Friday, March 9, 2007

North Embarcadero Visionary Plan

This has nothing to do with food, but it's something I wrote and thought there might be interest from my readers, so I decided to post it here without cluttering my music page.

North Embarcadero Visionary Plan
http://www.portofsandiego.org/projects/nevp/

by Rosemary Bystrak

Meeting March 8, 2007, 3-4:30 pm

The Port of San Diego held a public open house this week to discuss the current status of what is called the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan. The plan, which has been talked about for at least a couple decades, has officially been in the planning stages for 7-10 years and is finally expected to break ground in 2008.

The overall project is broken into 10 phases with a total estimated cost of $221 million dollars with total completion not expected for several years. This particular meeting was held as a public briefing on the status of the project.

A PowerPoint presentation walked through a history of the project and each of the phases as well as the intended results from each phase. It was stated that the embarcadero area in most places is at least 80 years old and the overall intent is to make San Diego’s port “world class”. As development has increased downtown, the pressure has increased to not just serve tourists, but residents as well, with services and the most important aspect of the project, open park space and public art.

The first phase of the project is probably the most important and was the most talked about. The Broadway Hall and Formal Gardens is expected to break ground next year. A major component of this phase would be the realignment of Harbor Drive approximately 65’-70’ east in order to create space for an Esplanade. The roadway would be narrowed to 74’. To offset the narrowing of Harbor, Pacific Highway will be built out to 130’, with a 16’ landscaped median, 3 lanes in both directions, parallel parking, and striped bike lanes in both directions.

As a natural result of the street realignment and construction, not only in the Embarcadero but the Navy Complex and residential construction, parking is a major priority and public concern. As a result, the very first project will be a parking structure on the Navy Pier. Once completed, construction will start at B Street and move south to Broadway. The B Street Pier will be reinforced and made to accommodate the large cruise ships coming through San Diego and become the main cruise ship terminal. Some work has already been done on the piers with a separate $10 million loan from Carnival Cruises. $2 million has already been spent on dock improvements and passenger receiving areas. The low interest loan is being paid back by a $4 surcharge to cruise passengers and in no way comes from the Port, the City, CCDC or taxpayers.

The funding for Phase 1 of the Project will come from two sources. $10 million dollars will come from CCDC money out of $45 million dollars in bond proceeds allocated for the total project. The Port’s $10 million dollars will come from their share of money for the Lane Field (Broadway Navy Complex) lease agreements which will be under construction as early as this year.

Another major component of Phase 1 will be the creation of B Street as a thoroughfare all the way to the waterfront. Currently the street ends at the Complex.

To help control what could easily turn to chaos with the Embarcadero project and Lane Field and a host of other construction in the area, the Joint Powers Authority has been created. The JPA is made up of representatives from the City, the Port, and the CCDC. A meeting in May or June is expected to clarify how the projects will work together and be constructed concurrently with as little disruption as possible.

The other phases include The Cove, Market Square, South Lawn, North Lawn, Tavern on The Bay, The Wharf, Grape Street Pier and Piazza, The Crescent. Some of them are predominanty landscape projects, with the installation of decorative concrete pavers, pedestrian passes, etc. Some are more elaborate, like Market Square, which would have sail like structures that would serve as info booths on cruise days, and a public market on non cruise days. Some other interesting spots are the Wharf which would provide temporary/hourly slips for regional sailboats to sail in, park, and enjoy the embarcadero, the Grape Street Pier and Piazza which would actually allow water access in some manner, like a wide tiered area of steps to the water from the street level, or the Tavern By The Bay, which would allow for more dining in the area in front of Anthony’s.

There were clearly many issues that still needed to be worked out. Competing representatives from the Cruise Ship Council and Hornblower Cruises were present and tension was high because Hornblower had to relocate in order to accommodate larger cruise ship needs. An accessibility advocate was present and requested that the project surpass minimum code requirements, citing the walkways at Seaport as horrible for anybody in a wheelchair, and raised concerns about slope, terrain, and auditory directories for the blind.

I am looking forward to seeing this project break ground because park space and open land has not been enough of a priority in this city for too many years as it is hard to generate revenue from such areas. My feeling is that we live in San Diego, we pay the “sunshine tax” to be here, and we deserve these open spaces and park areas, and not only that, but they have been promised to us for so long that it is about time to make it happen.


1 comment:

Jim Unger said...

Hi Rosemary,

My name is Jim Unger and I represent Hornblower Cruises & Events.

Tensions were not high at the visionary plan meeting. There was no communication to support your statement.

The construction will challenge many of the existing tenant businesses. Hornblower supports the plan overall.

I have been a board member of the Port's own Cruise Ship Advisory Committee and I have worked to bring the ships to town.

Please do not mis-represent Hornblower's position.

Thanks,

Jim Unger
VP, Hornblower Cruises & Events