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

DMV building doesn't fit the neighborhood

No more blare in Hillcrest from 1961-era project, please

New DMV design
New DMV design

The loudspeaker blasts go on all day, says Mary Alsop, who lives a half block from the Hillcrest Department of Motor Vehicles office. So when the DMV presented its proposed design for the replacement building Tuesday night, she was angry that the practice would continue – and that the continuing use of loudspeakers was buried deep in the plan.

“I strongly object to the public address system.” Alsop said. ”Your use of loudspeakers harms me – loudspeakers are harmful to people’s health.”

Her concerns were among a host of criticisms of the plan, which was rejected by the Uptown Planners in the nicest unanimous opposition this reporter has ever seen. The plan is in the environmental review phase – the comment period ends on Sept. 7.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The proposed plan takes the 2.46 acre parcel between Normal Street, Cleveland and Lincoln avenues, where there’s a smallish one-story building and a lot of parking, and, for $22 million, replaces it with a 50 percent larger one-story building and a lot of parking, much shaded by solar panels. The public will have a nicer area outside to wait in. Until they’re summoned by loudspeaker.

“Having people wait outside, nobody does that,” said Patrick Santana.

San Diego artist Roy McMakin proposed that the excess land instead become a public plaza with underground parking beneath it. “We already see cars and asphalt. We don’t need more of that.”

There had been discussion about a multi-use building, with the DMV on the ground floor and, best case scenario, housing above it. The planning group is entirely on board with the idea and members say they had to push to get Assembly member Todd Gloria engaged in the idea of building a multi-use on the state-owned land.

“It’s the one place that can take density and here you are with a 1961-era plan for a surface lot in the middle of density,” said Roy Dahl.

The site is home to the neighborhood farmers’ market every week and the LGBT Pride parade. It has been used cooperatively for extra night and weekend parking and as a collection site for county voters’ ballots – without a fence around it. The fence could curtail those uses and send a negative vibe through the community, speakers said. And it would cut the dreamed-of plaza off from the Normal Street Greenway that the Hillcrest Business Association has been working on for more than six years.

In late August, Gloria – who was present at the meeting – sent a letter to the facilities wing of the state DMV, calling their plan “a missed opportunity to put forward a mixed-use project that includes housing, park space, underground parking, community rooms or other enhancements.”

Gloria sat quietly in the audience while one panel member after another, and many members of the public politely criticized the plan, including that seven-foot fence that cuts it off from the surrounding neighborhood.

“I do feel there’s a bit of suburban cookie cutter feel in this,” said Benjamin Nicholls, the executive director of the Hillcrest Business Association. “You can’t just take any design and plop it down – it’s all context and this is going in with a wrought iron fence next to the greenway we are planning.”

The DMV presenter, Gil Topete, answered questions politely and clearly and told residents that the DMV is interested in their thoughts.

At the end of the meeting, Gloria promised that his office would work with the DMV to bring back a design more appropriate for the community.

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

Making Love to Goats, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar

Next Article

Gonzo Report: Half Hour Late lives up to their name at the Template

Deadhead-inflected band right at home in Ocean Beach
New DMV design
New DMV design

The loudspeaker blasts go on all day, says Mary Alsop, who lives a half block from the Hillcrest Department of Motor Vehicles office. So when the DMV presented its proposed design for the replacement building Tuesday night, she was angry that the practice would continue – and that the continuing use of loudspeakers was buried deep in the plan.

“I strongly object to the public address system.” Alsop said. ”Your use of loudspeakers harms me – loudspeakers are harmful to people’s health.”

Her concerns were among a host of criticisms of the plan, which was rejected by the Uptown Planners in the nicest unanimous opposition this reporter has ever seen. The plan is in the environmental review phase – the comment period ends on Sept. 7.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The proposed plan takes the 2.46 acre parcel between Normal Street, Cleveland and Lincoln avenues, where there’s a smallish one-story building and a lot of parking, and, for $22 million, replaces it with a 50 percent larger one-story building and a lot of parking, much shaded by solar panels. The public will have a nicer area outside to wait in. Until they’re summoned by loudspeaker.

“Having people wait outside, nobody does that,” said Patrick Santana.

San Diego artist Roy McMakin proposed that the excess land instead become a public plaza with underground parking beneath it. “We already see cars and asphalt. We don’t need more of that.”

There had been discussion about a multi-use building, with the DMV on the ground floor and, best case scenario, housing above it. The planning group is entirely on board with the idea and members say they had to push to get Assembly member Todd Gloria engaged in the idea of building a multi-use on the state-owned land.

“It’s the one place that can take density and here you are with a 1961-era plan for a surface lot in the middle of density,” said Roy Dahl.

The site is home to the neighborhood farmers’ market every week and the LGBT Pride parade. It has been used cooperatively for extra night and weekend parking and as a collection site for county voters’ ballots – without a fence around it. The fence could curtail those uses and send a negative vibe through the community, speakers said. And it would cut the dreamed-of plaza off from the Normal Street Greenway that the Hillcrest Business Association has been working on for more than six years.

In late August, Gloria – who was present at the meeting – sent a letter to the facilities wing of the state DMV, calling their plan “a missed opportunity to put forward a mixed-use project that includes housing, park space, underground parking, community rooms or other enhancements.”

Gloria sat quietly in the audience while one panel member after another, and many members of the public politely criticized the plan, including that seven-foot fence that cuts it off from the surrounding neighborhood.

“I do feel there’s a bit of suburban cookie cutter feel in this,” said Benjamin Nicholls, the executive director of the Hillcrest Business Association. “You can’t just take any design and plop it down – it’s all context and this is going in with a wrought iron fence next to the greenway we are planning.”

The DMV presenter, Gil Topete, answered questions politely and clearly and told residents that the DMV is interested in their thoughts.

At the end of the meeting, Gloria promised that his office would work with the DMV to bring back a design more appropriate for the community.

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

Nation’s sexy soldiers stage protest at Pendleton in wake of change in Marine uniform policy

Semper WHY?
Next Article

Summit Fellowship wants to be a home of belonging

Unitarian Universalism allows you to be exactly who you are in the moment
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.