TORREY HILLS IN REDISTRICTING TIFF

Community wants to stay with Carmel Valley after council boundary changes

San Diego’s upscale Torrey Hills neighborhood is fighting a plan that would unite it politically with more ethnically diverse Mira Mesa and sever its existing political connection to wealthy Carmel Valley.

Residents fighting the plan, which the city’s Redistricting Commission is scheduled to consider Wednesday night, contend that they have much more in common with Carmel Valley than Mira Mesa.

While many residents’ objections have focused on the schools, shopping plazas and other community features they share with Carmel Valley, some have highlighted differences with Mira Mesa and suggested the change would damage property values in Torrey Hills.

This is the second time during San Diego’s once-every-decade effort to redraw City Council boundaries that residents of a community that neighbors Mira Mesa have resisted being connected to it and have criticized Mira Mesa during the process.

Last summer, Rancho Peñasquitos leaders were accused of stereotyping and denigrating Mira Mesa while lobbying the commission to reverse a 2011 redistricting that divided Peñasquitos between two council districts.

In a letter to the commission, Peñasquitos leaders said Mira Mesa has a higher crime rate, lower incomes and different problems than their neighborhood. While they quickly apologized, the letter prompted significant backlash.

Bari Vaz, president of the Mira Mesa Town Council, said Monday that her reaction to some recent comments from Torrey Hills residents is the same as her reaction was to the Peñasquitos comments last summer.

“Any community or group has the right to present a case as to where they believe their community should be placed on the upcoming