Building Industry Association
of San Diego

In a hearing that covered a wide-range of opinions on the future of the San Diego region, the SANDAG Board of Directors, ultimately accepted a staff report that says 388,000 housing ‘opportunities’ are possible up to 2050. The report cautioned that the forecast was just one possible scenario and that it was dependent upon the successful implementation of  land use polices to make them a reality.

That sparked a spirited discussion on just how many houses and people could the region accommodate. The report states that the region will experience a 40% increase in population by 2050 to well over 4 million residents.

City of San Diego Council President, Ben Hueso argued that it was time to accept the challenge and responsibly plan for the future, while Oceanside Mayor, James Woods said he couldn’t see how his city could accept the population forecast and that there had to be a way to ‘discourage’ people from moving to Southern California.

The board also discussed variables such as water supply and energy and their affects on the 2050 forecast.

The BIA testified that the region faces a minimum shortage of 37,000 homes by 2020 unless more is done to promote housing creation. Industry representatives urged the board , which is comprised of elected officials from 18 cities and the unincorporated area of the county, to do their due diligence to ensure that the homes on paper are translated to homes on the ground in a timely fashion.  Infrastructure concerns and community opposition can lead to lengthy delays forcing projects to miss the market and not be built  not unlike the fight over a San Diego City Mid-Town project that endured endless community opposition that ultimately, while approved by the city council,  ended with no construction and the adoption of a height limit ordinance.

Another example cited was the County of San Diego’s General Plan update that calls for the use of clustering in order to meet its housing demand but has run into stiff opposition from planning groups that has put the plan in jeopardy.

Russ Valone, of Marketpointe Reality Advisers testified that the county runs the risk of losing additional gas and sales tax dollars as people move to Southern Riverside County if the housing shortfall goes unanswered.

The 2050 growth forecast will be used by SANDAG as it updates it’s Regional Transportation Plan and creates a Sustainable Community Strategy necessary to comply with the states new climate change regulations.

Sometimes I come across an article that states exactly what’s on my mind:

By WALTER E. WILLIAMS

Syndicated columnist

John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel, in an hour-long television documentary titled “Global Warming: The Other Side,” presents evidence that our National Climatic Data Center has been manipulating weather data just as the now disgraced and under investigation British University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit. The NCDC is a division of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Its manipulated climate data is used by the Goddard Institute of Space Studies, which is a division of the National Aeronautical and Space Administration.

For the rest of this opinion go to:

http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/global-232229-warming-stations.html