Resort alternative not a panacea

Craig Dixon

Regarding the Marinapark hotel proposal, many are concerned about the

potential parking problem and traffic it could cause. A community

park including a soccer field and boat-launch area has been proposed

as an alternative to relieve Balboa Peninsula residents’ traffic

fears.

This really needs to be considered much further. For example, a

soccer game has around 15 players per team, two teams, at least two

coaches per team and three referees. That’s 37 people. Usually,

players involved in the next game arrive before the end of the

previous game -- 74 people are now present.

Once in a while, “soccer moms” in their big SUVs will bring more

than one player to a game; most parents, however, drive and park on

their own -- let’s hope Mom and Dad don’t drive separately. That

would be a potential 74 parking spots needed at one time just for the

soccer field. Hopefully, nobody stays to watch the next game or have

a picnic. Soccer games go on all day, often from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.,

all weekend long.

Chances are, very few of these people actually live within walking

or biking distance of the park.

Now consider the boat launch. While it’s hard to predict how many

boats will be launched there each weekend, it is known that a boat is

on a trailer, usually behind a fairly large truck. Once the boat is

launched, that truck and trailer need to park somewhere. Chances are,

the overflow will attempt to park on Balboa Boulevard. Don’t forget,

there is no parking on the right side of Balboa Boulevard’s westbound

lanes all day on summer weekends.

I have met people who live on the peninsula who don’t realize

there actually already is a soccer field here, next to Balboa Park,

near the Balboa Pier. You can catch soccer, rugby and lacrosse games

on occasion.

The field is not used to its full potential during the summer

because of a lack of parking. Why would we want to create another

soccer field that would scare people off because of its lack of

parking?

While I am not sure yet if I support the hotel (there are a few

things that concern me, including parking) or a different park, I

want people to realize that parks are not traffic-free and can be

noisier than hotels. I am concerned that this proposed soccer park

will end up being one big parking lot -- and a traffic nightmare.

There is a park alternative in the city’s environmental review of the

project; it does not include a soccer field, but it does include

nearly half the acres as a parking/boat launch -- which I believe

will be necessary for any park alternative.

* CRAIG DIXON is a Balboa resident.