Hutton Marshall | Uptown Editor

There are approximately 100 metered parking spaces in the Uptown community of Mission Hills, and an influential organization recently posed the question: “To meter or not to meter?”

There is a significant, but yet-to-be-quantified number of business owners and residents that view meters as unfitting of the quaint commercial district of Mission Hills. In addition to bringing in money for parking projects and the City, meters increase business for surrounding areas by encouraging patrons to shuffle in and out of the parking spaces more frequently, but some complain they aren’t conducive to the area’s relaxed atmosphere, and that the funding the community receives for them isn’t worth it.

The inquiry into whether to remove them is being spearheaded by Gerrie Trussell, the executive director of the Mission Hills Business Improvement District (MHBID). While primarily valuing community sentiment in whether to move forward, Trussell said Mission Hills is often unfairly grouped with their meter-reliant neighbors in Hillcrest.

“I don’t know that [Mission Hills] doesn’t have a use for the meters, but its character is just very different,” Trussell said. “Its pace is a bit slower … I don’t think the meters are a part of the character here. It’s not a large commercial hub.”

Following the MHBID’s decision to informally survey the community, Trussell took a straw poll at the Powers Plumbing Centennial Celebration on April 5, a well-attended community event in Mission Hills.

At the event, 53 people responded to the question, Trussell reported. Of those, 48 wanted the meters removed.

“Meters to me kind of bring out to me this kind of crowded, downtown-type of vibe to it, whereas I like more of the neighborhood type feel to it,” a Mission Hills resident said shortly after voting in MHBID’s straw poll. “I like going to downtown Mission Hills, but I don’t like constantly checking my watch to see how much time I’ve got, that’s why I’d rather pay the flat parking fee.”

Five of the respondents said they would rather have “smart meters” installed in their place, which the City plans to do later this year. In addition to allowing patrons to pay for meters with a credit card, they allow for price variations, improved accounting and monitoring, and implementation of more complex parking strategies.

Trussell questioned the practicality of the City installing smart meters in Mission Hills while the area is considering removing them altogether, but the timelines for the two projects differ considerably.

Elizabeth Hannon, chief operating officer of the Uptown Community Parking District, said the process for removing meters in a parking district isn’t easy. She also said the timeline for doing so is much longer than the expected implementation process for the Mission Hills smart meters, meaning the old meters will be replaced long before the process of removing existing Mission Hills meters could realistically be completed.

“It’s a lengthy process, and I think that’s a good thing that the City Council wants to make sure these decisions aren’t made with an under-informed public and are not made lightly,” Hannon said of removing parking meters. “It’s a debatable subject, but the City Council policy is important in making sure the debate happens in an open and healthy environment.”

Hannon said she would remain neutral and align with the interests of the community and businesses, but cautioned that there would be several implications to removing parking.

In addition to influencing business foot traffic, the meters also bring in money for both the City and the community parking district overseeing them. The metered spaces in Mission Hills bring in approximately $100,000 each year, and about $43,000 goes to the parking district. The City receives the rest.

Money the community parking districts receive can be spent on parking-related projects in the area, whether that means restriping spots, creating a shuttle service or repairing curbs. Trussell argues that their meter revenue is too small for the parking district to use for any major projects, thus losing it is not a major concern of hers.

“It’s just not enough to do any sustainable project or program,” Trussell said, referring to high-cost projects like a shuttle service or a parking garage.

While the meter funding hasn’t been spent on major parking projects, Hannon said, this has allowed the parking district to build up approximately $330,000 in reserves for Mission Hills. She also said that the funding is used on several smaller miscellaneous projects, such as restriping parking or repairing  curbs.

Regardless of the practicality of doing so, removing meters “is likely years off” according to Hannon. Trussell said she will report to an MHBID subcommittee on May 7 with the results of her survey, at which point an item may be moved to the MHBID board of directors. At this point, the organization may ask the City to perform a study on Mission Hills parking, which looks at a variety of angles involving traffic and parking trends. But even prior to that, the MHBID is recommended to submit a petition supporting the inquiry signed by 51 percent of businesses and property owners with metered parking in front of their location, according to city policy 200-04.

Once the study is complete, any decision will have to move through the Uptown Community Planning Group, the Uptown Community Parking District and a City Council subcommittee before it reaches the full City Council, where a decision to remove parking would ultimately be made. While there are several areas in San Diego with little to no metered parking, such as North Park and La Jolla, Hannon does not know any area that has ever removed existing metered parking.