Despite repeated attempts to gather information from the City of San Diego’s Traffic Engineering Division, several questions on La Jolla’s pilot parking program remain unanswered, including why the city’s permit process may have been skirted when La Jolla began implementing the residential portion of the plan.
According to a letter sent out by Marty McGee of the La Jolla Community Parking District Advisory Board, the City of San Diego authorized La Jolla to set up a Community Parking District in “early 2005.” At that time, the advisory board ” comprising nine members ” was chosen to create a pilot-parking program. The program consisted of paid on-street parking in the commercial district. In addition, the plan suggested two-hour parking for the surrounding residential areas, giving the area’s property owners the option of buying a yearly residential parking permit for $14.
But the City of San Diego has a process, listed on its website, for residents who wish to implement a permit district in their neighborhood. This process begins with circulating a petition to “at least 50 percent of the residents in the affected area … “
Staff members at San Diego’s Traffic Engineering Division, the department in charge of residential permits, said they could not verify whether the La Jolla parking board had taken steps “” which include circulating a petition, conducting a survey and holding a noticed public hearing “” before the parking program was initiated.
“I have no knowledge of a residential parking permit,” said Walt Huffman of the Traffic Engineering Division for the City of San Diego, after repeated inquiries whether the residents of La Jolla had circulated a petition, which can be obtained only from his department. “I have no knowledge of what’s going on in that area.”
Furthermore, division staff was told to redirect any inquiries regarding La Jolla to Martin Mosier of the La Jolla parking board.
“We’ve been asked by the La Jolla parking task force “” if we get any calls about the La Jolla area, we need to refer them back to Martin Mosier in La Jolla,” said a division staff member.
According to the City of San Diego, residents may ask for a permit district when the neighborhood is “severely impacted by all-day commuter parking generated by a nearby facility or institution.”
The La Jolla Community Parking District Advisory Board claimed merchants in the village were negatively affected by the lack of parking. And residents in the area complained about employees parking in front of their homes all day, McGee said.
While some merchants and residents on both sides of the paid parking debate have attended various meetings, such as the Nov. 1 meeting of the La Jolla Community Planning Association (LJCPA), other merchants and residents gathered on Nov. 2 at Warwick’s stationery store in La Jolla to oppose the program, naming the meeting “Free La Jolla.”
Anne Cleveland, president of the La Jolla Town Council, spoke during the LJCPA meeting, voicing a previous motion the town council passed in opposition to the parking plan at its October meeting.
But other merchants at the LJCPA meeting expressed a favorable opinion to the parking program, including owners of various restaurants and hotels in the village of La Jolla.
Claude-Anthony Marengo, co-owner of the Goldfish Point Café, said he thinks the parking program will free up much-needed spaces around his café that are currently clogged with cars.
Once the program is implemented, Marengo said he is counting on parking lots to relieve a lot of the congestion.
At the Nov. 2 meeting, many merchants from the village filled Warwick’s to hear speeches from Darcy Ashley of the parking board, La Jolla Shores Association chair Sherri Lightner and others.
San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre attended the meeting and assigned an attorney from the City Attorney’s Office to help the organization with any legal matters, said Chuck Myers, a La Jolla resident.
The paid on-street parking plan will continue to be presented to a series of La Jolla boards. The LJCPA must vote on the pilot parking plan before it heads to City Council.
Although the commission was supposed to vote on the plan at the Nov. 1 meeting, the vote was postponed until the next meeting, said Tim Golba, LJCPA president.
The parking plan will be discussed Nov. 14 during a 3 p.m. meeting of Promote La Jolla at La Valencia, 1132 Prospect St. It will be open to the public, said Tiffany Sherer, executive director of Promote La Jolla.
For more information, go to www.lajollabythesea.com/parking. For more information about Free La Jolla, go to www.nopaidparking.org.
To reach the City of San Diego’s Traffic Engineering Division, call (619) 533-3126.