Eastern Pacific Beach - The Next Trolley-Oriented Residential Village?

Eastern Pacific Beach - The Next Trolley-Oriented Residential Village?

A new growth blueprint San Diego officials are proposing would transform the northeast corner of Pacific Beach from an auto-oriented commercial corridor into a dense residential village surrounding the new Balboa Avenue trolley station.

The plan, which the City Council is expected to consider this winter, also aims to tie the 210 acres around the trolley station more closely to Mission Bay Park and Rose Creek with new bike and pedestrian paths.

Those paths would allow commuters easy access to the Balboa Avenue station, which will be part of a new Morena Boulevard trolley line from Old Town to UC-San Diego that’s expected to begin operations in 2021.

Some critics, however, say a glaring deficiency of the plan is the lack of a bridge or tunnel crossing nearby Interstate 5, which they contend would make walking or biking to the station dangerous and inconvenient.

Otherwise, the plan is being praised for helping to solve the city’s housing crisis by proposing to more than triple the number of units developers are allowed to build in the area surrounding the new station.

That fits with the city’s goal of encouraging dense development along transit lines instead of allowing more housing in suburban areas, where new developments increase traffic congestion and pollution by requiring people to commute by car.

A recent report by the San Diego Housing Commission concluded that rezoning residential areas within a half-mile radius of transit will be the largest single tool in providing additional housing in San Diego.

The report also noted that such housing is more likely to include units affordable to low-income and moderate-income families.

The proposed blueprint, which includes a sliver of western Clairemont, would increase the number of housing units allowed in the area near the Balboa Avenue station from 1,221 to 4,729.

That’s a near quadrupling of what current zoning allows, and six times the 763 housing units already built there.

The plan, called the Balboa Avenue Station Area Specific Plan, also calls for retail uses in the area, including a requirement that all new projects on Garnet Avenue and Mission Bay Drive feature ground-floor commercial uses.

The plan would also break up the “megablock” between I-5 and Mission Bay Drive that extends from Garnet to Bunker Hill Street. The goal is fostering a traditional street grid to ease commuting to the trolley. That area is now dominated by auto dealers, gas stations, budget motels and fast food chains.

In addition, the intersection of Grand Avenue with Mission Bay Drive would be reconfigured to allow pedestrians to more easily cross Mission Bay Drive on their way to the trolley station.

Most of the new housing allowed in the proposed blueprint would be in an area bounded by Rose Creek on the west, Figueroa Boulevard on the east and north, and Grand Avenue on the south.

The blueprint, which the San Diego Planning Commission unanimously approved last Thursday, has been praised by environmentalists for helping the city achieve the goals of its climate action plan.

A key element of that is several upgrades the plan includes to cycling and pedestrian paths in the area, such as narrowing Balboa Avenue and Morena Boulevard to make way for protected cycle tracks.

Other upgrades include sidewalk improvements to Garnet under the freeway, cycling lanes on Grand Avenue and a protected path along Garnet and Mission Bay Drive.

Those paths will encourage more people to commute by walking or by bike than by car, and they will also make it easier to access the trolley. But critics say a bridge or tunnel across I-5 is needed to connect the station to Pacific Beach.

George Henderson of the Clairemont Community Planning Group told the Planning Commission that allowing the freeway to remain a barrier makes no sense.

“Imagine sitting in the living room of your new apartment in the transit-oriented village and out the window you see the Balboa Station – it’s two blocks away – but you can’t get there,” Henderson said.

Kristen Victor, a member of the Pacific Beach Community Planning Group, said a bridge or tunnel is especially crucial with so many UCSD students living in Pacific Beach. A key goal of the trolley is getting such students off the freeways and on to the trolley, but that’s less likely to happen if their route to the trolley includes a dangerous segment under the freeway, Victor said.

Members of the Planning Commission agreed, with Commissioner James Whalen saying he’d like to see a bridge wide enough and large enough to make people feel the communities on both sides are truly connected.

Whalen also expressed concerns that the city’s coastal zone height limit of 30 feet would make it hard for developers to build the number of units the proposed specific plan would allow.

City planning officials agreed the height limit is a hurdle, but suggested that might prompt developers to build smaller, more affordable units.

The proposed blueprint is expected to be presented to the City Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee in January or February, with the full council expected to approve it in February or March.

City officials are also working on a separate growth blueprint for Morena Boulevard trolley stations to the south.

Article By: The San Diego Union Tribune

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