County Officials: A Building Exemption Is Giving San Diego a Housing Boost

A still-relatively new escape hatch from a policy that dramatically slowed housing development in unincorporated areas has ended the crisis it spawned. 

At least that’s what some county officials suggested during a Wednesday Board of Supervisors briefing on a slew of land-use policies and the county’s development challenges. 

Homebuilders aren’t sure what to think yet.  

Five years ago, state law forced the county to start implementing a so-called vehicle miles traveled policy to reduce driving and greenhouse gas emissions. The more miles new residents drove because of projects, the more developers had to do to address emissions tied to mileage. That could mean building bicycle lanes, increasing transit access or paying a hefty fee. Developers balked, especially after a legal ruling forced a 2022 county policy change that increased mileage calculations and thus costs for potential projects in further-flung areas of the county.   

The homebuilding lobby erupted – and argued the policy made projects outside incorporated cities impossible. Last March, Building Industry Association CEO Lori Holt Pfeiler declared that the county was “dead to us.” 

Then the county made a big announcement last summer. After Supervisor Joel Anderson urged county staff to take a closer look at legal cases tied to the driving policy, planning officials declared that projects that matched up with the county’s overarching 2011 plan for development were off the hook. This meant they wouldn’t have to study how their projects fared on VMT or address impacts tied to increased vehicle trips if, for example, they weren’t proposing more homes in an area than the county plan allows.  

The county shift relied on an exemption from the state’s premier environmental law, which requires governments and developers to assess how building projects might affect the environment. The county began using the exception far less after it began implementing VMT in 2020. Last summer, staff decided it was game on again for the exemption, known as 15183. 

A year later, county officials say 15183 is a game changer – barring other legal fights. 

At Wednesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Chair Terra Lawson-Remer cheered that conclusion after asking county planning officials to clarify the county’s ability to build the up to 58,000 units laid out in its 2011 general plan. 

“Two years ago, we were really worried about all this housing that wasn’t going to be able to get built because it was going to have to do all this VMT mitigation,” Lawson-Remer said. “And I think what I’m hearing you say is because of the court ruling, the new court ruling, those 58,000 units are not subject to VMT but we thought they were before.” 

County planning officials confirmed her understanding – with some caveats.  

County staff are still trying to get builders up to speed. 

“Even now, when we have meetings with our stakeholders on a regular basis, we are still pointing out this 15183 approach that we can take on projects moving forward,” county Planning & Development Services Director Vince Nicoletti said.  

Nicoletti said developers have told county officials they fear yet-to-materialize legal challenges could change the situation overnight. 

For those reasons, Nicoletti said county staff continue to work on VMT mitigation proposals they plan to share with the board next year. 

When Supervisor Jim Desmond took the microphone a few minutes later, he wanted to know: “Has the 15183 been tested yet?” 

“We have projects in process right now that are gonna be utilizing it but at this point none have gone forward,” said Mark Slovick, deputy director of Planning & Development Services. 

“None,” Desmond said. “So even though we say they’re able to do it, nobody has yet.” 

But the county says more developers are reaching out about projects they think could be exempt since the county publicized its shift last June.  

County spokesperson Donna Durckel said the county has since received 29 applications proposing nearly 1,000 housing units. County staff are now in the review process with those projects, scouring development plans and environmental studies.  

“We anticipate several projects will move forward next year using the 15183 California Environmental Quality Act exemption, but the timing of each project may change,” Durckel wrote in an email. 

She said the county estimates the equivalent of about a third of the roughly 4,500 housing units proposed in about 98 housing projects it’s now reviewing could be eligible for a 15183 exemption.  

Building Industry Association leaders say they’re cautiously optimistic.  

Stefanie Benvenuto of the BIA said the lobbying group was “encouraged by the strength” of county staff’s comments at Wednesday’s meeting but was still trying to process what they mean for housing projects. 

“It does not necessarily remove any uncertainty since, as one of the supervisors did point out, we don’t necessarily have a test case yet,” Benvenuto said. “We are absolutely going to pursue some additional guidance from the staff to identify ways we could shore that path up.” 

But Benvenuto wondered out loud whether county officials’ comments might fuel another battle over the county’s rocky vehicle miles traveled implementation. 

“Frankly, I will be curious if other groups who do not want to see housing heard that information (Wednesday) and will weaponize that in the form of a lawsuit or some attempted policy change,” Benvenuto said. 

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