Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

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

Allied Gardens to re-make itself, but how?

(Left to right): Georgette Gomez, Michael Stepner, Stephen Haase, and Howard Blackson III.
(Left to right): Georgette Gomez, Michael Stepner, Stephen Haase, and Howard Blackson III.

About 50 people attended the March 26 Allied Gardens Community Council Town Hall meeting where a panel discussed issues related to updating the 1982 Navajo Community Plan, a document focused on the neighborhoods of Allied Gardens, Grantville, San Carlos, and Del Cerro.

Michael Stepner, author of the City of San Diego's original community plans and a professor at the NewSchool of Architecture & Design, said Navajo in the 1980s was "one of the fastest growing communities in the city." There was building on vacant land and in the already established communities of Grantville and Allied Gardens, he said.

A critical issue was development proposed on Cowles Mountain, then known as S Mountain because of the white "S" painted there to represent SDSU. Stepner recalled 1982 community-plan discussions to preserve at least 10 acres on S Mountain. He attended planning commission meetings where school children came and "dumped" numerous letters containing the message, "Save S Mountain." As a result of actions like that, land including Cowles Mountain was preserved in Mission Trails Regional Park.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Stepner told the group, "You need to have that consensus and support." He advised residents to think about their vision when starting out rather than what they didn't want in an update. "Get around and look at other parts of the neighborhood. Do it with a group [of six]; you have six different visions," he said.

San Diego planning commissioner Stephen Haase said to consider values in the update, noting that streets aren't widened in a historic district. "It means people drive a little slower." Money is instead spent on things like pedestrian amenities and a pocket park, said Haase, former chair of Navajo Community Planners, Inc.

Georgette Gomez spoke about the 1978 Barrio Logan community plan update. The original plan didn't include zoning, resulting in "elementary schools surrounded by industry. Now we're trying to go backwards, to correct zoning. We did it without the city. We organized about a year [and] went literally door to door" said Gomez, an update advisory-committee member and associate director of the San Diego Environmental Health Coalition Toxic-Free Neighborhoods Campaign.

Howard Blackson III, a principal and director of planning for PlaceMakers, LLC, said a plan update could cost $1 million. When San Carlos Area Council president John Pilch asked about City funding, Blackson said, "You have the means, why not try it on your own?" He said that a Caltrans grant was used for planning in Ramona.

Haase cautioned to "act fast" because Caltrans was cutting grants in half, and then they would be "gone."

Also discussed at the town hall was the clock tower in the median at the intersection of Waring Road and Zion Avenue in Allied Gardens. Anthony Wagner, council president and NCPI chair, said in an interview that the clock was installed in 1990, and a water leak was discovered last December. Diana Palacio, 7th District Councilman Scott Sherman's spokeswoman, said in a March 28 interview that the City located the leak and did repair work.

Read more about this subject on the Allied Gardens Holler page.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Best Sports Betting Sites - 10 Online Sportsbooks Ranked for 2024

Best Sports Betting Sites (2024) - Reviews of TOP Online Sportsbooks
Next Article

Reader Music Issue short takes

Obervatory's mosh pit, frenetic Rafael Payare, Lemonhead chaos, bleedforthescene, Coronado Tasting Room
(Left to right): Georgette Gomez, Michael Stepner, Stephen Haase, and Howard Blackson III.
(Left to right): Georgette Gomez, Michael Stepner, Stephen Haase, and Howard Blackson III.

About 50 people attended the March 26 Allied Gardens Community Council Town Hall meeting where a panel discussed issues related to updating the 1982 Navajo Community Plan, a document focused on the neighborhoods of Allied Gardens, Grantville, San Carlos, and Del Cerro.

Michael Stepner, author of the City of San Diego's original community plans and a professor at the NewSchool of Architecture & Design, said Navajo in the 1980s was "one of the fastest growing communities in the city." There was building on vacant land and in the already established communities of Grantville and Allied Gardens, he said.

A critical issue was development proposed on Cowles Mountain, then known as S Mountain because of the white "S" painted there to represent SDSU. Stepner recalled 1982 community-plan discussions to preserve at least 10 acres on S Mountain. He attended planning commission meetings where school children came and "dumped" numerous letters containing the message, "Save S Mountain." As a result of actions like that, land including Cowles Mountain was preserved in Mission Trails Regional Park.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Stepner told the group, "You need to have that consensus and support." He advised residents to think about their vision when starting out rather than what they didn't want in an update. "Get around and look at other parts of the neighborhood. Do it with a group [of six]; you have six different visions," he said.

San Diego planning commissioner Stephen Haase said to consider values in the update, noting that streets aren't widened in a historic district. "It means people drive a little slower." Money is instead spent on things like pedestrian amenities and a pocket park, said Haase, former chair of Navajo Community Planners, Inc.

Georgette Gomez spoke about the 1978 Barrio Logan community plan update. The original plan didn't include zoning, resulting in "elementary schools surrounded by industry. Now we're trying to go backwards, to correct zoning. We did it without the city. We organized about a year [and] went literally door to door" said Gomez, an update advisory-committee member and associate director of the San Diego Environmental Health Coalition Toxic-Free Neighborhoods Campaign.

Howard Blackson III, a principal and director of planning for PlaceMakers, LLC, said a plan update could cost $1 million. When San Carlos Area Council president John Pilch asked about City funding, Blackson said, "You have the means, why not try it on your own?" He said that a Caltrans grant was used for planning in Ramona.

Haase cautioned to "act fast" because Caltrans was cutting grants in half, and then they would be "gone."

Also discussed at the town hall was the clock tower in the median at the intersection of Waring Road and Zion Avenue in Allied Gardens. Anthony Wagner, council president and NCPI chair, said in an interview that the clock was installed in 1990, and a water leak was discovered last December. Diana Palacio, 7th District Councilman Scott Sherman's spokeswoman, said in a March 28 interview that the City located the leak and did repair work.

Read more about this subject on the Allied Gardens Holler page.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

How to Get Legal Assistance When Your Car Accident Insurance Claim is Denied?

Next Article

Making Love to Goats, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
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
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.