Midway District’s 30-foot height limit will be restored following California Supreme Court ruling

The state’s highest court has rejected San Diego’s plea to keep intact the 2022 voter-approved ballot measure that removed the 30-foot height limit from the Midway District.

Last week, the justices of the Supreme Court of California formally denied the city of San Diego’s petition for review of the appellate court’s ruling, which found that the city illegally put the ordinance before voters without adequately informing them about the environmental impacts associated with taller builders, as required by California’s Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA.

The denial exhausts the city’s legal options for the 2022 ballot measure, known as Measure C. The trial court must issue a writ of mandate, which will rescind the 2022 ballot measure and restore the height limit in what’s known as the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Plan area.

The decision is a remarkable defeat for the city, which has sought for more than five years to free the expansive, mostly commercial area — currently defined by Pechanga Arena San Diego, supersized streets, strip clubs and warehouses — from a restriction that city leaders believe stands in the way of meaningful redevelopment and new homes. An initial 2020 ballot measure was similarly ruled illegal.

The state Supreme Court also denied the city’s request to depubli...