The historic Big Stone Lodge site in Poway could become a city park instead of affordable housing.
The Poway City Council on Sept. 15 directed staff to develop a plan creating an open-space amenity at the parcel and honoring the site's history, according to a city announcement. The parcel, owned by the Poway Housing Authority, is currently on the city's affordable housing inventory list.
Mayor Steve Vaus and Councilmember Anita Edmondson led the council-initiated agenda item. Their proposal stated that the parcel's size and location did not make it ideal for affordable housing and that Poway has limited land left for passive parks and open space.
The direction is not a final approval. Staff must report back with steps the city would need to take to purchase the parcel from the Housing Authority. Staff will also provide a current inventory of parcels zoned for affordable housing to meet Poway's Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) obligations. No date has been set for that follow-up report.
The city may have room to absorb the shift. At the July 21 council meeting, community outreach coordinator Rene Carmichael said, "Under existing zoning the city has identified sites to accommodate a surplus of 202 affordable units approved by State Housing and Community Development," as the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. No rezoning or density increases would be required to redesignate the units assigned to the Big Stone Lodge site, Carmichael said at the time.
Not everyone agreed the surplus should be spent that way. After that same July 21 meeting, Councilmember Jenny Maeda argued that any available land capacity should free Big Stone Lodge from the housing inventory rather than relieve a private developer of affordable-housing obligations tied to a separate Poway Road townhome project, the Union-Tribune also reported.
The lodge dates to the early 1920s, when Dr. Homer Hansen and Daniel Stuck built Camp Big Stone as a resort complex with a lodge for community dances and socials. The building was constructed with granite boulders and massive timber roof beams. Poway's Redevelopment Agency purchased the property in 2003, but officials determined in 2006 that the main building was too deteriorated to save.
The site is designated as Poway Historic Site No. 16 and has been found eligible for the California Register of Historical Resources as a historic district, according to the Save Our Heritage Organisation. Historical preservation records describe the parcel as 1.7 acres.
Staff's follow-up report to the council will outline the purchase process and updated RHNA inventory.
