Rancho Bernardo residents get their first structured chance to weigh in on a proposed 122-townhome development at a Development Review Committee meeting Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 6 p.m.

The committee, a subcommittee of the Rancho Bernardo Community Planning Board, will consider a Community Plan Amendment Initiation for the project at Seven Oaks Community Center, 16789 Bernardo Oaks Dr. The item is listed as an action item on the DRC's September agenda.

KB Home and civil engineering firm Latitude 33 want to rezone roughly 5.5 acres at 11818 Bernardo Plaza Ct. from business to residential use. The site development plans call for 122 units across five floor plans: 50 two-bedroom townhomes and 72 four-bedroom townhomes, at a density of 22.6 units per acre. Thirteen units would be set aside as affordable at 100% of area median income.

The developer's presentation to the DRC describes the initiation vote as a limited procedural step. It would allow the city to study the potential impacts of the proposed community plan amendment. It is not an approval of the project itself, according to the KB Home presentation.

Parking remains a flashpoint

The latest site plans show 261 total parking spaces: 244 garage spaces and 17 open or accessible spaces, or about 2.14 per unit. The site sits in a Transit Priority Area. City code requires zero parking spaces there.

At an Oct. 1, 2024, DRC meeting, parking was flagged as a concern when the project showed only 24 guest spots, according to DRC meeting minutes. Brad Sonnenburg of Latitude 33 and John Abboud of KB Home presented the update at that meeting and said the city review process was expected to take about a year.

The project has gone through four rounds of city planning review between September 2024 and January 2026, the site plans show.

Two-year path to this point

The full Rancho Bernardo Community Planning Board voted 7-2 on July 18, 2024, to approve the Community Plan Amendment Initiation, according to board minutes. Board members June Smith and Gary Long voted against it.

The Bernardo Town Center Property Owner's Association has also voted to change its covenant to allow residential uses on the property, according to the KB Home presentation.

KB Home's two-stage process calls for the Planning Commission and ultimately the San Diego City Council to weigh in after the community planning board acts. No dates for those later steps have been set.

What's next

The full Rancho Bernardo Community Planning Board takes up the same project as Item 7 at its Thursday, Sept. 17, meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Seven Oaks Community Center. As we reported Sept. 14, the full board's 13 seated members will vote on the initiation.

Residents who want to speak on items not on the DRC agenda have three minutes for public comment. The DRC agenda does not specify a time limit for comments on the townhome item itself.