Council Delays Decision to Keep Cabrillo Bridge Open

The City Council on Monday took its first small steps toward planning the future of Balboa Park but put off a decision on a recommendation to convert the Cabrillo Bridge entrance to a one-way eastbound street.

At the suggestion of Councilman Bill Cleator, the council defered a decision on the controversial Cabrillo Bridge entrance to allow a consultant 120 days to study parking, access and circulation throughout the 1,100-acre park. The council also postponed decisions on proposed new parking structures until after the study is completed.

The council did agree to look for a new location for the municipal gym outside the park, to leave the Centro Cultural De La Raza at its current location in Pepper Grove and not to oust Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Camp Fire Girls from their facilities in the park’s northwest corner when their lease expires in 2005.

The city manager’s office had recommended Monday that the majestic Cabrillo span remain open to automobile traffic, but in one direction only.

The switch would not have interfered with plans to reshape the parking lot opposite the San Diego Museum of Art into a pedestrian mall, part of a grander plan that would renovate all surface parking lots in the park’s central spine into a series of pedestrian plazas.

And it appeared to placate critics of an earlier plan to close the bridge, most notably museum officials who believe vehicle access to the span is crucial to their survival.

“This whole process is a process of compromise,” said David Twomey, assistant director of the city’s Park and Recreation Department. “These are recommendations (in response to criticism) expressed by people who have valid concerns.”

Reviewed at Hearing

The park issues were reviewed by the City Council at a public hearing attended by 250 people in Balboa Park’s Veterans’ War Memorial Building, along with a sizable number of renovations that would ultimately form a blueprint for the 1,100-acre park’s future.

Once approved in concept, the recommendations will be sent to a consultant, who will incorporate them into a new master plan, Twomey said. The council would then hear public testimony on that document before voting on a Balboa Park master plan that is already eight years in the making.

The discussion may be moot, however, until the city devises a way to fund the roughly $100 million needed for renovation. In a motion, Councilman Bill Cleator suggested that the city manager’s office return with a financing plan in 120 days.

Since discussions began, the most debate has been sparked by a plan to tear up the surface parking lots running along the park’s core and replace them with lawns and a string of decorative plazas between the Aerospace Museum and Spanish Village.

10,000 Cars Cross Bridge

That effort to capture more open space and end the conflict between vehicles and pedestrians on El Prado--where 10,000 cars cross Cabrillo Bridge on a summer weekend day--raised concerns over how motorists would enter Balboa Park and where they would park. An estimated 95% of Balboa Park’s visitors come by automobile, Twomey said.

Under the old plan, Cabrillo Bridge would have been closed and traffic rerouted to a 600-space parking garage built in Archery Canyon. But heavy opposition sparked a review of the idea, Twomey said.

The new plan would allow inbound traffic to travel east past the House of Charm, where it would be routed south to a new subterranean, 375-space parking garage built on the site now occupied by a parking lot south of Alcazar Garden, at a cost of $5 million to $6 million. A drop-off point for Old Globe Theatre and museum visitors would be established at the House of Charm.

At the hearing, Councilwoman Celia Ballesteros, who represents the 8th District, where the park is situated, said she opposed a parking structure behind Alcazar Garden. But Ballesteros said she favors a larger one a lot behind the Organ Pavilion.

The option of an Organ Pavilion garage is included in the city manager’s plan as a possible improvement. However, the report notes that the city might avoid building that lot by using 1,200 spaces in Balboa Park Naval Hospital parking lot, which the city will obtain when the Navy leaves that facility next year.

With the 132-space Alcazar Gardens lot and the 113-space lot opposite the San Diego Museum of Art torn out, the net gain in parking spaces would be just 130, Deputy City Manager Jack McGory said.

Robert Arnhym, vice chairman of the Park and Recreation Board and a strong advocate of closing Cabrillo Bridge, said he agreed to the recommendation to leave Cabrillo Bridge open in the spirit of political compromise.

“This is the lesser of two evils,” Arnhym said. “I certainly prefer this to leaving it as it is today. And I think that someday, even the opponents will recognize the enormous benefits to closing the bridge.”

One of those opponents, Steve Brezzo, director of the art museum, said that the new plan is workable but will have no impact without money to enact it.