Can La Mesa’s small-town charm withstand Sacramento’s growing housing push?That’s a question some of the city’s leaders are asking.On July 1, Senate Bill 79, the “Abundant and Affordable Homes Near Transit Act,” will become state law. The law is expected to bring a major shift in California land-use policy as it takes on the state’s housing shortage. Locally, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) will oversee coordination, planning and guidance for the rollout.Senate Bill 79’s focus is to create housing opportunities by allowing more development near public transit. In an effort to drive down housing prices, the state is mandating the construction of 2.5 million homes over the next eight years — with at least 1 million earmarked for lower-income households earning 80 percent or less of the Area Median Income (AMI).According to the California Association of Realtors, the statewide median price for a single-family home climbed to a record-breaking $914,810 in early 2026. San Diego County’s median is even higher at $922,000, and Zillow breaks down La Mesa’s home prices as ranging from $825,000 to nearly $838,000.But as La Mesa City Councilmember Laura Lothian notes, SB 79 is not about building what most people think of when they hear the word “homes” — it’s about developing multi-unit apartments.“The city of San Diego approved 10,000 home permits earlier this year,” Lothian said. “Those are apartment buildings with hundreds of units.”Lothian added that “86 percent of Americans would rather live in a single-family residence.” (Recent data from the Pew Research Center places that number slightly lower, reporting that 60 to 70 percent of U.S. residents say they prefer single-family homes).In essence, SB 79 will strip cities of zoning control within a half-mile radius of major transit hubs, allowing developers to build higher-density multifamily housing projects. Unlike Mission Valley or downtown San Diego, already designed for dense development, La Mesa features single-family and low-density neighborhoods next to its five stops along the San Diego Trolley: Grossmont Center, La Mesa Boulevard, Spring Street, Amaya Drive and 70th Street. Under SB 79, every property within a half-mile of those stations will be affected.The law also encourages the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) to use its underutilized land, including parking lots, for housing development.
Behind-the-scenes preparation
As the July 1 implementation deadline approaches, La Mesa is quietly preparing.According to Assistant City Manager Amanda Lee, city staff are “actively evaluating implementation options, including potential phasing and safety exemptions that could eventually be brought before the Planning Commission and City Council.”“However, the exact boundaries of where these rules will apply remain in limbo,” Lee said. “SANDAG is legally authorized to publish the region’s official transit-oriented development stop maps, but those maps have yet to be released to local cities.”SB 79 bypasses local city councils by establishing strict state zoning standards centered around these transit-oriented development stops. For areas adjacent to the trolley, buildings up to eight stories tall will be permitted directly next to stations; six-story buildings will be allowed within a quarter-mile radius. Larger projects of more than 10 stories must dedicate at least 7 percent of units to extremely low-income, 10 percent to very low-income, and 13 percent to lower-income households — or match local inclusionary requirements, whichever is higher.Research from UC San Diego’s Center for Housing Policy and Design indicates that expanding development rights can drive up property values within walking distance of transit by 15 to 20 percent.Cities won’t be able to reject qualifying projects, but they aren’t completely powerless.Local jurisdictions can pass their own alternative transit-oriented development plans to shift density, or request exemptions from the California Department of Housing and Community Development for areas with physical barriers like canyons, freeways, historic resources, or high wildfire risks.
Housing mandates and local leverage
La Mesa is steadfast in working toward existing state housing mandates. For the current 6th Cycle housing element that runs through 2029, the city’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment target is 3,797 new units.According to La Mesa’s General Plan Housing Element, that breaks down to 429 units for extremely low income (30 percent or less of AMI), 430 units for very low income, 487 units for low income, 577 units for moderate income and 1,874 for above moderate income.In 2025, La Mesa issued 254 new building permits and saw 239 completed units hit the market. That included 8181 Allison, a $71 million, 147-unit affordable housing project built at the city’s former police station in downtown La Mesa.Councilmember Patricia Dillard, La Mesa’s point person on the MTS board, said being at the table allowed her to fight an original development plan for a site at the Spring Street Transit Center that was heavily skewed toward studio apartments.“I said, ‘Have you lost your mind? We need families.’ Families need help, not just individuals hanging out on their balconies,” Dillard recalled. “There’s not a lot of space in La Mesa. We have to work with what we have.”Dillard is also pushing for hard data once residents move in, requesting that MTS monitor trolley ridership at the Spring Street project to prove that transit-adjacent housing actually drives down car usage.“We have to go by the law of the land, and we will certainly not divert from that,” she said. “We have been as active as possible when it comes to affordable housing.”
The stress of balancing needs
Other local leaders are divided on whether SB 79 is the right tool to close the remaining housing gap.Colin Parent, former La Mesa City Councilmember and current CEO and general counsel for Circulate Planning & Policy, acknowledges that “no bill is perfect, but this is an example of the legislature trying to affirm that cities have to do a better job.”Parent rejects the common complaint that high-density housing ruins local parking.“The core idea is that attractive neighborhoods get crowded. You go to destination restaurants in San Diego like Little Italy and North Park, and you can’t imagine those places with excess parking,” Parent said. “It used to be parking in La Mesa was easier because nobody wanted to be there.”He views the downtown La Mesa “renaissance” as a direct result of bringing more housing to the city’s urban core.La Mesa Councilmember Genevieve Suzuki views the law as a delicate, often stressful balancing act.“In a perfect world, SB 79 would be embraced… people who work in the area would live there, or people would use MTS to get there,” Suzuki said. “But in the real world, everyone wants their own car and to park their car where they go.”Suzuki points to recent successes, like the 70-unit Meritage Homes project at Jericho Road off Amaya Drive, where the developer voluntarily listened to community concerns and added guest parking despite transit laws allowing them to bypass it.“It’s one of those things — damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” Suzuki says of the state mandate. “SB 79 is definitely a continued shift toward state-mandated housing policy near transit.”
Defending local control
Lothian, a licensed realtor who sees La Mesa Village as a major attraction for visitors and a main driver of business for the entire city, views SB 79 as a direct threat to the city’s historic character.“Multi-apartments are hated,” Lothian said. “For 114 years, our downtown has been a village, and we haven’t had these high-rises. Now, starting to get them dramatically changes the vibe of the city.”Lothian calls the idea that apartment tenants will seamlessly ditch their vehicles a “willful misunderstanding” of Southern California life, noting that relying on transit gives up the autonomy of a private car and often takes five times longer.She urges residents not to treat the law as a done deal, promising to hunt for legal loopholes — such as state provisions that allow a city to halt a project if it can prove a catastrophic negative impact on parking within a half-mile radius.“If you have the political will and the votes, you can fight this,” Lothian said, “People say they want to retain our ‘small-town feel’… and I hate that ‘NIMBY’ thing. Because if you care about your own community, your own town, and somebody wants to wreck it with steel and concrete, it’s not fair. Put these tall buildings near freeways, not with charming buildings.”
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