By Ken Williams |Editor

After years of lively debate about a proposed connector between the massive Civita development in Mission Valley and northern ridge neighbor Serra Mesa, the controversial issue is racing toward the finish line.

The project, informally known as the Franklin Ridge Road Connection, is considered vital to traffic circulation in Civita as well as Mission Valley. But opponents in Serra Mesa worry that the connection would bring unwanted traffic congestion in their community.

Franklin Ridge Road is one of the major arteries in Civita, connecting at Civita Boulevard and heading north and west to meet up with Via Alta. It is at this point that the city is proposing to connect Franklin Ridge Road to Phyllis Place in Serra Mesa. Phyllis Place provides access to Interstate 805. The connection is described as a “four lane collector road including bicycle and pedestrian facilities.”

This would provide a convenient surface-road link from Mission Valley and Civita to Serra Mesa, and could help relieve traffic on Mission Center Road that connects the two communities.

The city’s Planning Department on April 18 issued a public notice of a draft program environmental impact report (PEIR) on the project formally known as the Serra Mesa Community Plan Amendment Street Connection.

Until June 20, the city is taking public comments that will be included in the final document which will be considered by decision-makers. The city’s Planning Department will make a recommendation on the project to the City Council, which has the final say.

Meanwhile, the Ad Hoc Subcommittee of the Mission Valley Planning Group, the local advisory group, will examine the PEIR on Thursday, May 26 from 4 – 6 p.m. at the Mission Valley Library. The topic is likely to end up on the agenda when the full planning group meets June 1 at noon at the library.

According to the April 18 public notice, the city’s Planning Department’s recommended finding is: “The draft PEIR concludes that the project would result in significant environmental impacts to the following areas: transportation/circulation. In addition, the proposed FPA would result in potentially significant but mitigable impacts to the following issue areas: noise, biological resources, hydrology/water quality, historical resources, and paleontological resources.”

To read the public notice, visit bit.ly/1rDKTyr. To read CEQA documents, visit bit.ly/1T83xYl.

—Ken Williams is editor of Mission Valley News and Uptown News and can be reached at [email protected] or at 619-961-1952. Follow him on Twitter at KenSanDiego, Instagram account at KenSD or Facebook at KenWilliamsSanDiego.