This morning Superior Court Judge Linda Quinn affirmed her Tentative Ruling in favor of Friends of San Diego and against the 301 University project (a 148-ft building that had been planned for the south side of University Avenue between Third & Fourth). The 12-story proposed building would have towered over nearby businesses. Her ruling overturned the September 12, 2006 City Council 7-1 decision and reversed their approval. Donna Frye and Mike Aguirre were right! The court agreed that the City of San Diego did not follow legal requirements in the preparatation of the environmental study for the project, that 301 University would have a severe impact on the neighborhood, that a proper traffic analysis was not done, that 301 ignored serious community park shortages, they did not analyze construction impacts or the cumulative impacts on the neighborhood and that the public alley could not be given away to a developer.
Any of these items would have been sufficent for the project to be dissappoved. Judge Quinn’s ruling will save Hillcrest from this “monster building.” Thanks to everyone who made this happen!
