Building Industry Association
of San Diego

A memorial service honoring the life of Horace will be held on:

Saturday, February 25 at 11:00 a.m.
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
890 Balour Drive
Encinitas CA 92024
Map and directions

The family suggests contributions in lieu of flowers to either the City of Hope or UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.

View Horace’s obituary in the San Diego Union~Tribune.

It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of our friend, great leader and industry giant Horace Hogan II, a veteran California homebuilder and San Diego Building Industry Association leader.  Hogan died Monday after a lengthy battle with cancer.

“Horace was a pillar of our tight-knit industry community and even more importantly, an extraordinary generous human being,” said Guy Asaro, Chairman of the Building Industry Association of San Diego County. “  His legacy is vast, and his efforts helped lead our industry through good times and bad.  All of us who knew and worked with him will miss him sorely, especially his infectious spirit-lifting signature laughter.”

At his death, Hogan was a principal with LandArc Group, a private land development company of planned residential and mixed-use communities based in Carlsbad.  He previously was president and chief executive officer for Brehm Communities in San Diego, and before that was division president for Ryland Homes, a cofounder of Pacific Gateway Homes in Aliso Viejo, and was vice president of the Mission Viejo Company.  In all, he had more than 30 years of executive leadership experience in the homebuilding industry. (more…)

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Feb. 4 at Daybreak Church, 6515 Ambrosia Lane, Carlsbad.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests donations to UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders or World Vision. 

View the U-T San Diego’s article about Curt.

 It is with great sadness that I inform you of the passing of Curt Noland, our friend and great industry supporter.  Curt died at home last night at the age of 55, surrounded by his family.  He leaves behind many close friends to whom he was an inspiration both in their personal and business lives.  Curt managed HomeFed’s real estate assets as vice president and senior development officer of the Carlsbad-based residential real estate development company.   He was deeply passionate about everything he undertook. 

At BIA, Curt was a prominent member of its President’s Council, which acts as an advisory panel to the Board of Directors.  In that capacity Curt provided the industry with years of invaluable insights.   He will be sorely missed by his many friends.  While his life was cut short unexpectedly, he made a great impact on many lives and on our industry for which we shall remain extremely grateful.  We extend our deepest sympathies to the Noland family.

Guy Asaro, Chairman, BIA of San Diego County

The Finance Team Sandstrom, Davidson & Winckel

Last evening, well over 400 members and guests came out to celebrate the industry and its new Board leadership at the La Jolla Marriott.  The well-attended and sold out event was made possible through underwriting provided by at least eight financial institutions.  The membership was treated to a delightful skit produced and directed by Dawn Davidson of Design Line Interiors.

In addition, twelve prominent builders and developers made a brief appearance on stage and provided an up beat market assessment for 2011.  Many members commented afterwards that the event was one of BIA’s best in years.  A big thank you to staff and our volunteers for making this a most memorable evening.  Watch for more reviews in the upcoming days.

Councilman Todd Gloria Seeks Development Fee Increase

The City of San Diego Land Use and Housing Committee released its findings on a nexus study that will be used to determine the fee charged to non-residential development to help pay for affordable housing.  The Jobs Housing Nexus Study, prepared by Keyser Marston, alleges that retail development could be charged a fee up to $115.55 per square foot for housing and put office development impacts at $78.08 per square foot. There are several other categories with fees ranging from $81.00 to $13.00 per square foot.

Keyser Marston was quick to point out that the city should charge nowhere near those fees and recommended fees ranging from $2.00 – $4.00 per square foot.  They also recommended that the fees not be increased until the economy improves and suggested that the council consider a trigger mechanism.

The Committee also released a report on Best Management Practices for managing affordable housing that compares San Diego to other cities in the hopes of improving the process.  Despite earlier assurances that both the fee and BMPs would be reviewed concurrently, Committee Chair, Todd Gloria said he did not want the fee increase proposal to ‘be held hostage’  to a review of best management practices and will pursue the fee increase ahead of the BMP analysis.

The BIA and a host of business groups strongly oppose any increase in the fees and have challenged the council for even considering what is being called a  ‘Jobs Tax’ in the midst of the worst recession in generations.

The report moves to a stakeholders committee for review and comment before returning to the full council for consideration.

Read the 4 page Land Use and Housing Report.

The Solana Beach City Council voted to continue its hearing on whether to increase Inclusionary Zoning fees and requirements on new home construction.  Responding to concerns raised by the BIA, the council voted unanimously to push the hearing to January 12, 2011 rather than adopt an ordinance that would result in a regulatory ‘double dip.’ The proposed ordinance would have required homebuilders to still pay the city’s in-lieu fee of up to $35,000 per unit even if the project is building low income units on site as part of the state’s affordable housing density bonus program.   The state Department on Housing and Community Development requires local cities to provide density bonuses for projects that build low income housing but Solana Beach maintains that still does not satisfy their local ordinance

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors

After two day-long hearings on the proposed update of the County’s General Plan, the Board of Supervisors announced that a final decision will not come before late January or early February. The General Plan update, now into it’s 13th year, is designed to focus future development closer to existing towns and infrastructure but the concept has brought the wrath of backcounty property owners who object to the downzoning of over 400,000 acres as a means to push future growth inward.

Opposition to the plan swelled as nearly 200 people testified against the plan for a host of reasons with many saying the county government was going to far and others saying they weren’t going far enough. The parade of opponents left many Supervisors concerned with the plan and they want county staff to explain many of the issues that were brought up during the testimony before they make a final decision.

The BIA continued its opposition because of multiple conflicts within the plan that would impede  the vision the county wants from actually being built.  Foremost is the ability of community plans to impose restrictions  or ban clustered projects despite the fact that clustering is a main objective of the new general plan.

The BIA is also opposed to the tight restrictions placed on future amendments to the General Plan after it is adopted.  The industry considers the restrictions punitive with the intent of making GPAs financially infeasible resulting in a de facto moratorium.

The requirement that property owners set aside  nearly 90% of their land as open space as mandatory condition of project approval also met with stiff opposition.  Property owners would also be required to pay for the maintenance of the dedicated open space in perpetuity. Such requirements would make most projects financially infeasible.

The BIA continues to work with a broad coalition of property owners and business groups to seeks changes to the General Plan update before it is adopted.

Testimony continues on December 8th.

Pleased to share with you news of our new hire, Matthew Yunker, as our Senior Communications Advisor.  Matt comes to us from our friends at the Downtown Partnership where he worked in Public Policy and Communications. He will serve in a similar capacity at BIA and will make sure the membership and our external audiences hear from us often and hear us right!  Matthew is an alumnus of USD and currently studies at SDSU as a graduate student in Communication Studies.  You can reach Matthew at myunker@biasandiego.org.

Matt Yunkers joins BIA Staff