The Pacific Beach Planning Group (PBPG) on June 25 learned more about the new bike-share program coming to town this summer and endorsed a policy proposal prohibiting the sale of tobacco and “vape” e-cigarettes, as well as sales of drug paraphernalia during community special events.
The bike-share program appears to be rolling ahead as planned.
“PB right now has 20 proposed locations,” said Angela Landsberg, a spokeswoman for the DecoBike company, which last year signed a private, roughly $8 million partnership agreement to create, operate and maintain 180 bike-share stations citywide.
Landsberg is a community liaison who’s been appearing before community planning groups to aid them in going through the public vetting process for bike station sites in their areas.
“We want to give you as much time as you need to make the best decisions for your community,” she said.
Landsberg said Bikeshare will be available to customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is intended for short-term rentals — a half-hour to an hour and therefore would not compete with existing Pacific Beach bike businesses that rent for longer periods.
“Bikeshare is meant to be fun, convenient, healthy and green transportation,” said Landsberg. “It’s intended to relieve congestion in communities by filling in gaps so people can get on buses and trolleys, then use bikes to get to where they need to be.”
Proposed bikeshare locations are not cast in stone, said Landsberg, noting up to 80 percent of the sites “have been adjusted” in some areas following public vetting.
Landsberg said she plans to return in July to go over the proposed Bikeshare locations with Pacific Beach planners and residents.
Planners also voted 8-3-1 in favor of a motion to recommend to the community’s Special Events Subcommittee that it adopt a vendor policy to prohibit tobacco and “vape/e-cigarettes” and drug paraphernalia sales at public events.
“Our special events are family friendly, and we don’t want vendors promoting unhealthy activities to our young people,” said former planning board member Marcie Beckett after the meeting about her rationale for bringing the proposal forward.
In other business, community planners also discussed two other development projects, a 1,100-square-foot addition to a single-family home at 3427 Riviera Drive and a T-Mobile cell-phone antenna at 2440 Grand Ave.
Following the meeting, PBPG chairman Brian Curry said the group is glad to be able to weigh in on such smaller projects while pointing out that “an applicant for a 60,000-square-foot retail center in the heart of Pacific Beach (Ingraham Street and Garnet Avenue) was not required to appear at the PBPG or engage in any community outreach.”
This situation results in “an incredible disconnect on forward planning,” Curry said.
The PBPG meets the fourth Wednesday of the month from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Pacific Beach/Taylor Branch Library, located at 4275 Cass St.