An review of Pacific Beach’s community plan, along with continuing concerns over the Diamond Slow Street and potential changes to dog access to beaches were the focus of the April 17 PB Town Council meeting.
The evening’s main presentation was an overview of Pacific Beach’s 117-page Community Plan, presented by Council President Charlie Nieto.
Created by residents and city staff, community plans serve as guides for future city projects within the community by documenting its character, assets, needs and vision, he said.
The Pacific Beach Community Plan was last updated in 1995. Nieto said developments that originated in the plan include Pacific Beach’s library, fire station, the Mike Gotch Bridge and the Beach Bug shuttle. He urged attendees to consider modernizing the almost 30-year-old document.
“There’s a lot in there that I feel is good to review and if we don’t like it, we should update it,” Nieto said. “Ultimately, we should have a community plan that identifies where Pacific Beach is at, its strengths and weaknesses, and where we should go together because everybody fighting for their own individual projects is not a cohesive way to build a community.”
Nieto, also a member of the PB Planning Group, said at their April 10 meeting the planners tabled making a decision on a proposal to expand hours for dogs in Mission Bay Park until they receive more information.
Dogs are not allowed from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from April to October, and until 4 p.m. from November to March. They must also be leashed.
Despite some for the proposal, attendee Nicole Larson said dogs need to be prohibited for some hours, even if not the current length, for people who don’t want dogs in the park. Reasons could include allergies, fear of being attacked, trauma from having been attacked and to protect children and elderly.
“I guarantee you … once you give (dog owners) one thing, they want more,” Larson said. “They will want leash-free everywhere all the time. It is never enough. Please preserve some hours.
“We need hours when people do not want to be surrounded by dogs and don’t have to be constantly afraid of being tripped up and bitten by rambunctious, aggressive dogs or their owners,” Larson said.
In what is becoming a recurrent feature at the council meetings, a small contingent of residents from Diamond Street complained about the designation of Diamond as a Slow Street. It is the only street remaining in the city’s program and the placement of barricades at Diamond’s intersections with Fanuel and Cass streets hinders vehicular traffic.
“Every time we have a PB Town Council meeting, we come and we complain about the same thing; to take the barricades down,” said Ara (no last name given), one of three who spoke during non-agenda public comment. “It seems, for me, that nobody is listening. … It took five minutes to put the barricades (up) and it’s taking us a long time to fight over this. I am so frustrated over this.”
Ryan Stock, the new president of the nonprofit civic group beautifulPB, said the organization created the PB Pathways network for safe travel for bicycles and other non-vehicular transportation throughout the community. Its inclusion of Diamond Street was a factor in its selection as a Slow Street.
BeautifulPB is conducting a series of meetings to gather community on plans to expand its pathways network. One meeting will focus exclusively on the problems with Diamond Street.
“I am sympathetic to the people that dislike the current implementation on Diamond Street,” Stock said. “The process that we had for community input — like here’s some things we might do and then to where we got — I don’t know, I’m just not sure it’s working. I heard of the program as a pilot and that it’s experimental. I think that we should be open to redeg it and trying other solutions if this wasn’t working. I want the community to be involved with that.”
Council member Scott Chipman said the city’s rationale for the Diamond Slow Street was based on non-existent problems of traffic congestion and safety on the street, and the claim that it would reduce greenhouse gases. He noted this is contradicted by the fact that residents have to drive around the block to circumvent the barricades.
“This is a suggestion to the city also,” Chipman said. “Don’t lie to get things. Give us data. Give us good explanations. We as groups in PB need to hold the city’s feet to the fire and don’t let their lies go unanswered.”
A petition is being circulated by beautifulPB to force the city to revisit the Diamond Slow Street decision.
“It isn’t a decision that should be left to just two civic groups here locally in PB,” said Jennifer (no last name given). “It should be a decision that is made (by) residents who live on that street and residents who use that street to travel.”
In other discussions, Marcella Teran asked why police enforcement of the Vehicle Habitation Ordinance is limited despite the settlement of a lawsuit against the law.
The Bloom settlement ruled that police cannot issue citations to homeless people sleeping in their vehicles on the street unless an alternative is available.
“The revised regulations or guidelines don’t really give the police a lot of teeth or tools to do enforcement,” Teran said.
Emily Piatanesi, Mayor Todd Gloria’s representative, mentioned the proposed H Barracks safe parking lot when responding.
“In of how a community can help at this point; giving me locations for potential safe parking sites, ing H Barracks, reporting (vehicle habitation) on Get It Done,” Piatanesi said. “We want to make sure that these people are connected to the resources that they need, but we know that there’s a balance there. So we’re doing the best that we can in the parameters of that settlement.”
With major street repairs of Ingraham Street ongoing beyond the original completion date of March, some asked when it will be done.
“The Capital Projects Department has informed us that the contractors are aware that the work needs to be completed by the summer construction moratorium (which begins on Memorial Day),” said Karla Tirado, City Councilmember Joe LaCava’s representative.
