Voltaire project a set-back
As one of the Peninsula Community Planning Board (PCPB) members actively involved in the project appeal that was the subject of the article, “Building set-backs,” (Peninsula Beacon, Oct. 19), I would like to better explain why the PCPB appealed the project to the City Council.
The lead in the story described Mike Stevens as a “longtime Point Loma resident and urban planner” who “has ideas for improving the community.” Mr. Stevens is a developer. Developers are in business to make money. Improving the community is never uppermost on a developer’s mind but it is always foremost in the public presentation of their projects. Always. Protecting the community and its quality of life is uppermost on the minds of the volunteers who serve on the PCPB; none of us have a financial interest in the outcome.
The PCPB opposed the project because it will add more traffic to a part of the community that is currently severely impacted, to the point that the affected streets already carry far more traffic than they are designed for. This area is dangerous. Mr. Stevens’ project will exit traffic onto Catalina Boulevard from Whittier Street between Voltaire Street and Nimitz Boulevard. This street has a design capacity of 10,000 cars per day but currently carries more than 21,000 cars per day. This is before the project is built. Mr. Stevens’ project will also exit traffic onto Voltaire Street that currently carries 13,400 cars per day. The design capacity for this stretch of Voltaire is 15,000 cars per day but it empties into an intersection at Catalina and Voltaire where the other three streets are designed for only 10,000 cars per day.
Technically, this project will not impact traffic because the traffic is already so far below an acceptable level that it is impossible to reduce the rating further. The City agrees that the streets are at a Level of Service graded as “F” on a scale of “A” to “F.” This is unacceptable according to the City’s standards, but the project does not cross the technical threshold to prevent it from being built. The illogical thinking is, yes, the jar of marbles is full to the brim so what difference will more marbles make.
One of the proposed traffic improvements opposed by the PCPB was removal of the existing traffic signal at the intersection of Wabaska and Voltaire and placement of a three-way stop sign. This meant that 13,400 cars per day on Voltaire would have to stop at a stop sign every time they passed. Wabaska only carries 2,800 cars per day. At the City Council meeting (on Oct. 10) we learned the new proposal was to remove the light and simply place a stop sign at Wabaska. This will make entering Voltaire from Wabaska an impossibility several times during the day. The signal removal is the goal because without it, access to the new project will be a problem. Make no mistake, it is not a proposed change to improve the intersection, it is a proposed change to benefit the developer. And what of the Whittier exit onto Catalina? Some new striping and a sign is the solution for the most severely impacted location.
Mr. Stevens’ oft-professed desire to provide a biking and walking atmosphere is unrealistic. The Class 3-bike lane on Voltaire will have no place to go once the traffic changes are made on Voltaire. He does hope folks will walk across the street where he plans to have a new Blueberry Hill Hamburger restaurant along with a Domino’s Pizza. Curiously, the Blueberry Hill restaurant and its attendant traffic never came up during the project approval process.
During the City Council hearing, every person who spoke on Mr. Stevens’ behalf had a financial interest in the project “” if not directly, certainly indirectly. The opposition had none.
The PCPB’s position is that this project is too dense for this geographically constrained location and its presence will impact the lives of everyone who has to use this traffic corridor. There is another development planned directly across the street that will add another 21 residential units and 5,338 square feet of commercial space. To the west, Mr. Stevens is building four condominiums behind his Voltaire Street office building. To the east, a single family home was demolished and four new condos were built. The PCPB has been unable to get an answer for what is planned for the empty lot at the corner of Voltaire and Catalina; something will surely go there. Our concern is the whole area, not just Mr. Stevens’ project. We asked the city to provide and independent, objective traffic study for this whole area before granting any more development permits. The city did not listen. And the residents will have to live with the increased congestion and danger that comes with frustrated motorists and the children who use these streets to go to Correia Junior High, Dana Middle School, and Point Loma High School.
Geoff Page, Peninsula Community Planning Board