Hundreds packed the voluminous St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral in Bankers Hill March 24 for what some called the largest Uptown Planners meeting in recent history.<\/p>\n
The gathering was not the community planning group\u2019s normal monthly meeting, but a special single-agenda item hearing for the SANDAG Bike Corridor through Uptown. While the Uptown Planners is purely an advisory body to the city on land-use and development issues, SANDAG staff said following input received from the meeting, the agency will reassess plans for the bicycle corridor.<\/p>\n The 6 p.m. meeting, which took place in a much larger hall than the group\u2019s typical Hillcrest venue, marked the last actions of several members, including longtime chair Leo Wilson, who has served intermittently since the Clinton administration. Wilson and other outgoing members passed strongly worded motions at the special meeting that rejected the SANDAG plan outright.<\/p>\n The meeting began with some disorganization, with Wilson\u2019s introduction of a SANDAG representative quickly devolving into boos and shouting. Elizabeth Hannon of the nonprofit Uptown Community Parking District, rather than the SANDAG representative, gave an impromptu presentation of the plan\u2019s basics.<\/p>\n More than fifty residents and bicycle advocates gave public comment over the course of two hours. Approximately half spoke in favor of the SANDAG plans, which would construct several miles of protected bikeways through Uptown\u2019s urban core, while others criticized SANDAG for what they saw as an overreaching or poorly executed plan.<\/p>\n After public comment closed, the planning board deliberated for another hour, eventually passing four unanimous motions condemning SANDAG\u2019s plan. The crowd had thinned considerably by then, with only a small group of community activists and dedicated community newspaper editors remaining. Some attendees left to participate in a candlelight vigil through Bankers Hill honoring victims of fatal bicycle accidents.<\/p>\n Of the four unanimous motions, the first was intentionally the most straightforward: \u201cWe find the current SANDAG proposal to be unsatisfactory and unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n The board also passed motions to ask SANDAG to reopen the planning process, to avoid closing University Avenue anywhere along the route and to mitigate parking losses, among other recommendations.<\/p>\n While Wilson abstained from voting as the board chair, he created the majority of the language for the motions and led deliberations on them. Bike San Diego Executive Director Samantha Ollinger, a vocal critic of Wilson\u2019s, said it was wrong to pass such strong motions a week prior to a new board being sworn in. Ollinger also broadly critiqued what she saw as a history of inaction by the Uptown Planners since its creation in the 1970s.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the fact that [the Uptown Planners] have shown zero leadership on making the streets safer during their entire existence, I\u2019m not sure they actually have any idea how to make Uptown safe, with or without any input,\u201d Ollinger said.<\/p>\n \u201cAll they have to show for themselves is a handful of sharrows on University Avenue, three\u00a0bike corrals, a couple blocks of bike lanes, one of which is under lawsuit,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Charles \u201cMuggs\u201d Stoll, director of land use and transportation planning at SANDAG, said that following the input received at the meeting, the agency would reevaluate their plans for the corridor, possibly reexamining the route\u2019s alignment.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven all the comments we got [March 24] on that Mission Hills segment, right now we\u2019re kind of reassessing some project options and how we would present those at the community meetings that we\u2019re going to host this spring,\u201d Stoll said.<\/p>\n SANDAG planned to host a meeting on the bike corridor in Mission Hills April 23, but Stoll said that the meeting may be pushed back following last night\u2019s input.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re gonna spend a little time assessing where we\u2019re at on this,\u201d Stoll said.<\/p>\n A common criticism of the plan is its route down the dense University Avenue. When asked whether or not this reassessment would explore a route realignment, Stoll said that was now a possibility.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we want to review everything we\u2019ve done so far \u2014 we\u2019ve been working on this project for a while \u2014 but it could be,\u201d Stoll said.<\/p>\n This will likely be a sign of success for the plan\u2019s critics, such as the HBA, which recently hired a lobbying firm to advocate on behalf of Hillcrest business interests. HBA board members and staff have criticized the plan for its potential impact on parking and traffic without providing for traffic calming measures.<\/p>\n![\"SANDAG](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/20150324-181237-5DM36238webtop.jpg\")
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