Impact of condo conversion projects to be studied

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Impact of condo conversion projects to be studied

Critics, Aguirre set tentative pact

By Roger M. Showley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

December 22, 2005

City Attorney Michael Aguirre has worked out a tentative agreement with critics of condominium conversions to study any impacts the projects are placing on the San Diego rental market.

Assistant City Attorney Karen Heumann said details of the study will be hammered out next month. Who will conduct the review, what it will cover and how it will be funded are to be decided.

More than 150 condo conversion projects are affected by the agreement and it is unclear how many of the developers will try to move forward with their plans. The impact study is expected to be completed sometime next year.

The issue arose after attorney Cory Briggs, representing the Affordable Housing Coalition of San Diego and Citizens for Responsible Equitable Environmental Development, argued in lawsuits and appeals to the San Diego City Council that the city needed to conduct a thorough environmental review of the projects.

Briggs is challenging approval by the city's Development Services Department of the conversion of hundreds of rental units within specific projects. He also is seeking a Superior Court injunction that would prevent the city from processing new conversion applications.

Critics of the conversions say that thousands of tenants are being forced from their homes and that the conversion process places burdens on traffic, housing and schools as the renters try to find new units.

Developers say alternative rentals are available in the area and the converted units are desperately needed entry-level housing that is affordable to first-time home buyers.

Heumann said Briggs has agreed not to proceed with the injunction request for now and the first group of appeals has been delayed from the original hearing date of Dec. 6 to Jan. 24.

"It's really better than litigating each of these suits," she said.

She noted that developers can proceed with their conversion plans but they will do so at their own risk if a final agreement isn't reached and Briggs moves forward with his lawsuits and appeals.

"I'm hoping we can enter into the settlement arrangement whereby he might no longer contest these projects," she said.

Briggs could not be reached for comment, but Tom Scott, executive director of the San Diego Housing Federation, said his group, while not a party to the lawsuits and appeals, is worried that many small conversion projects having few units will not be well maintained over time and will pose a risk to future homeowners.

"That's one of the things the study is going to look at," Scott said.