San Clemente : One-Way Streets Near Pier Suggested

Complaints of parking problems and traffic congestion on the narrow residential streets near the municipal pier have spurred the city Planning Commission to recommend one-way streets in the area.

The one-way streets would include: Capistrano Lane, from Santa Ana Lane to Avenida del Mar; Santa Ana Lane, from Avenida del Mar to Monterey Lane; and South Alameda Lane, from Monterey Lane to Avenida del Mar, said Akram Hindeyeh, a city traffic engineer.

“Partial parking in private driveways is an everyday occurrence,” said Capistrano Lane resident Roland Storm, who helped spearhead the movement for better traffic flows in the area known as the Pier Bowl. “They cruise the streets continually, looking for parking spaces, because they don’t want to pay for the meters.”

The city charges 50 cents per half-hour for parking meters on Avenida Victoria, Avenida Santa Barbara and Avenida del Mar, the main streets leading to the pier.

Storm said the narrow streets, originally built in the 1920s, become clogged with cars parking on both sides and leaving little room for other vehicles to turn around or for two-way traffic to pass. He said problems have worsened since two restaurants opened in the Pier Bowl.

Other complaints stem from surfers’ changing their clothes on the street, litter, loud music from car radios and parking problems created by employees of businesses near the pier.

Planners did not approve a request by residents that parking be allowed only on one side of the streets, Hindeyeh said, because only one lane of traffic is required for one-way streets.