The general consensus at a Dec. 7 public workshop on the new proposed Mid-Coast Balboa Avenue trolley stop in Pacific Beach is that improving the site for multi-modal access is going to be challenging.
City planners asked residents to characterize, in a few words, the status of the future trolley stop, currently a vacant, triangular-shape, Caltrans-owned parcel between I-5 on the west, Morena Boulevard on the east and Garnet and Balboa avenues on the north.
“Already crowded,” “needs pedestrian and bike improvements,” “great opportunity,” “a place to avoid,” “an eyesore,” “an unattractive gateway,” “a homeless hangout,” “auto-oriented land uses,” “untapped environmental resources” and “parking deficient” were some of the audience’s responses.
Those were exactly the types of brainstorming comments the city wanted to hear, said Michael Prinz, city planner and project manager for the Balboa Avenue station. The stop at Balboa Avenue is one of nine trolley stops planned for the Mid-Coast Trolley project that will extend trolley service 11 miles from Sante Fe Depot downtown to University City, ending at UTC and serving major activity centers including Old Town and two stops at UCSD.
“The meeting went well, and we had a good turnout,” said Prinz afterward, noting the city will now compile public input from the Dec. 7 meeting. “We will post it to the PB community profile on the city’s website when it’s ready,” said Prinz. “Additionally, we will prepare a similar presentation for Clairemont that will occur in late January or early February. After that, we will begin identifying concepts to bring back to the community in the next couple of months.”
During a slideshow presentation, Prinz detailed the problems — and hurdles — to be cleared in upgrading the proposed Balboa Avenue site to ready it for the trolley’s arrival.
“This is an overview of the Balboa Avenue Station Area Specific Plan that a PB Planning Group subcommittee is working with us to review the existing conditions of and plan for both land-use and economic and mobility improvements,” said Prinz. “We’re working with community planning groups to get public input and amend their community plans (for trolley preparation).”
Prinz pointed out that the purpose of engaging the PB and Clairemont communities and their planners was to “improve and increase multi-modal travel — pedestrian, bicycling, buses, et cetera — as well as to identify (needed) infrastructure improvements and financing mechanisms.”
Discussing the demographics of the Balboa Trolley stop study area, city planners said PB is a renter’s market with lots of professional business and health services available as well as high-profile auto dealerships. They noted there is a “surge in demand for additional housing.”
PB residents and planners weighed in at the Dec. 7 Balboa Trolley workshop.
“It’s unfriendly to pedestrians and bikers,” said PB subcommittee chair Henish Pulickal.
“It’s a significant riparian habitat with Rose Creek and a significant historical area where Indians used to live on the banks of the creek,” said PB resident Jeffrey Rossan.
“It’s not just a trolley stop to us,” said PB planner Baylor Triplett. “It’s the first impression, the first thing people see when they come into PB. That’s important to note.”
“The I-5 freeway is a huge barrier to overcome,” noted longtime PB planner Chris Olson, adding, “Ideally, we should start out with a blank palette. We should be planning now and into the future.”
“One challenge is to educate the public,” said PB trolley subcommittee member Paula Ferraco. “We need to find ways to incentivize business owners so they make changes for the betterment of the greater community.”
Mid-Coast Trolley construction, costing approximately $2 billion, is expected to begin in 2016 and be completed in 2019. The trolley extension has been designed to provide a viable alternative to highway congestion.
The city has received a $787,000 state grant to begin developing a specific-plan area for the region surrounding the proposed Balboa Avenue Transit Station that would slice through Pacific Beach and Clairemont.
Residents of Pacific Beach and Clairemont are being engaged to produce the plan and an implementation program that would address transportation demand, economic market analysis, urban design concepts and multi-modal improvement projects.
For more information, visit sandag.org.