I used to live in San Diego - for years.

We're really lucky in that our county (pretty small population-wise) has a huge percentage of the land set aside as parks or protected farm land. So building is really limited, and sprawl is pretty well contained. However, that does result in a pretty high cost of living and cost of housing. We're pretty much hanging on to our house by our fingernails at this point. But we'll stick it out.

I hope that if population does grow here that the greater Bay Area explores more live/work options in the larger cities, and even in the smaller towns, like mine. Having people densely populate the urban areas is, I think, a good thing in the long run. There definitely is some suburban sprawl in the greater Bay Area, but I also notice a lot more farm land, ranches and parks than in southern CA. And I really like that.