Active Transportation Infrastructure Committee Meeting - November 20, 2019
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Active Transportation Infrastructure Committee Meeting - November 20, 2019
The Active Transportation Infrastructure Committee met on Wednesday, November 20, 2019, with Vice Chair Ward and Councilmembers Kate and Moreno present. The committee addressed non-agenda public comments, consent calendar items, and three discussion items: the East Village Green Phase One project, Children's Park improvements, and enhancements to the shared mobility device (SMD) ordinance.
Consent Calendar
- Four items were approved unanimously. Item 2 (Maverick Ranch public facilities financing plan update) was highlighted for community support. Item 3 (ratification of twelve storm drain emergency contracts) drew a comment from Councilmember Moreno, who urged identifying new stormwater infrastructure funding and suggested considering an update to the stormwater fee.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Non-agenda speakers: Andy Hanshaw (San Diego County Bicycle Coalition) reported on the eighth open street event held October 27, 2019, emphasizing community engagement and business benefits. Robert Bleck (retired plumber, Local 230) alleged waste, fraud, and abuse in city sewer relining, claiming perfectly functioning pipes were replaced with inferior products; he called for an independent auditor and dismissal of undergrounding department engineers. Nancy Cole and others submitted written support.
- East Village Green: Organized presentation by Marshall Anderson (Downtown San Diego Partnership), Diane Peabody Straw (East Village Association), and Jenner Smith (Carlton Management) expressed strong support and urged timely approval to avoid cost increases. Additional speakers (e.g., Joyce Añata, Sophie Barnhorst) filed written support.
- Children's Park: Joy Sunyata spoke in favor, noting her 600+ visits and participation in planning workshops; other residents filed written support.
- Shared mobility device regulations: Multiple operators and stakeholders testified:
- Alex April (Spin) supported proposed changes, recommended limiting devices per corral to five and establishing more corrals.
- Tim Harder (Bird) reported 38% of riders use scooters as a car alternative, but raised concerns about impound costs ($5,000/week), geospeed restrictions, and lack of clear rules; requested removal of speed restrictions on certain roads, expedited corral deployment, and three-hour notice before impound.
- Marlo Sandler (Lyft) supported age verification via ID scan, called for a dynamic cap similar to Santa Monica, Denver, and DC, and opposed 3-mph speed zones as unsafe.
- Zach Williams (Jump, which ceased city operations) urged a performance-based dynamic cap to incentivize compliance.
- Kimia Tolebian and Carla Owane (Lime) asked for clarity on impound definitions, one authorized towing vendor, and a dynamic cap (max 2,000 per operator) with a 90-day review.
- Opponents: Jonathan Freeman advocated for a citywide corrals-only policy and a curfew after dark, citing accident data from a public records request (2017-2019). Janet Rogers highlighted state law violations (e.g., riding on illegal roads, unlicensed riders) and urged stronger enforcement. Matthew Gardner (Mission Beach Town Council) requested uniform parking rules, license plates for enforcement, and better speed regulation.
- Supporters: Andy Hanshaw (San Diego County Bicycle Coalition) emphasized safety infrastructure; Sophie Barnhorst (San Diego Regional Chamber) recommended additional corrals and sequestering permit fees for safety; Joyce Añata urged collaboration on safety.
Discussion Items
East Village Green Phase One
- Staff (Christina Bibler, Brad Richter) presented the proposed 2-acre park with a central lawn, performance pavilion, community center, children's play area, dog parks, vendor buildings, and 185-space underground parking. Funding sources include downtown development impact fees, redevelopment bonds, parking meter funds, parking garage funds, and a SANDAG grant. Schedule: return to council December 2019, bid in March 2020, construction May-June 2020, opening summer 2022. The city attorney noted insufficient time to review contract authority. Vice Chair Ward moved to return the item to staff for legal corrections and request council docketing for December 17. Motion seconded by Councilmember Moreno and passed unanimously.
Children's Park
- Staff (Brad Richter) described a $8 million enhancement (hard costs $6.6 million) including a children's play area, dog run, vendor building, picnic area, adult exercise equipment, and pond walkway. Funding from downtown development impact fees and floor area ratio bonus payments. Schedule: council December 2019, construction 2020-2021. Same procedural motion by Vice Chair Ward (seconded by Councilmember Kate) passed unanimously.
