Special meeting to be held on ‘slow street’ designation for Diamond Street in Pacific Beach

A special meeting for Pacific Beach residents to discuss the “slow street” designation on several blocks of Diamond Street will be held Wednesday evening.

The designated area of Diamond Street is between Mission Boulevard and Haines Street. It has had temporary barriers and signage to divert traffic for single travel or parking lanes and indicate the presence of pedestrians and bicyclists, according to the city’s website. Access to driveways and deliveries is maintained for residents and businesses.

While the City of San Diego’s Slow Streets Program began in April 2020 in neighborhoods citywide to provide areas where locals could move about for essential travel while social distancing, now the only street in the initiative is in Pacific Beach. City officials recently indicated an intention to make it permanent in PB.

The Pacific Beach Planning Group is holding the meeting devoted solely to this topic at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 20. There will be in-person and virtual participation options.

Those who would like to attend in person can go to St. Brigid Parish Hall, 4735 Cass St. This meeting will follow the Pacific Beach Town Council meeting set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at St. Brigid.

Those who want to attend virtually can do so via Zoom. The link, meeting ID and passcode are listed in the meeting agenda at pbplanning.org.

According to the agenda, Kate Matchett from Beautiful PB will review the Diamond Slow Street program and report on the CicloSDias event held last November. Matchett will also review a UC San Diego study, traffic counts conducted by Beautiful PB and a Circulate SD report on a September 2021 outreach event.

Matchett is also expected to present some possible design ideas for modifications.

The public will have an opportunity to comment and the planning board will possibly vote on a recommendations on support or opposition to the Slow Street program’s continuation or modifications.