Residents and visitors could be paying up to $1.50 per hour to park near the beach, along Garnet Avenue and in certain residential neighborhoods.
The Pacific Beach Community Parking District (PBCPD) inched one step closer to installing meters and implementing residential parking permits at its regularly scheduled monthly meeting, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, at the Earl & Birdie Taylor Library, 4275 Cass St.
The second draft of a proposal prepared by Walker Parking Consultants, the firm the committee hired to analyze Pacific Beach’s parking problems, includes such recommendations as parking meters in busy business districts and residential areas as well as parking permits for residents and employees. Nothing will be final, however, until City Council gives its approval ” and that won’t happen until the PBCPD comes up with a final proposal.
“It’s amazingly frustrating to me to be on this committee two years and not have anything tangible done,” said Committee Vice Chairperson Patrick Finucane.
Finucane was further upset that committee members did not receive the 35-page proposal two weeks before the meeting, as previously agreed. The committee had originally planned to discuss the report at the meeting but did not receive it until that afternoon.
“The idea that we sit around and criticize [the proposal] now is ludicrous,” said Benjamin Nicholls, committee member and executive director of Discover Pacific Beach.
“We are not part of the process,” said Finucane. “There’s no committee input.”
The report was distributed late because the consultant completed it late, Nicholls said. Such projects often take a long time, he said, adding, “It’s running the way these things sometimes run.”
Establishing a timeline is difficult, said Committee Chairperson Mike McNeill, because the consultant also has his own timeline.
Others took issue not with the timeline but with disclosure.
“Why not make [the proposal] available to the public?” asked attendee Chris Olson. “It’s important that the public have access.”
Attendee Jerry Hall echoed his concerns, saying that Walker’s previous proposal felt like a standardized, boilerplate solution that focused too much on meters and not enough on parking structures and other alternatives.
“All I care about is when the public gets to review it,” he said.
McNeill believes that the city’s Traffic and Engineering Department should first review the plan to determine if it is feasible before making all the specifics available to the community. If the committee decides to change the report, releasing it now “may not be a true indication of what the committee plans to put out,” he said.
“We’re moving forward the best we can here,” McNeill said. “We’re moving faster than any of the other communities.”
Under a citywide ordinance, individual communities can devise their own parking rules and regulations, provided City Council approves them.
La Jolla is in the process of implementing a pilot program. They have been able to move faster, Nicholls said, because they have a full-time paid staff devoted to parking issues, whereas Pacific Beach’s parking committee is made up of volunteers.
“Anyone blazing the trail will help us,” McNeill said.
NcNeill does not, however, believe that a pilot program would create lasting change in Pacific Beach.
“We’re going for the whole tamale,” he said.
The committee hopes to have a final community-wide plan by the end of the year.
Making sure that businesses have ample parking needs to be a priority, said Sandra Richardson of Holistixs of San Diego. Congestion from nearby car dealerships makes it difficult for her customers to find parking, Richardson told committee members.
The committee will reconvene to discuss the parking proposal and make recommendations
at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, at the Earl and Birdie Taylor Library. The public is encouraged to attend.
The committee will hold its regularly scheduled monthly meeting Thursday, Nov. 8, 6:30 p.m. at the Taylor Library.