An oversize vehicle ordinance that would limit the amount of time that motorhomes and other recreational vehicles can park on city streets is gaining traction, while paid parking is meeting strong resistance.
Walker Parking Consultants, a Los Angeles-based firm hired by the Pacific Beach Community Parking District (PBCPD) to suggest solutions to ease congestion and better manage parking inventory, has recommended metered parking in high-traffic areas such as Garnet Avenue and the beach as well as permits for employees and residents in certain neighborhoods.
“I don’t want any aspect of this parking-management plan to be implemented,” said Warren Barrett at the PBCPD’s monthly meeting Thursday, Feb. 7. “It’s not a minor inconvenience, it’s a major burden that would change my quality of life.”
PBCPD Chairperson Mike McNeill believes that paid parking could ease congestion and improve the infra-structure.
“It’s a win-win,” he said.
“We have an abundance of paid parking in Pacific Beach,” Barrett said. “That’s not the problem.”
A combination of unpaid and metered parking could strike the right balance, said PBCPD member Jim Menders. Commenting on businesses’ needs to provide parking for customers’ and residents’ concerns about meters, he said, “I understand both sides of the issue.” Menders suggested installing one meter for every business.
Barrett, who has lived in Pacific Beach for 19 years and currently lives a few blocks from the recreation center, says that occasional parking problems on Friday and Saturday nights and in the summer do not warrant meters and other “drastic measures.”
Others believe that Pacific Beach has a serious parking problem.
“I could sell parking on my front lawn if I wanted to,” said longtime resident Larry Salus.
“If a spot opens up, it’s filled immediately,” McNeill said.
The amount of congestion depends on the season, said several attendees.
“The beach has always been busy in the summer,” agreed Irith Abada. Calling meters and permits “way over the top,” she said that before installing meters, the city should enforce existing parking regulations.
The number of garages illegally rented as storage units is just one example of inadequate enforcement, Pacific Beach Town Council (PBTC) Director Joe Wilding said.
“That’s somebody’s parking space,” he said.
Enforcement has been a recurring theme in the dialogue on parking. The city recently authorized 68 additional enforcement officers. The problem is that most applicants cannot pass the rigorous screening process, PBCPD member and Discover Pacific Beach Executive Director Benjamin Nicholls said.
Lack of enforcement has been a complaint among many beach residents, who say that motorhomes, trailers and other oversize vehicles are parked for weeks on end on city streets and at the beach ” well beyond the 72 hours they are legally allowed.
The City Council recently reviewed an ordinance that would prohibit oversize, nonmotorized and recreational vehicles in the pilot area of beach communities from parking on any public street between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Targeted vehicles would also be prohibited from parking withing 50 feet of any intersection.
The council last discussed the measure in 2005. At that meeting, RV owners greatly outnumbered supporters of the ordinance, and council voted it down.
Councilman Kevin Faulconer, Councilwoman Donna Frye and Council President Scott Peters recently reintroduced the topic.
“I think it was very well-received at City Hall,” Nicholls said.
The revised ordinance does not include sport utility vehicles, focusing instead on vehicles that are 22 feet long and 7 feet high and larger.
The City Council would like to implement the ordinance citywide instead of confining it to a pilot area.
“It’s a huge mistake to take it citywide,” PBCPD member Chris Olson said.
“It’s more of an issue here (in the beach communities),” agreed PBCPD member J.D. Crowe.
If the city were to restrict the program to a pilot area, it would be required to post signage at every entrance, which could be costly, McNeill said. A citywide program also would not require a map, Nicholls said.
In response to some attendees’ concerns that commercial vehicles would be cited, McNeill said the ordinance would target “RVs that sit on streets for days and weeks at a time.”
The council will revisit the issue in late March.
“I think this issue is just getting started. I think it is really critical for neighborhood folks to show up,” Nicholls said. “RV owners are not going to sit down and be quiet.”
Community input will also play a role in the parking plan that the PBCPD presents to City Council. McNeill said the parking advisory board will come up with a parking management plan, submit it to the city’s Traffic and Engineering Department for review, get input from the community and present their final plan to City Council for approval.
The PBCPD is currently barred from taking any official action, however, while the city hammers out a conflict of interest code. The measure is designed to ensure transparency and that no party is secretly benefiting from decisions made by parking advisory boards, Melisa Tintocalis, the city’s community parking district administrator, said.
The code came about when residents who were concerned that La Jolla’s parking board was not adhering to the Fair Political Practices Act hired an attorney to investigate. The code “is in limbo right now temporarily,” Tintocalis said.
The PBCPD’s next meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 13, at the Pacific Beach Recreation Center, 1405 Diamond St. Meeting date and location are subject to change. Call (858) 273-3303 to confirm.
For more information visit www.pacificbeachparking.org, call Discover Pacific Beach at (858) 273-3303 or e-mail PBCPD Vice Chairperson Patrick Finucane at [email protected].