Shared Mobility Device Regulation Enhancements
- Lee Friedman (Mayor's office) proposed: a fine structure ($250-$1,000), rider curfew (12 a.m. – 5 a.m.), ID scanning for age verification, limit of one device per ID, administrative guidance for permits, elimination of temporary fleet increases, authority to reduce fleets for public safety, and requirement for geofencing when technology allows. Equity provisions include reduced fees, cash payment options, and advertising. Committee discussion:
- Councilmember Kate moved staff's recommendation with amendments: define public safety concerns in §83.0312, explore a single point of contact for operators, ensure three-hour notice before impound, and provide a geofencing update to council.
- Vice Chair Ward seconded and added: allow staff flexibility on curfew hours, analyze accident data before/after slow zones, and refine geofencing (e.g., Balboa Park, J Street bike lane). He also supported exploring a dynamic cap.
- Chair Kersey requested: posting signage on scooter rules in high-traffic areas, expanding enforcement to parking enforcement officers and park rangers, and a Get It Done app update (separate scooter reporting option by January/February 2020; full routing to Environmental Services by summer 2020).
- The motion carried unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- East Village Green: Returned to staff for contract corrections; requested council docket for December 17, 2019.
- Children's Park: Same procedural outcome.
- Shared mobility ordinance: Staff directed to prepare an amended ordinance consistent with committee direction, subject to legal review, for full council consideration. Specific directives include: defining public safety concerns, establishing a single operator point of contact, preserving three-hour impound notice, improving geofencing, and considering dynamic caps. A Get It Done scooter reporting category will be added by early 2020.
Meeting Transcript
All right, well, good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's meeting of the Active Transportation Infrastructure Committee. Today is Wednesday, November 20th, 2019. We have a full committee consisting of Vice Chair Ward and Councilmembers Kate and Moreno. We also have our City Attorney Representative Tina Ray, our IBA representative Jillian Cassie, our mayor representative Lee Friedman, and our committee consultant Justin Garber. Look, also like to thank everybody who's here with us today. There are a lot of you. We have a lot of speaker slips up here, so we're going to try to get through this as expeditiously as we can. We're going to start with non-agenda public comment. We do have five non-agenda speakers. So if you could please come to the front and be uh ready uh to go. You'll have two minutes each, starting with Andy Hanshaw and going to Robert Bleck. Hi. Uh do you just like your own? Oh, yeah. Um good afternoon. Uh Chair Kercy and members of the committee, uh Andy Hanshaw with uh the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition. And I just thought it was a timely opportunity to report back on our our latest open street event and uh sort of the movement overall and what we're creating here in partnership with the City of San Diego. So our event this year was held in uh October, October 27th on Adams Avenue, also including uh Elkahome Boulevard and uh about a three-mile route, if you want to just keep rolling through. And well, what we've created here. This was our eighth open street event, uh seventh in the in the city, um, where we're we're creating an open route. You can see that we've created a car-free environment on the Sunday afternoon from 10 to 3. Uh people biking, walking, skating, rolling. Um, great for business. We really packed a lot of uh small businesses on the route, which is a big goal of ours on this event. Um, we're really pleased to see the result. And these are other past events, that's Pacific Beach. Um, if you just keep rolling through PB, there's Garnight Avenue. These events really engage the community, engaged businesses, uh, really are effective at getting people's minds uh thinking how we can move people safer and uh support community and and businesses. So I wanted to thank the the city for their partnership. Um we're really excited about sort of their participation in this and and doing more. We're able to demonstrate sort of what future infrastructure can look like on a blank canvas on these streets. So uh this was the the downtown one where people were able to test out a cycle track. And so as we see uh more of these things come online, we want to have more of these events, and I'll mention that um in uh just in 2020 alone, we're adding uh City of Incinitas and City of Imperial Beach too to these to these events. So they're growing, and uh, we're just pleased to have the city on board with us. So thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hanshaw. Appreciate that update. Look like a great event. Uh now we'll turn to Robert Bleck, followed by Nancy Cole. Hi, that's Robert Buck. Today I am back once again to report waste fraud and abuse to the taxpayers of San Diego. I have been following the unnecessary relining and sometimes replacement of the city sewers. This caught my attention in late 2017 when my front yard was dug up and my sewer lateral was relined for no reason whatsoever. This caught an old plumber's attention. When I asked for reasons why this was being done, all I got was deflection, lies, and shoulder shrugs. Then I decided that something needed to be done about this waste fraud and abuse. So in late 2017, I called waste fraud and abuse hotline and was totally ignored. Next I reported to the city attorney, and it was totally ignored.
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