In July, Midway Community Planning Group heard from City Council District 2 why the group’s community plan update is stalled, as well as getting a city progress report on a 7.6-mile pipeline project replacing water and sewer mains in the Midway/Pacific Highway Corridor and Mission Bay areas.
“Councilmember Zapf wants to make sure we have the best possible plan update for the community and the city,” Council aide Conrad Wear told planners pointing out, “there are certain things in the Midway Community Plan that it will be hard to get funding and advocate for in the future.” 
Wear said Zapf is particularly concerned about “various mobility improvements in the plan, especially on Midway and Rosecrans.”
Wear said the Midway Community Plan presently “has no mitigation at Midway and Rosecrans, which is one of the most dangerous intersections in this community and the only way out of the Peninsula.”
Added Wear, “the council woman wants stronger language in the community plan to make some planned mobility improvements eligible for future development impact fees (for road improvements).”
Referencing that projects in the Midway Community Plan are expected to add as many as 11,000 residential units over the next 20 years, Wear said Zapf realizes that “while this isn’t happening tomorrow,” she wants to ensure redevelopment money for infrastructure improvements “will be coming along as that development increases.”
Wear also pointed out Zapf has received a lot of input “from people living here who are saying they can’t get out of the community. They’ve said they want us to advocate for regional traffic improvement projects that will help the community.” Pipeline project
City construction manager Clem Wassenberg clued planners in on the Pacific Beach Pipeline South Replacement Project. That project will replace century-old deteriorating pipelines to avoid future service disruptions such as sewer main stoppages, spills and water main breaks. The new pipelines will bring existing sewer and water mains up to modern standards, accommodate community growth and reduce maintenance.
Wassenberg said the pipeline replacement project will have to cross three bridges and “is now focused on the Midway District,” but added it will be moving forward after that “through Crown Point into the Mission Bay area.”
“Crews are also going from Sports Arena heading south to Rosecrans then down to Barnett Avenue,” Wassenberg said, promising, once roadwork is done, that “roads will be nice and smooth again.”
Added Wassenberg, “We’ll be working until Labor Day, less than two months away, and then we’ll be out of here.”
MCPG will be dark in August and will next meet on Wednesday, Sept. 19.