When it comes to doing the business of metropolitan planning at the San Diego Association of Governments or SANDAG, small cities like Coronado have a voice – but it’s pretty small.
And that’s rubbing some members of the Coronado City Council the wrong way.
A board of directors composed of mayors, council members and county supervisors from each San Diego County’s local governments controls SANDAG, which addresses regional issues. It also is the metropolitan planning and regional transportation organization.
But a weighted voting system enacted in 2018 from a state law gives more power to San Diego County’s larger government jurisdictions by giving them more votes. Coronado, one of the smaller cities, has just one vote in the weighted system, and council members want a change.
However, even though Coronado and other small cities in San Diego County like Imperial Beach and Del Mar would like it re-examined, if they voted on it, it would probably lose…because of the weighted vote.
The City Council on February 7 discussed the problem, and it’s not the first time Coronado and these other smaller cities have expressed their dissatisfaction.
San Diego County and the city of San Diego are allotted a total of 57 votes out of 100. That gives those government entities a majority, regardless of the votes in cities like Coronado, Imperial Beach and Del Mar, which also have one vote each. That means small cities have very little input over SANDAG’s plans and agendas.
In January, the San Diego Union Tribune reported that Republicans and more than a half dozen cities stormed out of a public SANDAG meeting after Democrat leaders voted to install two high-profile elected officials to oversee the agency.
Coronado City Council member John Duncan said all the smaller cities and medium cities felt like they weren’t being heard or having the chance to discuss issues at SANDAG because every weighted vote shuts down those communities.
Duncan said if a question or concern was brought up at SANDAG, a weighted vote was called, and SANDAG was able to shut down the request for comments.
“I’m hoping for a change,” Duncan says.
John Kirk, general counsel at SANDAG, could not be reached.
Mayor Richard Bailey directed city staff to work with lawmakers to return to the previous voting system, which included a tally-vote to include the input from all cities within the region as well as a weighted vote on matters that affected a broader, county population.
The council voted to keep this issue on its goals for 2023, along with improving beach water quality and increasing the supply and affordability of housing while retaining local decision-making.
Meanwhile, the issue of affordable housing was one of the more recent legal matters that had been overturned by this weighted voting system.
Late last year, Coronado asked to lower its state-mandated affordable housing obligations due to lack of space and other federal restrictions imposed on the city, home to Naval Base Coronado, but this discussion at SANDAG never happened.
This resulted in a new requirement of affordable housing jumping from 50 units to 912 units.
In regards to the issue of the weighted vote, Council member Casey Tanaka advised to proceed with caution.
“I very much support what Mayor Bailey is saying,” Tanaka said. “But there are other nuances as to why other cities support or oppose the weighted vote…[it’s to] make sure that we’re not tilting at windmills or that we’re not making our status amongst the other cities in the county or the state worse.”
The weighted vote continues to spark dissatisfaction among Coronado and other smaller cities, but making sure that a more diverse coalition of groups is formed is important in order to move forward on regional governmental issues, says council member Tanaka.
