In October, Midway Community Planning Group elected two new board members and was updated on mobility and traffic impact studies being done for an ongoing update of its community plan.
The two new board members are George Diaz, who owns property on Estudillo Street, and Gil Kennedy, branch manager and vice president of Union Bank, at 3261 Sports Arena Blvd.
Stephen Cook of Chen Ryan Associates and Tanner French and Vickie White from city planning gave a slide presentation and briefed the group on technical mobility and traffic impact studies being done as part of the ongoing community plan update.
White noted the Midway Community Plan, intended to be “viable for the next 20 to 30 years,” was adopted in 1991 and “significantly amended” in 1999.
“We’re here to hear what you have to say and answer questions,” said Cook, who added existing traffic congestion is a major consideration of the plan update.
“The whole Peninsula is constrained, with not a lot of regional access (available),” said Cook, noting there are several “chokepoints with a lot of high-volume traffic” along Rosecrans Street. On the pedestrian side, Cook noted that the area is also difficult for pedestrians and bicyclists to get around in.
Cook also pointed out there “is a lack of transit connections to the airport.”
“We’re going to look at improving bicycle and transit access trying to balance all those modes,” said French.
Group secretary Meg Newcomb said there is “too much emphasis on creating bike lanes in this neighborhood,” adding, “I’ve seen more scooters than bikes around here.”
Colleague Tod Howarth, himself a bicyclist, said the industrial-oriented area with narrow streets and poor supporting infrastructure combine to make it an area cyclists avoid.
Board member Jacob McKean, operator of Modern Times Brewery in Midway, disagreed, noting excessive vehicular traffic combined with poor accessibility for nonmotorized travelers is “the worst of all worlds.
“I think bike access in this neighborhood is going to change a lot,” said McKean, noting the old Cabrillo Hospital is being redeveloped as a center for foreign exchange students who are going to be getting around primarily on bikes.
In other action:
• In the chair’s report, Melanie Nickel noted that EF Education First, a Sweden-based international-language school, which has an existing facility in northern San Diego, has closed escrow on the long-vacant Cabrillo Hospital site in Point Loma. “Work is supposed to begin on grading in January, and they’re going to be gutting the inside of the building starting next summer,” said Nickel. The 10-story Cabrillo Hospital, at 3475 Kenyon St., is being redeveloped into a campus with dormitories serving foreign-exchange students. • The group endorsed a request for vacation of right-of-way on Washington Street between Kurtz and Pacific Highway and heard an information item from a condo complex, The Bay at Point Loma, to convert to a gated community at 3195 Shona Way to resolved problems associated with homeless people frequenting the private property. • Peggy Cooper, of the Regional Airport Authority, told community planners that “we’re 91 days out” from opening the new airport car rental center that has been under construction for months.