San Diego Central Region Smart Growth Areas

Over the past year, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and local planning and community development directors have been working together to identify an initial list of smart growth areas for inclusion in the San Diego Region’s Smart Growth Concept Map draft.

Smart growth is a compact, efficient, livable, and environmentally sensitive urban development pattern. It focuses future growth and infill development close to jobs, services, and public facilities to maximize the use of existing infrastructure and preserve open space and natural resources.

This map and three others (North County, North City, and South County) were used as a first step in helping local planning directors identify areas in their jurisdictions that exemplified the characteristics of the six smart growth place types contained in SANDAG’s Regional Comprehensive Plan (RCP). The planning directors also were asked whether the areas should be classified as “existing/planned” smart growth areas or “potential” smart growth areas based on whether they met the residential and employment targets previously defined and whether they met certain transit service characteristics contained in the RCP.

Existing/Planned smart growth areas are locations where existing or planned development is consistent with RCP targets and served by existing or planned high-frequency transit. Potential smart growth areas are locations with opportunities if local land-use or regional transportation plans are changed to meet targets contained in the RCP. Once the planning directors identified the areas and estimated their status (existing/planned or potential), SANDAG staff labeled the areas (e.g., OB 1). They also initiated a verification process to determine whether the areas met residential and employment targets as well as associated transit service levels. The verification process is based on data included in SANDAG’s GIS. This information is updated on a periodic basis as part of the regional growth forecast update.

Courtesy of San Diego Association of Governments.