Community leaders in San Ysidro and Kearny Mesa’s Convoy District are taking the initial steps toward adding parking meters to their neighborhoods, just as the first meters ever installed in Pacific Beach are set to begin operating.
City planners say they expect parking meters to become more common in other areas across San Diego, too, as the addition of new high-rise and mid-rise housing projects worsen congestion and parking scarcity in many neighborhoods.
Adding meters frees up scarce parking spaces by preventing car owners from monopolizing a spot for several hours. Meters also give neighborhoods revenue for new projects like installing angled parking spaces, widening sidewalks and adding local shuttles.
San Diego has historically had parking meters only downtown, in neighborhoods near downtown like Hillcrest and Little Italy and in densely populated areas with business districts, such as North Park, Normal Heights and Kensington.
But Pacific Beach community leaders, frustrated that beachgoers and other people are monopolizing convenient spots, have approved meters for parts of Garnet Avenue and some nearby streets that will begin operating next month.
San Ysidro and the Convoy District aren’t nearly that far along in the process, but both neighborhoods got approval last week from the City Council’s infrastructure committee to create community parking districts.
City regulations require neighborhoods to create such districts as a precursor to installing meters. Creating a district doesn’t necessarily mean a neighborhood will soon have meters, but meters aren’t an option without a district.
A study of parking in San Ysidro, which was completed in conjunction with the application for a parking district, recommends installing meters as soon as possible in the border village area near Camino de la Plaza.
A similar study for the Convoy District recommends the leaders of the new parking district first try other solutions, such as more angled parking, posted time limits for parking spots and better signage directing people to parking areas.
If those efforts don’t alleviate parking scarcity in the Convoy District, an increasingly popular dining and entertainment destination, the study recommends community leaders then consider meters.
“There’s certainly a significant amount of opportunity as well as a lot of work that still has to be done, as a vibrant Convoy region looks to really consider how their community is going to continue to grow and flourish in the decades ahead,” said Councilmember Kent Lee, whose council district includes the Convoy area.
Meters can be a lucrative proposition for neighborhoods. San Diego collected $9 million in meter revenue in the fiscal year that ended in June, and that is down 18 percent since before the pandemic.
Revenue is split between communities and the city — 55 percent for the city, 45 percent for the neighborhood where it was collected. Pacific Beach is using some of its revenue to subsidize the Beach Bug shuttle that began running in July.
But many neighborhoods are still reluctant. Some merchants worry that having to pay for parking could repel customers more than the greater availability of parking will attract them. And many residents don’t want to pay to park where they’ve always parked for free.
Others complain that meters destroy a neighborhood’s small-town ambiance, making an area feel more like a big city with all the problems that come with that.
The Mid-City Parking District, which includes most of the El Cajon Boulevard business district from North Park to 70th Street, attempts to convince merchants that their concerns are misguided.
“Some businesses think meters will drive customers away,” district leaders say on their website. “The truth is, anyone who leaves because they can’t park for free makes room for others who are willing to pay for parking in the available space. People who are willing to pay for parking tend to spend more money in local shops and restaurants.”
The Mid-City District has continued to add meters since it was created in 1997.
Twenty meters were installed along El Cajon Boulevard three years ago, new meters were installed on the entire length of 30th Street between Upas Street and Adams Avenue last year, and more meters are slated for North Park, Normal Heights and the College Area in the coming months.
But that area’s 245 meters are far less than the 1,196 in Uptown, an area that includes Hillcrest and Bankers Hill, or the 2,314 in downtown, which includes the East Village and Little Italy.
Pacific Beach will start with a few hundred meters. They will be on Garnet Avenue between Mission Boulevard and Fanuel Street, and along some blocks of Cass, Hornblend and Bayard streets.
They will be in effect from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Rates will be $1.25 an hour, the typical rate for meters in San Diego.
San Ysidro’s new parking district will be bounded by Interstate 5 and Camino de la Plaza to the south, Dairy Mart Road to the west, Beyer Boulevard to the north and East Beyer Boulevard to the east.
The Convoy parking district will include other parts of Kearny Mesa. It will be bounded by I-805 to the west, state Route 52 to the north, I-15 to the east and Aero Drive to the south.
Creating a parking district is not a guarantee meters will be installed, but the city has only one parking district that lacks meters.
Eight years after the city created its first three parking districts — Downtown, Uptown and Mid-City — two more were created in 2005 — Pacific Beach and Old Town.
It has taken Pacific Beach 18 years to install meters and Old Town has never made the move.
