The contentious issue of vacation homes in Pacific Beach was a key item at last month’s Pacific Beach Planning Group meeting. Fifty minutes of the Sept. 23 meeting were devoted to the issue. “The board’s concern is that the quality of PB will be affected – the quality of the citizenry, of the community,” said PBPG Chair John Shannon. “If you look at what vacation rentals do, they do bring money into the community but they don’t bring residents that end up contributing to the community. We were concerned about the fabric of the community being undermined.” Shannon said the city does not have clear guidelines regulating vacation homes in the area. PBPG has seen an increase in vacation homes in Pacific Beach recently. “The board had been looking at this for a number of months,” Shannon said. “We really wanted to understand and respect and acknowledge that people have made a lot of investments and people were depending on incomes from vacation rentals.” At the meeting, a motion was carried to send a letter to the mayor asking the city to prevent further building of vacation rentals in single-family zones. Shannon said the letter will be drafted and sent out in the coming weeks. Stimulus money will fund Rose Creek Bikeway Bridge Another highlight of the PBPG meeting was the presentation of the Rose Creek Bikeway Bridge, a $4 million project funded by stimulus money. According to city project manager Jeff Soriano, construction on the bridge is slated to start September 2010 with expected completion by June 2011. “In the past, people have had to go all the way around up onto Grand in order to get around by foot or by bicycle,” Shannon said. “It allows people to circumnavigate the entire bay without departing too much from it.” The bridge connects paths along North Mission Bay Drive and Pacific Beach Drive. It will span 360 feet, will be 16 feet wide and will be located adjacent to Mission Bay High School on the south side of Rose Creek and DeAnza Trailer Park on the north side. “It completes the circuit around the bay,” Shannon said. Pacific Beach Planning Group meetings are held the fourth Wednesday of every month at the Pacific Beach Earl and Birdie Taylor Library.