Council adopts Coastal Commission modifications to clear way for 380-unit Belamar Apartments project

The San Diego City Council on Oct. 29 approved the California Coastal Commission's modifications to the Otay Mesa Nestor community plan and local coastal program that affect the Belamar Apartments project site, clearing a procedural hurdle for a 380-unit multifamily development that includes 100 affordable units. Martin Mendez, development project manager with Development Services, told the council the changes were the result of a Coastal Commission review after the city adopted related amendments in July.

Councilmember Monica Moreno said the council faced a difficult choice: accept modifications she called regulatory overreach or delay construction of hundreds of housing units. "This modification and many of the others are regulatory items, and they're being placed into a policy planning document," Moreno said, calling the insertion "wholly inappropriate" but voting to advance the project to avoid further delay.

City staff described two site-specific modifications the applicant agreed to: ensuring affordable units have access to the same amenities as market-rate units, and adding a trail along the southern boundary of Hollister Pond. The Coastal Commission's broader 19 edits also added policy language on future special-study requirements for the community plan's special study area, public-access and recreation goals (including low-cost overnight accommodations), environmentally sensitive habitat protections, and multimodal access objectives.

Staff said the area had changed since the plan's original 1997 language was adopted — including public acquisition of roughly 317 acres now in regional park or conservation ownership — and that the city negotiated language with Commission staff to make the modifications policy-focused rather than regulatory where possible.

Council members acknowledged frustration that the Commission's modifications contained regulatory-style directives and said accelerated certification would likely be preferable to restarting the entire certification process (which staff estimated could add about a year to the project's timeline). Councilmember Lee said he supported moving the project forward given the time already spent on prior approvals and the risk of delay.

The council voted to adopt the modifications and send them back to the Coastal Commission for final certification by its executive director. The decision permits the Belamar project to proceed to the next regulatory steps under the Coastal Commission's certification process. The council recorded the vote as unanimous with one member absent.