MTDB Backs Bayside Trolley Line : Construction Date Uncertain; State, Federal Aid Unlikely

The Metropolitan Transit Development Board voted unanimously Thursday to support the $15-million-plus Bayside extension of the San Diego Trolley on the inland side of the Santa Fe railroad tracks.

The same route was unanimously recommended two weeks ago by San Diego Unified Port District commissioners.

“The decision . . . will determine the future of the San Diego Trolley system after the completion of the east urban line,” MTDB Chairman Dick Murphy said before the vote.

The Bayside Line would start at 12th and Imperial and end at the Santa Fe Depot, staffers said.

The board also directed its staff to develop a financing plan for the line, which is expected to cost $15 million to $20 million.

The board has asked the Port District to pay for about $10 million of the Bayside route--to cover the part of the extension that would serve port properties.

Murphy has said that neither state nor federal funds are likely to be available for the project. Transient occupancy tax funds from the City of San Diego might supply the remainder of the construction funds, according to current MTDB plans.

The port commission has yet to agreed to pay for the trolley. Murphy told the commissioners at a recent meeting that the line probably couldn’t be built in this decade unless the port commission assists with the funding.

Staffers were not certain when construction could begin. First they must perform engineering studies and assessments of the Bayside Line’s environmental impact.

“At this point it’s too premature to determine (a date) without that analysis,” Rick Thorpe, director of engineering and construction for MTDB, said. Once the paper work is finished, the Bayside Line “is going to take at least six months to design and a year to construct.”

Board member Leon Williams, present at the start of the meeting, had to leave before the 7-0 vote. Before departing, Williams told Murphy he supported the staff recommendation, Murphy said.

San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock, also on the board, acknowledged early in the meeting that he had hoped that the Bayside alignment would “run as close to the water as possible,” closer than the staff had recommended, in order to reach the planned convention center and hotels.

Traffic and other routing difficulties caused the staff to reject such a plan. “We would have to cross the Santa Fe railroad tracks several times,” Thorpe said.

Board member James Mills said the proposed Bayside route “is less expensive and it allows us to have a very efficient loop around downtown, and at the same time it serves the convention center and Seaport Village adequately--and the Gaslamp Quarter.”

Opposition was expressed by a Kettner Boulevard resident, Phil Sanford, who told the board he was worried that his property value would be hurt if people seeking a home avoided the area for fear of “tables being rattled and being awakened in the middle of the night.”

The board also tentatively supported a staff recommendation to route the North Line through Old Town on Pacific Highway and the Santa Fe Railroad right-of-way. However, on the advice of Chamber of Commerce Vice President Dorothy Migdal, the board cautioned staffers to keep tabs on possible alternative routes for the Old Town extension because traffic or business conditions could change before it is built.

“Funding for the North Line is sometime off,” Murphy agreed. A future source might “perhaps be federal or state monies, but we know they’re quite tight.”

Thursday’s decision on the Bayside route could still face some changes. “The MTD Board-designated alignment will still be subject to change based on further engineering and environmental studies,” MTDB general manager Thomas F. Larwin cautioned in a statement released before the vote this week. “But the decision will pave the way for the necessary additional work.”

Managers of Seaport Village support putting the Bayside “alignment to the north side of the tracks so it does not go down Harbor Boulevard,” Lee Stein, president of the Seaport Land Co., said.

His reasons included: “The Seaport Land Co. is in the process of negotiations with the Port District for an expansion of Seaport Village that would cross Harbor Boulevard . . . A trolley, even a light-rail trolley, would be inconsistent and incompatible with the development that is presently being negotiated.”