A proposed four-story, high-density mixed-use apartment building is irking Point Loma community members because of concerns about its height and expected impact on traffic.

The building is planned to be located at 1004 Rosecrans St. at Talbot Street, on a site formerly occupied by San Diego County Credit Union.

The project is under review with the San Diego Department of Development Services for a building permit. The application, submitted in August, calls for 56 apartments, eight of which would be designated as affordable to low-income households, and 1,700 square feet of commercial space on the first floor.

There would also be underground parking for up to 45 spaces.

Community members attended the Peninsula Community Planning Board’s online meeting on Oct. 17 to voice their concerns about the development’s potential effects on the area.

PCPB President Fred Kosmo said the scale of the project and the apparent lack of parking are particular problems.

“If it were two stories and 20 units with proper parking, that would be a whole different enchilada, and we would be happy to have that conversation,” Kosmo said.

The property is owned by a business entity called North Star Homes LP. The listed agent for North Star Homes is Michael Contreras, owner of MC Properties, according to the California Secretary of State’s registry.

MC Properties’ website says it manages apartment properties in Spring Valley, Chula Vista, La Mesa, Lakeside, El Cajon and Fallbrook.

Contreras and MC Properties have faced criticism in the past over steep rent increases and allegations of tenant neglect.

Contreras did not provide comment to the Monthly Loma-OB Point.

Eric Law, who heads the PCPB’s project review subcommittee, said the board’s questions to the owner also went unanswered.

Law listed several ways the proposed building would exceed the limits of city regulations.

“At four stories above ground, this exceeds the coastal height limit of 30 feet,” Law said. “The project also exceeds the floor space ratio (the size of a building in relation to its land). Even with a density bonus, the FAR is limited to 2.5. There is no way this project will not exceed that.

Sally Bixler, president of the Point Loma Assembly, whose main building is across Talbot Street, said the increased density would have serious impacts on traffic and parking in the area.

“Parking has always been an issue with us, and we believe this will prevent people from accessing our monthly meetings, as well as the Point Loma Playhouse (which uses the building for its productions),” Bixler said.

Resident Sally Vissman said such a proposal for that area was “mind-boggling”.

“I think there are security concerns in the La Playa area because there is a bottleneck and an entrance and an exit,” Vissman said. “Introducing something this dense is a concern.”

Law decried the possible addition of additional vehicles to the existing traffic volume.

“Cabrillo Elementary School is directly behind it, and that space is tight,” Law said. “Just driving past this building is a nightmare. I don’t take my truck there because it would take away my mirrors. With 56 units, you would have 60 cars abandoned on a street with nowhere to put them.

The site is also near the Jennings House and several other historic homes, he said.

Rebecca Vogel, principal of Cabrillo Elementary School, declined to comment.

Richard Berg, a spokesman for the Department of Development Services, said the project’s permit review will include whether it meets the city’s parking and traffic standards.

The project process is ministerial, meaning applicants do not need to seek public input and review by city staff need not include public hearings.

That sparked frustration from Mike Bixler, Sally’s husband, who said such proceedings lacked public visibility.

“I am extremely bothered by the fact that those who have the right to see the plans in their entirety… do not have the opportunity to see them,” he said. “As far as I know, when you file a building permit, it becomes a public document and, by law, the public and their agencies and interests have the right to view it.”

Kosmo called the department’s process a “total departure” from previous plans and said the city was putting the public “out of the loop.”

However, by designating some of the housing as affordable, the Rosecrans project benefits from a density bonus as part of the city’s “Complete Communities” initiative, which aims to strengthen housing and mobility.

Two larger residential projects in Pacific Beach have drawn similar opposition from residents in that area.

One of them is a 239-foot, 22-story development proposed for Turquoise Street that would include 213 apartments, 10 of which are aimed at very low- and middle-income families, above ground-floor stores.

This project, now under review by Development Services, would bypass San Diego’s voter-approved 30-foot coastal height limit through a state density bonus law that supersedes local voter initiatives and rules planning. The law allows developers to expand their buildings to provide certain amounts of housing considered affordable for low-income residents.

Another skyscraper already approved is a plan to build a 60-foot, 60-unit residential building on Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach. Construction is expected to begin in February. Almost all units will be reserved for very low and extremely low income households.

The National Density Bonus Act was passed in 1979 and has been expanded over the years. It requires cities to provide waivers and incentives for projects with deed-restricted housing for low-income households. It was updated last year to clarify that it supersedes local voter initiatives.

Rafael Bautista of the San Diego Tenants Union said that while there is a desperate need for mixed-income residential developments, his organization has opposed Contreras’ business practices and considers him “one of the worst” landlords to work with. the group had to deal.

“He used programs for low-income tenants to beautify properties, improve the exterior, increase the value, and those same tenants he evicted,” Bautista said. “Last year we protested his attempt to evict a building full of tenants.”

PCPB member Margaret Virissimo said she plans to hold a public meeting on the Rosecrans Street project to help galvanize community awareness. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, October 29, at 6 p.m., at the Portuguese Room, 2818 Portugal Avenue, Point Loma.

—La Jolla Light writer Noah Lyons contributed to this report.