Does Midway Rising really need to be 250 feet in height to pencil out?

Re “How Midway Rising plans to breach 30-foot height limit” (Nov. 30): I question the assertion that a developer can simply claim that it needs an incentive/waiver to be able to afford to build affordable housing. Is it really the city’s burden to prove otherwise? Is that how the city negotiates an exclusive negotiating rights lease? Does Midway Rising need to be 250 feet in height? Can’t it afford to build within 86 feet, as it originally proposed to get selected?

Midway Rising is proceeding using state affordable housing incentives to circumvent the court’s rejection of Measure C, which exempted the Midway District from height limits. Yet a rezone is needed. A different zone than the higher requested zone still allows the proposed density with the affordable housing density bonus but 100 feet in height, enough to allow the original 86 feet.

Is this really about project affordability — or about higher profits from luxury units? Is this the public will?

— John Ziebarth, Point Loma