
Moving along oversized vehicles is getting another push from Councilman Kevin Faulconer. The City Council delayed its vote on creating an oversized vehicle ordinance last October because most council members felt the $2 million proposed cost, mainly to enforce the ordinance, was too high. Faulconer was one of them: he wanted the council to find a more cost-effective system. Now is the time to revisit the subject, urged Faulconer, who represents Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach and Point Loma. The Board of Port Commissioners passed their own oversized vehicle ordinance on Feb. 3 to stop people storing their RVs or parking overnight along the bay front. Faulconer is concerned the displaced vehicles will move to the beach community to park. Faulconer wants to know how much it will cost the city to implement a pilot program that covers the beach communities – from Point Loma to La Jolla – plus northern downtown and the Morena business district. Faulconer sent a memorandum to Chief Operating Officer Jay Goldstone to look into the cost. Goldstone had not calculated the figure as of press time. The city estimated it would cost $2 million to implement the program citywide because the city would need to hire a night shift of parking patrollers, plus the cost of signage to inform people of the new law. Yet, early last year, the deputy director of transportation, Deborah Van Wanseele, reported the pilot program would be cost neutral because the city would recover costs through permit fees and citations. “Implementation of the ordinance in the pilot area would determine whether such an ordinance would be cost neutral and revenue generating citywide,” Faulconer wrote in a memorandum to the city’s Chief Operating Officer, Jay Goldstone. The ordinance proposes to prohibit people from parking oversized, non-motorized and recreational vehicles on any public street between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Residents with large vehicles and no driveways will receive a permit to park on the street. The port district’s new oversized vehicle ordinance will prohibit parking along Shelter Island Drive from 3 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. The ordinance is meant to stop people storing vacant RV’s along the street, and to curb overnight parking, explained Jim Hutzelman, a spokesperson for the port district. The ordinance also gave the port’s executive director the authority to strategically designate 26 parking spaces for large vehicles. The idea is to prevent large vehicles from blocking views to the bay. “People stay at Shelter Island hotels that they pay for – and their view corridors are blocked,” Hutzelman said, who added the intent behind the ordinance is to maximize access to the bay front for day users.