About Coastal Caretakers

We are a volunteer organization.  Our members are dedicated to creating a better future for all by being advocates for issues impacting our community, our neighbors, and the world at large.

Coastal Caretakers brings together passionate individuals who strive to protect the precious natural resources of our coastal community and the history of Ocean Beach.  Together, we can empower individuals and communities to create lasting change and create positive changes in our city for all future generations.   

Born and raised in Ocean Beach, Lynne Miller was quoted in The San Diego Union Tribune.

"Lynne Miller of Coastal Caretakers said the policy change is a major threat to something special.

'OB is the last SoCal beach town to maintain its authentic scale and feel,' she said."

"San Diego loosens rules for historic homes, hoping to boost new housing" 

By David Garrick

The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2/25/2026

San Diego loosens rules for historic homes, hoping to boost new housing – San Diego Union-Tribune 

Preservation and Progress Package A will be presented to the San Diego City Council for a vote on February 24, 2026 (unless the city decides to change it). 

If you love Ocean Beach, this is it! IT IS NOW OR NEVER. Please read and forward to other people who might get involved. The changes to the Municipal Code remove all protection for Ocean Beach by name.  You are the people who collectively won when developers wanted a big building at 4705 Point Loma Ave. 

Either we show up in person and on paper IN BIG NUMBERS, or we lose. What do we lose? Around the city we see prison-sized buildings with no visible occupants! If Package “A” passes imagine sites like the old Rite-Aide Drugstore, the west end of Voltaire Street, and Point Loma Avenue. Think of the traffic. Until now, Ocean Beach has been protected as a Historical District. 

The new “Package A” Municipal Code explicitly states that Ocean Beach WILL BE OPENED to sustainable housing developments like Complete Communities Housing Solutions, which are profitable for the city and developers. Any Ocean Beach home and/or lot is a target for development unless the property is specifically designated as historic. Imagine a cute OB cottage entombed by apartments that exceed our current 30’ height limit! 

We are all tired of the City – the Paid Trash pickup, the Paid Parking for Balboa Park, the GetItDone app that doesn’t get much done! We read that 189 units replace 3 older houses in Golden Hills. It all goes along with the price of eggs. Where does it end?

So please, just one more time.  We are just asking you to do two things – write a comment and if you possibly can, go to the City Council Meeting, and bring your friends!!

We ask you to go because there are too many lies. Is it about equity and inclusion? The truth: it is about more people, more profit, more traffic! Have you seen Sunset Cliffs at sunset now? Coastal Zone and CEQA rules are waived for builders, permits are fast-tracked, and we, the people of San Diego, stand by and watch.  Every square inch of a lot is taken up by buildings that do not follow Coastal or CEQA rules.

High-density buildings have been constructed in mass since 2020. At this moment, there is absolutely no proof that we have the housing crisis described by the city.  As evidence, the city would need to know numbers – units built, units occupied, and cost per individual unit.  The city does not have this information, nor any intention of collecting it.

We cannot tell you what date we will holler for help – the city keeps a pretty tight lid on the hearing schedule.  Please join us in person when the time comes, and submit online written objections. 

Package A has now been heard by the Planning Commission and the Land Use & Housing Committee, and passed with no comments about Ocean Beach. The City Council is the last step.  We all appreciate the many people who came to the Planning Commission and/or the Land Use & Housing Committee. You are the soldiers on the front lines.  It isn’t easy to get up and say what you feel. But your presence is part of saying “WE ARE OB. WE ARE HERE.” 

Is it a lost cause? Maybe. But you never know if you don’t try. 

What is the bigger picture?

Allowing these large scale changes in City regulations starts a chain reaction and everything else would likely start to change too.  Throw this batch of regulations out, throw out the 30 foot height limit, and we will turn into Miami.  This is not a far in the distant future possibility or only happening in OB.  There is currently an ADU proposed in PB for 120 units.  That's right, an ADU with that many units.  Yes, that is pretty nuts and that's why it's going to court soon.  Golden Hill received a temporary restraining order in December, that was then overturned, regarding a jumbo plex in the middle of a residential community with single family homes. Some people might like the idea of OB turning into Miami, some might not like that idea.  

If you are a property owner: the property value of anything you own in OB would likely change as a result of new building codes and regulations, and when there is no parking on your street for your 50 new neighbors who have no on site parking at their jumbo plex, you can start to see the value of your property go down as a result.  We will post more specifics for the upcoming City Council meeting on this website closer to the date of the meeting.  We are also on Facebook, where we have been able to keep track of what is in the news and what other environmental and preservation groups are doing throughout San Diego.  

Thank you for your fighting spirit, your moral support, and your encouragement during these tumultuous times!