Beachgoers could be paying as much as $3 per hour to park near the beach and some residents could also be paying up to $10 per month to park in front of their homes if the Pacific Beach Community Parking District (PBCPD) votes to adopt the suggestions of Walker Parking Consultants.
Using a $26,000 grant from the Business Improvement District, the PBCPD ” a 13-member advisory board made up of representatives from the Pacific Beach Town Council (PBTC), Discover Pacific Beach, the Pacific Beach Community Planning Committee (PBCPC) and the community at large ” hired Walker to analyze Pacific Beach’s parking issues and devise specific strategies to combat congestion, a shortage of spaces near the beach and other long-term problems.
“It’s a supply and demand issue and that’s how we look at it. Demand is outstripping supply,” Walker consultant Steffen Turoff said at the PBCPD’s monthly meeting Thursday, Jan. 10, at the Pacific Beach Recreation Center, 1405 Diamond St.
The goal, Turoff said, is to “maximize access” for residents and visitors. Maintaining a 90 percent occupancy rate is ideal, he said.
After a series of drafts, Walker’s final proposal recommends metered parking in beach, commercial and some residential areas, with the highest rates in the busiest areas.
For example, during the summer months and other peak seasons, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., motorists would pay $3 per hour to park in a metered spot on Ocean Boulevard, between Grand and Thomas avenues.
During the same time period, parking in a metered space west of Mission Boulevard, from Felspar Street to Pacific Beach Drive, would cost $2.50 per hour.
To park at a meter on Garnet Avenue, between Mission Boulevard and Dawes Street, motorists would pay $1.50 per hour.
A metered spot on Garnet Avenue, between Dawes and Ingraham streets, would cost 25 cents per hour. Rates in most areas would be 50 cents to $1.50 less from 7 to 10 p.m. and during off-peak seasons.
Prices would be at their highest during peak times of the day and year. The plan further suggests parking permits for employees as well as residents who live near the beach and busy business districts like Garnet Avenue.
It’s a hard sell in a laid-back community where many feel the beach ” and free access to it ” is their birthright.
The proposal should be considered “a starting point,” said PBCPD Vice Chairperson Patrick Finucane, who presided in Chairman Mike McNeill’s absence.
“We should take his suggestions, but they’re just suggestions.”
The PBCPD will next solicit feedback from residents and businesses to incorporate into a community plan. If the advisory board votes to approve that plan, it would go to the city for final review and approval.
However, the city’s parking advisory board is currently barred from taking any official action while the city writes a policy to ensure there are no financial conflicts of interest. The PBCPD’s scheduled January elections also are on hold.
“It’s really important that the community find its plan through the real voice of the community,” Finucane said.
The 15 community members in attendance voiced strong concerns about paying for parking.
“Moving from free to paid parking ” it’s a quick jump,” said Jerry Hall.
A parking space, Turoff said, “is a piece of Southern California real estate.” Residents and visitors can “either pay with money or time and inconvenience,” he said.
Hall further criticized Walker’s final proposal for failing to offer sufficient alternatives, such as the parking structures and time limits explored in an earlier parking report, the 2002 Wilbur Smith study.
Parking structures were not extensively researched, Turoff said, because Pacific Beach lacks the space and they are “frightfully expensive.”
Other suggested solutions such as angled parking and restriping could increase supply, but only temporarily, Turoff said.
Time limits also are not an effective long-term solution, according to Turoff, because they create “the employee shuffle,” with employees and other motorists moving their cars from place to place, without creating new spaces.
In addition to employee shuttles and satellite lots, the Walker proposal recommends employee permits costing $15 to $20 per month or $45 to $60 per quarter. In the eight hours an employee is parked in front of a business, 16 customers could have been there, Turoff said.
“The point is turnover,” said Turoff. Time limits do not create that and are also difficult and expensive to enforce, he said.
The one issue that everyone seemed to agree on was that enforcement is critical to making any parking solution work.
“We need to enforce existing laws and work with existing structures before we pay for parking,” said Beth LeFriant.
A 40-year Pacific Beach resident who manages an apartment complex, LeFriant said that her tenants often have nowhere to park because oversize vehicles take up spaces for days without receiving a ticket.
A proposed oversize vehicle ordinance that would limit the amount of time that motor homes and other recreational vehicles can park on city streets could go to the City Council by the end of February, said Thyme Curtis of Councilman Kevin Faulconer’s office.
In response to questions on the cost of enforcement, Turoff said, “Real enforcement will pay for itself.” Walker’s proposal recommends that meters be enforced 12 hours a day.
“Enforcement makes money,” agreed PBCPD member and Discover Pacific Beach Executive Director Benjamin Nicholls.
Under city policy, 45 percent of meter revenues go to the community where they are collected. The Walker proposal suggests that meter revenues go toward beautification projects, improved public transit, bicycle racks and creation of new parking inventory.
Installing two multi-space meters on each of the 170 to 180 block faces included in the study would likely cost roughly $5 million, according to the Walker proposal.
Additional startup costs also may include signage, marketing and customer service representatives to help drivers familiarize themselves with the new high-tech devices.
Pacific Beach resident Irith Abada questioned the advisory board’s “primarily financial” motivations. Noting that the group has not conducted a survey of residents, she said, “You don’t really know what people want. You know what you want.”
Many attendees expressed concerns about residential parking permits, which could cost homeowners and tenants in neighborhoods near beach and high-traffic commercial districts $5 to $10 per month, depending on the area. Under current city regulations, the permit program can only charge enough to cover the costs of administering the program.
Acknowledging the additional expense and potential inconvenience of residential permits, Turoff said, “It’s a trade-off that will free up parking spaces on your street.”
Many attendees felt they would be trading existing parking problems for new ones.
Residential permits in one area would create spillover and displacement in other areas, Hall said.
Metered parking in residential areas also raised concerns. In high-traffic areas, meters could cost up to $2 per hour. Beach areas would command the highest rates, with prices tapering inland to 25 to 50 cents per hour.
“You’re asking my friends to pay to visit,” Pacific Beach resident Kevin Gray said. “You’re putting a tax on my visitors. It seems like you’re pushing us down a slippery slope “¦ then you’ve created a parking problem in my neighborhood.”
“There are a lot of trade-offs here,” reiterated Turoff. “Overall more people will have access to parking. I’m not looking at politics, I’m looking at efficiency,” he said.
Residents and business owners will be weighing whether the benefits of paid parking ” revenue for the community and the potentially more parking and less congestion ” justify the costs of greater expense and inconvenience as well as the possibility of new parking problems.
“There’s no problem in Pacific Beach that we can’t solve with people in Pacific Beach,” Nicholls said following the meeting. “This is a puzzle. We just need to figure out how to put the pieces together.”
The PBCPD will hold its next meeting Thursday, Feb. 14, at the Pacific Beach Recreation Center, 1405 Diamond St., at 6:30 p.m.
For more information visit www.pacificbeachparking.org.