San Diego Infrastructure Committee Meeting – September 22, 2016
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San Diego Infrastructure Committee Meeting – September 22, 2016
The Infrastructure Committee convened on September 22, 2016, chaired by Councilmember Kersey, with Vice Chair Cole and Councilmember Zap present. The meeting covered consent and action agenda items including street repair progress reporting, impact fee studies for multiple communities, and CIP budget revisions. The meeting also included a non-agenda public comment period on rent control.
Consent Calendar
- Items 2 and 3 were approved unanimously after Item 1 was pulled for separate discussion.
- Item 1 (Avenida de la Playa emergency repair): Approved after staff presentation and public testimony. The action transferred $5 million from three projects (SR94 Euclid, University Avenue Mobility Plan, Torrey Pines Phase II) to fund a complete infrastructure replacement. Staff and mayoral representative assured that funds would be returned via RTIP amendment and FY18 budget process. Motion passed unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- On Item 1: Ken Marlborough (Chair, Encanto Neighborhood Planning Group) and Emily Cox (advocacy coordinator, MAAC – an affordable housing developer) both supported the repair but stressed the importance of returning transferred funds to the SR94 Euclid project for community safety and access.
- On Item 10 (San Isidro Impact Fee Study): Mike Friedman (Chair, San Isidro Community Planning Group) and Steve Otto (Vice Chair, San Isidro CPG and chair of infrastructure subcommittee) spoke in favor, emphasizing the community's need for infrastructure and urging approval.
- On Item 11 (North Park Impact Fee Study): Tom Mullaney (resident) spoke in opposition, questioning why the proposed fee was lower than Uptown's despite similar needs. He argued the fee was too low to fund adequate parks.
- Non‑agenda public comment (rent control): Multiple speakers (Raphael Bautista, Charles Oakey, Alex Keeney, Desi Cervantes, Francisco Olive, Denise Roberts, Jose Caballero) advocated for rent control, citing rising rents, housing unaffordability, and the need for tenant protections. They presented petitions and shared personal stories of displacement.
Discussion Items
- Item 4 – 2015‑16 Pavement Condition Report: Presented by Christy Reeser (Deputy Director, Street Division) and Almas Udris (Director of Performance and Analytics). The report showed the city's overall condition index improved from 59 (fair) in 2011 to 72 (good) in 2016, with 60% of streets now rated good. A new public map (streets.sandiego.gov) was demonstrated. Vice Chair Cole requested a future discussion on setting a minimum street condition standard. Councilmember Zap asked about slurry vs. asphalt impacts and specific streets in her district. The report was forwarded to full council unanimously.
- Item 5 – Del Mar Mesa Public Facilities Financing Plan Update: Staff presented no increase to the current DIF rate, with a 3% annual inflationary factor. Approved unanimously.
- Item 6 – Market Street Complete Street Project: $4 million state grant plus $700,000 city funds for bicycle, pedestrian, and median improvements from 47th Street to Euclid Avenue. Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation contributed land valued at $600,000. Approved unanimously.
- Item 7 – Electronic Bid Openings Municipal Code Amendment: Clarified that electronic bids are allowed if posted online and results are publicly available without registration. Approved unanimously.
- Item 8 – Real Property Acquisition Streamlining for CIP Projects: Delegated authority to the mayor for property acquisitions under $250,000 or related to council‑approved CIP projects, saving an estimated 3 months and $8,000 per action. Condemnations still require council approval. Approved unanimously.
- Item 9 – Budget Revisions to Various CIP Projects: Appropriated savings from completed/ delayed projects ($600,000 from San Diego River Dredging, $321,000 from Laurel Street Bridge, $56,000 from Cherokee St, plus antenna lease revenue) to four projects: Streamview Drive ($677,000), North Torrey Pines Road Bridge ($150,000), Linda Vista Road at Genesee ($150,000), and University Village Park Totlot ($150,000). Approved unanimously.
- Item 10 – San Isidro Impact Fee Study FY17: Proposed fee of $10,208 per dwelling unit (a $100 decrease from the prior rate). Key projects include Bayer Park and San Isidro Branch Library (construction to start FY17, completion FY19). Community planning group approved unanimously. Forwarded to council.
