SAN DIEGO—From permit-expedite programs for affordable housing and sustainable projects to the passing of the City of San Diego Climate Action Plan, there is much support for both types of development, BNIM's associate principal, architecture, Matt Winter tells GlobeSt.com. The firm is designing a new residential development in San Diego called Keeler Court Apartments in the Southcrest neighborhood for which Winter is the project manager.

The project has received approval from the Southcrest Planning Board, and a site-development permit has been approved by the hearing officer of the San Diego City Council. BNIM will partner on the development with general contractor Highland. The developer/owner is Community Housing Works.

Keeler Court Apartments will provide 71 studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartment homes on a 1.61-acre site at Keeler Ct. and Alpha St. The site, which offers views to Downtown and the Coronado Bridge, is immediately adjacent to many amenities including the Southcrest Park and Recreation Center and Northgate Market.

The project, which is registered for GreenPoint Certification, includes two four-story buildings connected with exterior bridges. Its design minimizes solar heat gain to the units, allows views, and promotes natural ventilation. The development includes a manager's unit, laundry room, multi-purpose room, bicycle storage, accessible exterior circulation, on-grade covered and open parking and common landscape, hardscape, and family areas.

We spoke with Winter about the project and how to get residential projects built in San Diego.

GlobeSt.com: What makes Keeler Court unique?

Winter: Keeler Court has multiple sustainable features, many that don't show up on a certification checklist. These features are not just limited to just water, energy, and materials management. Appropriate development, access and mobility, health and well-being, habitat and ecosystem and community identity were all very important when developing the project. These features allow for active community engagement when developing a project. To use item 6 below, active exterior circulation, as an example, BNIM deemphasized the elevator and brought the stairs to the forefront of the project. This is meant to encourage a more active lifestyle; indeed, BNIM has found stair usage has gone way up when celebrating this building feature, rather than hiding it in within an enclosed shaft at a far end of a building.

Sustainable features in this project include:

1 – Playground protective surface

2 – Photovoltaic system

3 – Lightwells at corridors

4 – Passive ventilation

5 – Natural daylight

6 – Active exterior circulation

7 – Light penetration

8 – Biofiltration basin

9 – Infiltration lawn

10 – Community garden

11 – Shade trees

12 – Maximum daylight orientation via building positioning

GlobeSt.com: What are the elements necessary to get much-needed residential projects built in San Diego?

Winter: Most multifamily development projects in San Diego need to go through some kind of development permit before building permit, requiring review by the neighborhood planning group. The key to neighborhood support always falls back on good, thoughtful design and early engagement with the community. Without those two pieces, support is usually hard to find even in the face of a community need. The most important element is having an outstanding, engaged developer like Community Housing Works, which develops all its projects with great design aspirations, deep sustainable goals and strong community engagement.

GlobeSt.com: Is it true that projects with an additional “edge” such as a green certification or affordability are more likely to get approved to be built?

Winter: For development and building permits, the City of San Diego Development Services Department has a permit-expedite program for both affordable housing and sustainable Projects. Additionally, since the passing of the City of San Diego Climate Action Plan, there has also been a top-down approach to supporting both types of projects within the city of San Diego. This has also paid dividends during the permit process above and beyond time savings associated with the expedite programs. In addition to further decreases in time spent associated with permits, there has been noticeable increase in cross-departmental cooperation required to resolve complex interagency issues that arise with any large-scale development.

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