Court Grants CBLG’s Preliminary Injunction Halting Pacific Beach Chalcifica ADU Project

​In a significant development for neighborhood and environmental protections in San Diego, Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal issued a preliminary injunction halting progress on a proposed 136-unit ADU project in Pacific Beach. The injunction, issued on December 19, 2025, requires City officials to cease processing permits and approvals until a proper review of the project’s environmental and cultural impacts is completed.

The proposed Chalcifica development would consist of six three-story structures containing 136 ADUs and 70 parking spaces on a roughly three-acre site near the intersection of Bluffside Avenue and Pacifica Drive. The City initially processed the application as a ministerial project under its ADU bonus program, without discretionary environmental review.

In August 2025, Chatten-Brown Law Group filed a lawsuit against the City and the developer alleging the project raises significant environmental and public safety concerns including traffic congestion, inadequate parking, and wildfire evacuation constraints. The project is located within a high fire hazard severity zone and encompasses land of substantial cultural significance as the former location of a Kumeyaay village.

The lawsuit argues that the scale and impacts of the project trigger discretionary review and require compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act. In granting the injunction, Judge Bacal determined that petitioners demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits, a key standard for temporary judicial relief. By halting permit processing, the Court ensured that the City must now analyze the project’s impacts in a comprehensive environmental review, including tribal consultation, before any further approvals may proceed.

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San Diego Union Tribune Article

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