San Diego council delays decision on Legacy International Center after split vote over traffic and religious use

The San Diego City Council on Sept. 18 failed to adopt staff recommendations to approve entitlements for the Legacy International Center, an 18‑acre mixed‑use proposal in Mission Valley, and instead voted to continue the item to Oct. 17, 2017.

Morris Dye, development project manager, told the council the proposal would demolish an existing 202‑room hotel and construct five buildings including a 127‑room hotel, a 500‑seat theater, retail and a five‑level, 524‑space parking garage. Staff asked the council to certify the environmental impact report, adopt plan and specific‑plan amendments, rezone the site and approve related tentative maps and permits. Staff and the applicant noted the Atlas specific plan no longer applied to the site because ownership had fragmented, and they said conditions and mitigation measures in the EIR addressed traffic and other concerns.

Hundreds of speakers signed slips; public testimony was sharply divided. Opponents, including Rebecca Hookheld speaking for the San Diego LGBT Community Center, said the project would worsen congestion near major hospitals and called the applicant’s visitor estimates unrealistic. Hookheld said the applicant’s materials indicated the facility could draw “up to 400,000 visitors a year,” a figure opponents said would risk life‑safety delays for emergency vehicles. Elizabeth Levinthal, a member of the Mission Valley Planning Group, called parts of the promoter’s history “dubious” and urged the council to reject the project on reputational and process grounds.

Proponents — including an organized presentation by Legacy International executive director Jim Penner and lead designer Vince Mudd — argued the project had been revised extensively, that it would create open space, generate union construction jobs and bring tourism. The project team and planner Chris Morrow said the development would generate fewer daily vehicle trips (221 average daily trips, they said) than the site was permitted to produce (380 ADT under current allowances) and described measures such as widening Hotel Circle South, adding sidewalks, upgrading a bus stop and a private shuttle system to reduce external trips.

Council debate centered on the traffic calculations, how accessory uses such as the 500‑seat theater were counted in the EIR (staff used a 20% external‑trip assumption for the theater), and whether the council could secure enforceable, long‑term guarantees about how the site would be used in the future. Councilmember Sherman moved to approve staff’s recommendations; that motion failed on a roll call vote, with four council members voting yes (Councilmember Zapf, Council President Pro Tem Kersey, Councilmember Kate and Councilmember Sherman) and five voting no (Council President Cole, Councilmember Bree, Councilmember Ward, Councilmember Alvarez and Councilmember Gomez). The city attorney explained that the failure to obtain a majority meant no action had been taken and directed the chair to call for alternative motions.

Following the failed motion, council members and the applicant discussed whether enforceable conditions could be returned to council. The applicant indicated a willingness to negotiate and to return with additional commitments. Councilmember Sherman moved to continue the item to Oct. 17, 2017; the motion was seconded by Councilmember Kate and passed unanimously.

Next steps: the Legacy International Center item is continued to the council meeting on Oct. 17, 2017. The council asked staff and the applicant to provide more specific information about parking counts, the trip‑generation allocation for theater and accessory uses, and any enforceable conditions the applicant will accept before the council considers the matter again.