SAN DIEGO — San Diego has given the green light to shift infrastructure funding from wealthy areas to low-income neighborhoods. The city's goal is to bring more parks, bike lanes and libraries to underserved neighborhoods. Many of these areas are in the southernmost part of the city, south of I-94.
Up until recently, the fees the city collected from developers stayed in the neighborhood where the project happened. The new rules will put the millions of dollars from developer fees into one citywide pot.
"Because there hasn't been a lot of development or investment in the lower income neighborhoods, they've seen a lack of DIF funds," said Andrea Schlatgeter, with the Community Planners Committee.
She said the neighborhoods that will benefit from the change include places like Barrio Logan, San Ysidro, Encanto, City Heights and Navajo. While some of the neighborhoods that could lose money include North Park, Pacific Beach and East Village.
"It's not necessarily the rich neighborhoods won't ever see any kind of development or these fees used there. Like in Ocean beach for example we need a lifeguard station desperately," she said.
With a lifeguard station being public safety, it will be prioritized no matter what neighborhood it's needed in. Overall the new rules aim to level the playing field and build new infrastructure in areas that have been historically underserved.
These new rules will take effect next year. Only developer fees moving forward will be put in this citywide pot of money.
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