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Westwood’s parking ‘nightmare’ nears possible solution

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A group of Westwood residents fed up with problems caused by an overflow of vehicles in their neighborhood will soon request the city implement an overnight parking time limit.

If approved by city officials, there would be two-hour restricted parking between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. on impacted streets. This is residents’ initial way to prevent an estimated 80 to 100 cars per night that belong to Waterbridge Condominium residents and guests from parking in front of Westwood homes overnight.

Brian Kuck, who is among residents spearheading the petition drive, said on Tuesday that after obtaining one more signature, they will have support from 75 percent of the 122 impacted homes on Poblado Road (from Botero Drive to Capilla Road), Botero Drive, Poblado Court, Poblado Way, Oculto Road, Oculto Court, Oculto Way and Oculto Place.

Per city code, the petition signature requirement is 51 percent support from impacted properties, but city spokesman Bill Harris said that standard was set with the intention of creating turnover in business areas. For Westwood, the city is requiring 75 percent support.

“Since this is strictly a residential area and having time limit parking in front of people’s homes can have a dramatic effect on their livelihood, and possibly have a negative effect on their home value, we (the city) felt that we should have a higher majority of support from the residents and support from the homeowners association,” Harris said in January.

The issue first boiled up 10 years ago soon after the complex along West Bernardo Drive was converted from apartments to condominiums. The conversion included a change in how parking spaces were allocated, which left insufficient parking for those at Waterbridge. An attempt to prohibit Waterbridge vehicles was made, but after Waterbridge homeowners association officials promised they would fix the problem if given more time, the residents’ effort came to a halt.

But residents say Waterbridge’s HOA did not fulfill its promise since the problem still exists and Westwood residents’ growing frustration with limited to no street parking for their vehicles and guests has percolated for a decade. Last year their frustration boiled over and a group of residents vowed to force Waterbridge into fixing the problem that has its residents walking many blocks to reach the condos.

Denis Grady, who has lived in Westwood since the late 1990s and prior to that lived in the now-Waterbridge complex when it was apartments under another name, said the problem did not exist until after the condo conversion. When Grady lived there, he said each apartment had one assigned spot and it was a free-for-all to park in the remaining spaces. Due to residents’ ebb and flow throughout the day and night, it was extremely rare to not find a space within the complex.

After spaces were deeded based on condo type, Grady said there are often many available spaces during the day and night within Waterbridge, but its residents are quickly towed if they use the spaces since they are not their assigned spots. So they have no choice but to park blocks away in Westwood.

Amber Stefanick, who moved to Westwood in 2002, said her family picked the area in part because it did not have residential parking issues like those found in other parts of the city.

“There was not a problem when we moved here, when Waterbridge was apartments ... and we had the Elephant Bar. ... Now there is parking up and down the streets and the whole look and feel of the community has changed,” Stefanick said, whose vehicles are parked in her garage, not on the street.

Her concerns are not limited to aesthetics. Stefanick said since she has a child with a life-threatening allergy, she fears that if she ever has to call for paramedics, they will not be able to make it to her house since her street is narrow and vehicles fill both sides, making the passage smaller. She voiced the same concern about fire engine access if a Westwood home catches fire or if there is a wildfire, recalling the traffic jam created when the neighborhood was evacuated in 2007.

Residents have also reported a growing deterioration of the neighborhood. They say there have been heated confrontations between residents and non-residents, an increase in vehicle and property vandalism, significant increase in vehicle break-ins and trash is often thrown on yards by those parking in the neighborhood. Some have commented in public meetings and on the Nextdoor.com site that they or their children have witnessed non-residents in vehicles along their streets using drugs or committing sex acts.

“Our streets are filthy,” said Leslie Chapman, who has lived in Westwood for 18 years and said the city’s street sweeper no longer comes by because it cannot access their streets. “From a fire safety point of view, it’s just not safe.”

Chapman — who called the situation “a nightmare” — also said it is unsafe for Westwood children to play outside since vehicles often speed through the area while drivers look for a parking space.

While the parking petition has been circulating since early this year to implement the overnight restriction, Westwood residents’ frustrations have increased in the last several weeks with the opening of Phil’s BBQ because numerous Phil’s BBQ employees are using Westwood as their employee parking lot. Some residents said they asked employees why they don’t park at the restaurant and were reportedly told the management told employees to park in Westwood.

It is a claim Phil’s BBQ officials deny.

“Phil’s BBQ has not directed its employees to park on public residential streets, or in any prohibited visitor parking areas, nor in any gated community areas,” said Patricia Conners, Phil’s BBQ general counsel in a written statement to the Rancho Bernardo News Journal on Tuesday afternoon.

“In an effort to help eliminate parking issues, Phil’s BBQ has made alternate arrangements for employee and guest overflow parking on surrounding private properties,” Conners wrote. “However, please understand parking on public residential streets in the City of San Diego is regulated by the San Diego Municipal Code and the California Vehicle Code, and Phil’s BBQ cannot legally prevent any individual or any vehicle from parking on any public residential street.”

Conners said those with concerns can contact her at patti@philsbbq.net or 619-814-0050.

Kuck said the petition is the first step in achieving residents’ main goal — getting a residential parking district established. City officials turned the request down last year, but residents recently found city municipal code documents that they say supports their request.

If a residential parking district is eventually established — where residents and their guests obtain decals allowing them to park and all others are ticketed — Kuck said there will be no longer be a need for the overnight limitation since all others — from Waterbridge, Phil’s BBQ or any other business — would be forced out and their neighborhood’s peaceful existence can return.

“We need to remember we’re talking about residential streets for (a) residential neighborhood,” Kuck said. “We all bought into a master-planned community. That’s what Westwood is, a master-planned community. A subdivision. It was not designed to be an overflow parking lot for the condominium community and overflow parking for an oversized business on an undersized lot.”

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