splash of open space in Point Loma is still being fought over. Every step towards creating affordable rental housing on the five-acre lot on the southeast corner of Nimitz and Famosa Boulevards has …

The Cohn Restaurant ferris wheel

A petition opposing a temporary ferris wheel in Balboa Park's Plaza de Panama has more than 2,600 signatures and counting. The city still has to approve the installation, which the Balboa Park committee voted 7-1 …

December 15, 2020
Mission Beach to get 30% short-term rentals

It's finally the homestretch for vacation rentals. After years of a Wild West that pits neighbors against neighbors and the remote investors they say are turning homes into hotels, rules have taken shape. The San …

December 8, 2020
Can Mitsubishi get enough electric trucks for cement warehouse?

A plan to build a massive new warehouse on the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal has reignited the fight over truck pollution in Barrio Logan. If approved by port commissioners on December 8, the Mitsubishi Cement …

December 1, 2020
How the lockdown has changed National City crime

A mid-year crime report for National City includes a new type of service call. Since March, about 225 calls to police were made under the new code for things like neighbors not wearing face masks …

November 24, 2020
Bike paths in North Park full speed ahead

In July, as the pandemic raged, the city waived fees and made it a lot easier for restaurants to obtain a permit for outdoor dining. Many in North Park quickly set up tables on sidewalks …

November 17, 2020
So much for San Diego streamlined granny flats

San Diego's plans to boost affordable housing include an abundance of granny flats. To that end the city has been overhauling the rules, most recently by dropping all parking requirements for granny flats and allowing …

November 10, 2020
San Diego County supervisors agree on conservation plan for North County

A draft plan to preserve thousands of acres of natural habitat in North County was unanimously approved by supervisors last week, but changes were called for. The San Diego Multi-Species Conservation Plan aims to balance …

Paxton adobe house in Escondido threatened

A decision to tear down the historic adobe Paxton house in Escondido has no plan B. And the city needs the 42 condo units that will take its place. But the house, most recently known …

October 27, 2020
State density rules squeezing Del Mar into a corner

The city of Del Mar passed a key zoning amendment on October 19 that helps it comply with state housing laws, but it's too little, too late for the developer of the lots, who will …

October 20, 2020
Some granny flats in San Diego can rent short-term, others can't

Regulations proposed for vacation rentals makes scant mention of accessory dwelling units, even though their numbers have surged under new state and local laws meant to boost housing. So how will they figure in? It …

October 13, 2020
The 101 Ash Street morass

The city has stopped paying rent on 101 Ash St., but the asbestos-riddled building has sat empty for months, posing a new problem. Vacant buildings are at high risk of vandalism, fire and theft. And …

Good-bye, easy walking to Del Mar beach

There's only one place to cross the railway legally to get to the beach in Del Mar. But instead of adding more safe crossings, transit officials want to add 1.4 miles of fencing along the …

September 28, 2020
Cisterra to build 241 units on G Street, downtown San Diego

A mixed-use project approved by the planning commission on Thursday will fill some gaps in downtown's East Village. But in some ways, the modern 9G tower resembles an earlier era. 241 new dwelling units in …

Port District has no obligation to downtown San Diego

If there's one thing communities around San Diego Bay agree on, it's hotels. They are view-killers, pedestrian blockers, tourist malls. Yet the Port wants more. When the San Diego Unified Port District, which oversees the …

San Diego County to public pool visitors: not yet

A casual dip at a city pool now takes planning, a reservation, and willingness to arrive in a bathing suit. When it comes to re-opening pools, San Diego has its toes in the water, but …

Bay Park resists infilling

If developers want to build small urban infill projects to patch housing gaps, great. But there's no guarantee it will fly. And it may take longer than the "expedite" program for such housing suggests. On …

El Cajon zones for tiny houses

To some, tiny houses are impractical. But when it comes to a quick way to put roofs over heads in a pandemic, small is beautiful. As zoning codes catch up with reality, tiny houses are …

August 18, 2020
National City – still up and coming

National City – a Mayor Daley-type political machine To the south of San Diego, within range of the shadows cast by the Coronado Bridge, lies National City. Frequently described as the “backlot" of San Diego, …

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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