A settlement reached between the San Diego Association of Governments and a private property owner paves the way for parking at a future trolley stop, SANDAG officials announced Tuesday.
Protea Properties is the owner of a vacant lot slated to be used as a parking lot to serve transit riders who will board the Mid-Coast Trolley at the planned Clairemont Drive Station. Under the settlement, Protea will build and set aside a minimum of 150 parking spaces for trolley riders as part of a future mixed-use development, according to SANDAG.
"SANDAG is very pleased to be able to work out a compromise with Protea that serves the needs of future trolley riders, and satisfies the desires of the community to see a mixed-use development at the Clairemont Drive site," said Ron Roberts chair of the SANDAG board and the county Board of Supervisors.
The Mid-Coast Trolley project will extend the existing Trolley Blue Line by 11 miles. New tracks will run from just north of the Old Town Transit Center along the existing railroad right-of-way and Interstate 5 to UC San Diego, and then turn east and south on Genesee Avenue to terminate at the Westfield UTC mall.
Nine trolley stations will be built, including the one at Clairemont Drive.
Plans for the Mid-Coast Trolley call for building 150 parking spaces at the site off Morena Boulevard between Ingulf Street and Clairemont Drive. Under terms of the settlement, which still must be executed by SANDAG staff, Protea will set aside a minimum of 150 street-level parking spaces inside a parking garage that will be built as part of a mixed-use development.
For the near future, SANDAG's contractor will use the property as a yard for trolley project construction materials.
