A vote on a proposal to ban parking on one side of certain streets in the La Costa area has been temporarily put on hold.
At its March 21 meeting, the city’s Public Safety Commission briefly discussed the issue but then continued the hearing to its April 18 meeting, citing the need to visit the neighborhood and hear from the local fire chief.
The commission will vote to recommend a proposal for a permanent no-parking zone on one side of the street in the La Costa area. The affected streets would be the south side of Calle Del Barco, Paseo Hildalgo, Paseo Portola, Paseo Serra and Rambla Orienta.
A temporary zone already exists, said Chuck Bergson, public works director, but “most people park on the hillside and not the oceanside, due to few driveways on the oceanside. It’s not a strict rule.”
Several homes in the area are under construction, thus adding more trucks, vans and other work-related vehicles during the daytime. “With all of the construction going on, we do have to go up there and enforce it,” said Bergson.
Fire department regulations call for a minimum 20-foot-wide clearance in order for fire trucks to drive through. When the roads are absent of parked cars, the width measures anywhere from 26 to 32 feet, says Bergson. With cars parked on both sides of the road, it’s nearly impossible for them to squeeze through.
“The residents can’t get out and the fire and city people can’t get in,” said Bergson. “We’re still going to try to keep the fire access up there. The fire department said they could not get access to some of the streets.”
However, Ryan Embree, a member of the city’s Public Safety Commission, argues that when some of La Costa’s homes burned down in 1993, nobody notified the city that fire trucks could not get to their homes.
Embree said that no notice was sent to the area residents about the temporary parking restrictions and the March 21 meeting. “It was very bizarre. [The city] just put these temporary stakes up to indicate no parking,” he said.
Bill Stump, of Rambla Vista, said that while he favors the city adopting the restrictions, no notices were mailed to La Costa homeowners.
Of a handful of residents who attended the March 21 meeting, most were in favor of a proposal to establish a permanent no-parking zone. However, Joan Levine, who owns two houses on Rambla Vista, said she opposes the restrictions and calls it “a new issue” since the street widths have not changed since the 1950s, when she moved into the neighborhood.
Claire Douglas, who lives on Paseo Serra, favors the parking restrictions because of current hassels in the delivery of mail, bottled water and packages, and the pick-up of recyclables.
Joel Landson, who lives along Pacific Coast Highway, said that while he’s not a La Costa resident, he visits the area and when cars are parked on both sides of the road it’s too hard to pass between them.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the commission voted to recommend that the city issue notices of the April 18 meeting to all La Costa parcel owners. It also agreed to ask Interim City Manager Christi Hogin to approve a shuttle-operated site visit for the commission, Bergson and the sheriff.
“We want a drive-around chance to see the area,” said Embree.