The members of the Municipal Council of San Diego gave the initial approval to a contract which would allow a local non-profit organization to manage a new safe car park for hundreds of homeless residents, but this plan could be upset if the trial of a developer to arrest the project succeeds in court.
The land and housing use committee voted unanimously on Thursday to hire a Jewish family service, which already has similar programs in the region, to supervise the H Barracks site next to San Diego airport. The name comes from the US Navy barracks in the shape of a giant “H” which covered the property.
“I am happy to see this expansion go ahead,” said member of the Council Raul Campillo de l’Atrade.
Officials hope to start accepting vehicles in early May.
The H Barracks project has long received the decline in neighbors concerned with the potential effects on stores and schools of the Liberty station nearby. A group of owners considered the pursuit, but a trial came rather from the same real estate developer who transformed Liberty Station from a navy base into a flourishing cultural center.
McMillin-RTC, a limited liability company connected to Corky McMillin Cos., Filed a complaint in September. The developers believe that the offer of homeless services to H Barracks would violate a several decades old agreement detailing what is authorized on the ground. The group is also afraid of not being able to build a third hotel in the region.
Although investors have not yet been retained and that a ready to pay for construction has recently passed, the president of McMillin, Scott McMillin, thinks that lenders could later increase interest rates or other costs because the homeless sleeps nearby. In addition, if tight tourists reserve fewer parts in the existing Hampton and Marriott hotels, the city could lose tax revenue, McMillin said in a statement. “Having an establishment of homelessness to its proximity to the development centered on hospitality threatens not only the success of our project, but also the objectives of budgetary health and economic development of the wider community.”
McMillin hopes that a judge of the Superior Court will interrupt the parking program. The next hearing is April 30.
City leaders have threatened that thousands of people throughout the county who currently live on local sidewalks or in their vehicles are a much greater threat to public security and economic growth. Public data show that homelessness continues to grow and that there is nowhere enough shelter’s beds for everyone to ask for help.
The California Coastal Commission gave San Diego the authorization to set up a pair of large tents on the site which could collectively have around 600 people, which would probably make H Barracks the largest refuge in the city. However, officials have no funding to launch this part of the proposal, and in the near future, the place should only be used for people who sleep in their vehicles.
There is room for 190 cars, trucks and VR, a capacity that would almost double what is available in the other sure parking lots of the city.
The site is expected to open every night from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m., the leaders said that closing the place after sunrise was both a way to save money and reflect the fact that many residents will work during the day.
During a recent period of 12 months, more than two -thirds of all adults using the safe parking programs of San Diego had a form of income, the city staff said. Almost 40% had at least one job, while around 31% received money thanks to the aid of the government or the Social Security. Less than a third party has declared any income.
Overall, more than 1,100 people had slept in one of the existing parking lots between March of last year and at the end of February, according to a staff report. Until now, about a quarter of this population had made permanent accommodation, including 146 people who were able to rent a place without external support.
The H barns should cost the city for about a quarter of a million dollars until June, at the end of the fiscal year. The Jewish family service is committed to landing about an additional $ 33,600, which provides the total budget for the coming months to around $ 284,500.
In the future, the annual cost should be $ 1.6 million. Amy Li, representative of the office of the independent budgetary analyst, told the members of the Council that the price was manageable even in the middle of a deficit. A handful of other leaders and residents also praised the idea at Thursday’s meeting.
Officials said construction should end by the end of the month. The complete municipal council – who has nine members, only four of whom are in the land use committee – must always approve the contract.
Even if San Diego succeeds in court, the lot will eventually be part of the pure water recycling project.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
