{"id":318579,"date":"2023-01-12T08:42:51","date_gmt":"2023-01-12T16:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/?p=318579"},"modified":"2023-01-17T18:29:27","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T02:29:27","slug":"outdoor-dining-spaces-may-be-removed-for-parking-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/outdoor-dining-spaces-may-be-removed-for-parking-spaces\/","title":{"rendered":"Point Loma outdoor dining spaces may be removed for parking spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"

Merchants are scrambling to comply with a new California Coastal Commission amendment to the City\u2019s Spaces as Places program, which now requires beach businesses to replace vehicular parking displaced by the program.<\/p>\n

In January 2022, the City instituted Spaces as Places, a new program to help COVID-challenged businesses by allowing them to put temporary outdoor dining spaces in the public right-of-way. The City has since made it a permanent change.<\/p>\n

Enter the Coastal Commission, which is charged with guaranteeing coastal access. The Coastal Commission recently attached a condition that parking displaced by Spaces as Places be replaced, arguing the public\u2019s shoreline access was impeded by parking removal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Spaces as Places is expected to improve pedestrian-oriented amenities and promote alternate modes of transit, there are potential adverse impacts to public access associated with the program,\u201d said the Coastal Commission in an executive summary. \u201cPrivate cars and street parking are still the primary means by which the general public accesses the shoreline, and this is likely to be the case for some years to come. Allowing the expansion of private structures and uses into areas currently reserved for public parking, or into parking areas intended to meet the demand associated with private uses, could adversely impact the ability of the general public to access and enjoy the shoreline.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Coastal Commission pointed out that \u201cit can take over 1 \u00bd hours to reach the coast from eastern San Diego, which is also where many of the lower-income communities of the City are located.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe occupation of public parking along the coast, while potentially encouraging nearby residents to walk or bike, will instead likely have a deterrent effect on visitors living much farther away in light of transit time,\u201d said the Coastal Commission. \u201cBecause of the high cost of housing located within walking distance to the shoreline, measures that limit coastal access for people who are not within walking distance disproportionately impacts lower-income communities, which raises environmental justice concerns. Therefore, projects to remove parking in the Beach Impact Area \u2018only\u2019 must replace that parking elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe City will continue to work toward solutions to allow more outdoor dining and other active uses that contribute to more coastal access while improving mobility and access for all modes of transportation in the City\u2019s coastal areas, including the Beach Impact Area,\u201d said Tara Lewis, City spokesperson.<\/p>\n

Supervising City spokesperson Scott Robinson talked about how the Coastal Commission\u2019s coastal amendment will be enforced. \u201cThe Development Services Department Code Enforcement Division will primarily conduct enforcement of Spaces as Places,\u201d he said. \u201cFor previously permitted businesses operating with a Temporary Outdoor Business Operations permit that have submitted a Spaces as Places application, the City will continue to allow these to operate in the Coastal Zone while the application is under review.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Robinson, \u201cWhere possible, the City will work with impacted businesses in the Coastal Zone to allow for replacement parking. The San Diego City Council must still affirm the Coastal Commission’s decision before the Coastal Commission can provide final certification of the Spaces as Places regulations. After final certification, the City will be able to grant permits in the Coastal Zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
The outdoor dining space at Raglan Public House on Bacon Street. DAVE SCHWAB\/PENINSULA BEACON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Local reaction to the new Coastal Commission ruling requiring parking replacement for outdoor dining in beach areas was mixed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMerchants who took advantage during COVID of expanding their seating to include outdoor areas including parking lots and street parking were saddened to hear that the Coastal Commission\u2019s direction to the City was to require lost parking places to be replaced,\u201d said Denny Knox of Ocean Beach Mainstreet Association. \u201cThe Coastal Commission\u2019s mission is to \u2018provide maximum access\u2019 to coastal regions and apparently that includes preserving parking access. The City is far behind in issuing permits for outdoor dining, so it will be a while before we know how this will all shake out. I think we all knew this conundrum was lurking behind all the changes in zoning that were permitted during the COVID years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI agree with the Coastal Commission completely,\u201d said OB Realtor Catrina Russell. \u201cIt is a bit of sanity in a state and city that seem to think nobody has a car. We need parking. It shouldn\u2019t be much of a hardship, at least not in OB. The few restaurants that still have dining areas in parking spots have sufficient room for indoor diners. And there are no architectural standards, so many of them are quite unsightly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome outdoor seating areas add character to a certain street or neighborhood while others do actually make neighborhoods look worse than before with the COVID street dining set-up,\u201d said Point Loman Margaret Virissimo. \u201cWhat I find interesting is many business owners have complained about bike lanes taking up needed parking spots at one point, but now are happy to eliminate parking in order to expand seating for their businesses. It seems, now that things are somewhat back to normal and traffic is rising, that street parking is very much needed to make up for all the actual parking spaces that have been removed for bike lanes throughout San Diego County. The pandemic is over. So the barricaded street dining should be too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Point Loman Don Sevrens took issue with the Coastal Commission\u2019s amendment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere may be isolated stretches of the California coast where parking means to access or not to the beaches,\u201d he said. \u201cOcean Beach, despite its overall parking issues, is not one of them. This Coastal Commission- proposed policy, depending upon enforcement, would unfairly harm Ocean Beach and possibly Point Loma restaurants. Coastal restaurants may lose business to other areas not subject to the Coastal Commission policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Merchants are scrambling to comply with a new California Coastal Commission amendment to the City\u2019s Spaces as Places program, which now requires beach businesses to replace vehicular parking displaced by the program. In January 2022, the City instituted Spaces as Places, a new program to help COVID-challenged businesses by allowing them to put temporary outdoor […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":840,"featured_media":318580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Merchants are scrambling to comply with a new California Coastal Commission amendment to the City\u2019s Spaces as Places program, which now requires beach businesses to replace vehicular parking displaced by the program.","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"3","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[11561,11550],"tags":[12846,12547,14964,13138,12375,14965],"class_list":["post-318579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-peninsula-beacon","category-top-stories","tag-california-coastal-commission","tag-ocean-beach","tag-outdoor-dining","tag-parking","tag-san-diego","tag-spaces-as-places"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/840"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}