Commercial Zone on Lemon Ave. Shot Down After Resident Uproar

There was an overflow crowd of perturbed residents at the La Mesa Planning Commission meeting Wednesday night who argued against creating a small area of commercial zoning on the corner of Lemon Avenue and Bancroft Drive in the suburban neighborhood. The speakers in opposition convinced the majority of the commission to vote against the staff suggested land use change.

The purpose of the meeting was to approve a draft update of the city's general plan, which was last updated in 1996, and a large part of which included updates to land zoning to match the general plan. That's where the corner came into play. State Route 125 goes right past the corner, which was owned by Caltrans and recently sold. The land was zoned as a transportation corridor, but must be changed now that it's been sold.

The decision before the commission was whether to take the staff suggestion of changing the corner to commercial zoning or to keep the zoning consistent with surrounding land use, suburban residential.

Residents opposing the change banded together to form the "Save Our Corner" coalition and wore stickers that said "No Rezone." More than 1,000 signatures were gathered for a Save Our Corner neighborhood petition.

Public speakers were all in opposition to the project, and included some locals with serious credentials concerning land use.

"I've reviewed a lot of zoning in my day and I can tell you this would not be a good change," said Manuel Aceves, who served on the La Mesa Planning Commission from 1988 to 1997.

Many residents in attendance fought this same battle in 2000, when the city considered changing the same corner to commercial zoning and decided to keep it suburban residential.

The main arguments for denying the change to commercial zoning were that it would be inconsistent with the neighborhood surrounding it and that nothing had changed since the city decided against the same change in 2000. Concerns about an increase in traffic were also voiced.

"Locating commercial here would be completely in conflict with the scenic natural aesthetic of this semi-rural neighborhood," the Save Our Corner organization wrote in a letter to the commission.

The commission voted 5-1, with only Michele Hottel as the only dissenting vote.

The general plan draft, which will include the decision by the Planning Commission, will go before the City Council at the July 9 meeting for final approval.