SCPG Tonight—County PDS Discusses Adoption of More Housing In Unincorporated Areas

Susan Heavilin
Jun 2
5 min read

At tonight's Sweetwater Community Planning Group meeting, the County staff will be present to discuss the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance and Program Development.

Be sure to read this article to the end to get to the meat of what is really transpiring.

Why You Should Be Paying Attention

In 2012, the County of San Diego discretely changed its Department of Planning and Land Use (DPLU) into its Department of Planning and Development (PDS). That statement in itself gives you a world of explanation as to what the county is planning in the unincorporated areas. Changing from low-key Land Use into high-throttle Development should be an awakening call.

Read Between the Lines

The Inclusionary Housing Ordinance presentation goes hand-in-in with the Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) presentations they have been conducting as to check off the boxes that the "community has been informed."

But with such ho-hum titles, have the residents of unincorporated areas (including Bonita-Sunnyside) been lulled to sleep and directed to look at "more important" topics? These ARE the important topics.

Why This is Important

The buzz words "adopted by most cities in San Diego County" and "it's coming from the State" are used to convince you that the people have no choice. Everyone else is jumping off the cliff so you must follow. Not true. You still have a chance to turn back.

If you are wondering what I am talking about, go visit Kearny Mesa, Mission Hills, Chula Vista or even La Mesa. These once normal communities are turning into house-on-house, high-rise apartment units, 15-minute cities where peace and quiet is a thing of the past. All those new occupants bring their multiple cars and the new reality is one of car horns, blasting radios and congestion previously unimaginable. People living on top of people.

The County has turned it's development focus on the unincorporated areas. They have stated it over and over to the point that it has become their mantra.

You may have carefully selected and moved to your community of choice but the County team are intent in turning it into the area you left.

Their PDS Housing Production & Capacity Portal offers a few more tidbits:

Changes to the General Plan: Net increase of 3,646 units
Potential Remaining Dwelling Unit Capacity in the General Plan: 58,048 (12,776 units in Specific Plan Areas, 21,938 in villages, 18,299 in semi-rural, and 5,318 in rural)

Villages, semi-rural and rural are the zoning descriptions for Bonita-Sunnyside.

Interesting that the portal is named the Capacity Portal. Definition of capacity: the maximum amount that something can hold, contain, or produce. Starting to wipe the sleep from your eyes yet?

County of San Diego Draft Inclusionary Housing Ordinance Presentation

The County is doing a presentation at tonight's Planning Group meeting. Here is the information from the agenda:

The County of San Diego Planning & Development Services Department (PDS) is conducting an Inclusionary Housing Study and Ordinance Development. The purpose of this project is to assess feasible options for requiring housing projects to provide affordable housing, and develop an Inclusionary Housing Ordinance that addresses the County’s housing needs. The overall goal is to expand the supply of affordable housing for households of lower and moderate-income.  It is a common tool to create affordable housing and has been adopted by most cities in San Diego County. This draft ordinance has not yet been adopted, but will be going to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on June 24, 2026.

Presented by SD County Planning and Development Services, Senior Planner Ben Larson, Housing Chief Jennifer Savage, and Associate Planner Alexa Kerr.

This item appears on the Non-Action/Updates section of the agenda. That means the Planning Group will not be voting on it. Whether they approve of it or not is of no concern to the County of San Diego. The vote will come from the Board of Supervisors at their June 24, 2026 meeting.

Checking All The Boxes

According to the County Website on this topic, the County is moving through the process to get this adopted.

On August 28, 2024 the San Diego County (County) Board of Supervisors (Board) heard and considered proposed amendments to the Zoning Ordinance to adopt an Inclusionary Housing Ordinance which would apply to new housing development in the unincorporated areas of the County. The Board of Supervisors directed staff to return following presentations on the Development Feasibility Analysis (DFA) and Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) with options that include the following considerations: 

Ensure overall housing production is not negatively impacted.
Align with state density bonus law.
Include considerations for phasing-in the program to allow time for land values to adjust to the program. 
Continue to Engage with experts and community.
Provide inclusionary housing production estimates for each of these options, including middle income home ownership.
Development incentives that include infrastructure that can be provided in Option 3 to maximize units in the VMT Efficient and Infill areas, concurrent with the Development Feasibility Analysis for these areas. 
Off-site development should be within a radius of 3 miles or the vicinity of the community planning area.

Upcoming Board of Supervisors Hearing

The Draft Inclusionary Housing Ordinance will be going to the Board of Supervisors for adoption on June 24, 2026. As part of this effort, the County contracted with Keyser Marston Associates (KMA) to conduct an independent review* of the 2023 economic analysis to help confirm the study’s usability in supporting future policy decisions.

In consideration of the third-party review findings and recommendations, staff has prepared a package of policy options** and supporting materials** related to the core components of the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance that aligns with the Board's direction to prepare an ordinance that does not negatively impact housing production. These policy options are intended to support Board discussion regarding the overall structure and implementation of the ordinance. 

*Note that KMA compares San Diego to Los Angeles which is not a model we would ever desire. They also state in their document that cost per square foot would be $25.92. What are their building materials . . . cardboard?

** Note that these prices, though less expensive, are no more "affordable" than current prices in San Diego County. We live in one of the highest cost-of-living areas in the United States. Building more, cheaply constructed, homes is not going to change that. There are plenty of states that offer larger homes, with more land, for a lot less.

Sweetwater Community Planning Group (SCPG) Meeting

The SCPG meeting is tonight—Tuesday, June 2nd—at the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire Station located at 4900 Bonita Road, Bonita. It starts at 7PM and the agenda may be found below.