- Item 11 – North Park Impact Fee Study FY17: Proposed fee increase from $4,661 to $6,634 per residential unit. Park component largest; uses Balboa Park equivalencies for 67 acres. Planning group approved August 2016. Approved to council with motion to be heard concurrently with the community plan update.
- Item 12 – Golden Hill Impact Fee Study FY17: Fee increase from $9,276 to $12,049 per residential unit. Key projects include Balboa Park golf course drive, bike/pedestrian facilities, F Street Linear Park. Planning group approved August 2016. Councilmember Zap noted concerns about burden on development and discussed potential gradation by unit size. Approved to council.
Key Outcomes
- All action items (Items 1–3, 5–12) were approved unanimously and forwarded to the full City Council.
- Item 4 (pavement condition report) was forwarded to council as an informational item.
- The committee received non‑agenda public comments on rent control; no formal action was taken, but the Chair noted the issue would likely be discussed at a future committee or council meeting.
- Next meeting scheduled for October 27, 2016.
Meeting Transcript
Tempted by the fruit of another tempted but the truth is discovered by the fruit of another but the truth is discovered by the fruit of another but the truth is discovered by the fruit of another truth is discovered by the fruit of the When I wake up in the morning I see nothing from miles and miles and miles I want to sleep in the evening oh Lord then she goes only in dreams she's only in a dreams will my love we've been here before Don't drag me through this again we tried everything under the sun now I'm trying to wake up from this I'm trying to make up for we ever do we ever do our major infrastructure investments are showing results and the new data confirms that San Diego streets are on the road to recovery. As you all know, our roads in San Diego have taken a beating over the last several decades. Littered with potholes, riddled with cracks, some local roads were so bad, they could wreck a car's alignment or ruin the days of a cyclist. We still have some work to do. Um, you know, we've got uh a good number of streets that are still in fair condition, and we'd like to bump those up to good. Uh and so you're gonna see uh a lot of money invested in street repair this year, probably the the most amount of money we've ever spent on street repair in a single year. And uh, and that's that's exciting. It's it's it's very basic, uh, but it's what our constituents want us to be focused on. And I tell you, when I go around town, if I'm just at the grocery store or whatever, uh almost all the time I'm getting stopped by people saying, Thank you for finally getting my road repaired. And and we know there's more work to be done. We're not resting our laurels by any means. Uh, but it's good that we are actually making progress. You look at ride condition index or RCI, that's actually calculated using a laser attached to a vehicle that drives all the streets that measures the quality of the ride. You also have a second vehicle that measures what we call the pavement condition index or PCI. That is a visual assessment of the presence of cracks or any imperfections or distresses in the pavement. These two factors combined give us a rating of scale between zero and one hundred with one hundred being the highest. As you know, we're happy to happy to report that over 60% of our streets are now in that overall condition index category of good. As you can see from this intersection alone, when we repair the road, we're actually improving our crosswalks, bike lanes, ADA access, and so we have um just a lot that's going in to the repairs that we're making 300 over 300 miles last year and again this year. I know it's a little bit of an inconvenience, but when it's done, it is amazing. We've paved, repaired, or replaced nearly 1400 miles of streets, or nearly half of the entire road network in the city. We are coming to your neighborhood soon because we are going to keep fixing streets until every neighborhood has smoother roads. Stuck inside of the wrong frame. I don't see the test name. With you for an as in no shame. Do just DMEO don't ask my. But I'll take in this vote. It's all right. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We're gonna go ahead and get started. Welcome to the September 22nd meeting of the Committee on Infrastructure. Let the record reflect that we are joined by Vice Chair Cole and Council Member Zap. We also have our City Attorney Representative Mark Mercer, as well as our IBA represented representative Charles Monica, and our mayoral representative Jonathan Harrara. Uh and of course our trustee committee consultant Lee Friedman, as always. Like to thank uh the members of the public who are with us today in person or watching on City TV. We will start as always with non-agenda uh public comment, and we do have one member of the public, uh Martha Welch. Please come forward. You have two minutes. Martha Balch, we had a sewers bill in Talcani Canyon a couple weeks. Uh six pen uh million gallons. What happened? No pumpings. What happened? No maintenance or a vendor, what happened? Years I hear uh every year I hear pumping all the time. Where is it going? South Bay um South Bay Internet waste path right here. Wow. I've been down there. It's a thing, it's it's not it's not there. Wow.
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