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Almost 75 percent of Barrio Logan are Hispanic.
Barrio Logan’s leaders have spent years fighting for a better community plan that doesn’t allow polluting industries to overlap with homes. It’s finally paying off.
The San Diego Planning Commission recommends the city approve the 2021 Community Plan update, which will include 1,000 acres between downtown, I-5 and San Diego Bay.
About half of this land is occupied by the San Diego Naval Station and Port Tidelands, so conflict was inevitable.
Jennifer Case (second from right), CEO of New Leaf, a biodiesel company looking to expand but capped at 20 percent under the plan.
The plan builds on a plan adopted in 2013 that created a transition zone to separate households and industry. It was overturned not long after by a citywide referendum. The update started with this contested zone between the Port of San Diego and the neighborhood.
Other key elements are more separate bike lanes, new restrictions on more truck routes on local roads, and an element of art and culture. There will be eight new parks and links to regional cycle paths.
“I have to say this has been a very happy day for me, for the planning group, and for the community,” said Mark Steel, Barrio Logan’s planning chairman.
“The 1978 plan was pathetically inadequate and allowed much more community degradation.” He calls it the “Houston Plan; you can do anything wherever you want”.
Since the area is entirely within the coastal zone, the plan must be approved by the Coastal Commission.
Over time, industrial use, freeway and truck exhaust polluted the air, increasing asthma rates – not to mention the occasional crash landing of a vehicle from the bridge above.
Nearly 75 percent of Barrio Logan are Hispanic, which sparks claims of environmental racism woven into historical land use patterns.
Environmental health advocates, industrial and community planning groups argued over the issue of a household-industrial buffer until May 2020 when they signed an agreement, memorandum of understanding, or MOU, in which Steel says “all issues surrounding the transition zone. “
Most of the 2021 plan carries over from 2013, with the major changes being for a 65-acre MOU area where it might as well be yesterday for some companies.
“We’re in the middle of the new zone,” said Jennifer Case, CEO of New Leaf, a biodiesel company looking to expand but limited to a 20 percent increase under the plan.
The movement of goods will continue to consume fossil fuels “unless we offer an alternative, and New Leaf produces it”.
Case asked that New Leaf, which converts used cooking oil, be exempted from the new zone by 2045. It’s a bridge fuel pending electrification of the heavy haulage fleet and prevents the kitchen oil from being hauled away by trucks, she said.
Julie Corrales, a policy director for the Environmental Health Coalition, said New Leaf benefits the region but not its immediate neighbors. “They may want to take over multiple blocks,” on land that could be used for homes, parks and small businesses, Corrales said.
“Any increase in their business will bring more non-emission trucks and exacerbate the serious air quality problems in Barrio Logan.”
“The truck route is constantly being violated and needs to be reinforced,” Corrales said. We see diesels and full-size semi-trailers drive past my house. They happen in front of Perkins Elementary School. “
Also under the updated plan, trucking regulations will continue to exempt existing companies and their trucking routes, including to the port.
The planning committee approved the design with only a minor change to allow for more protected bike lanes, and agreed to consider a freeway cap that could help shield the barrio from I-5.
Since the area is entirely within the coastal zone, the plan must be approved by the Coastal Commission. Steel said they hope to get it through the city council by the end of the year.
“Time is of the essence in this community.”
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