Homeowners want parking restrictions

Alicia Robinson

Instead of the proverbial good fences, a growing number of residents

are putting their faith in parking restrictions to make good

neighbors.

Most recently, a group of Walnut Street homeowners who live near

St. Joachim Catholic Church asked the Costa Mesa City Council to

limit parking on its block to residents only. Homeowners say Sunday

church visitors clog the street with cars, make noise and then leave

trash behind.

“The parking for church functions is excessive, and they have

adequate parking on the grounds, but the people don’t use them,” said

Bill Kelley, who spearheaded the parking restriction request. He

doesn’t live on Walnut Street, but he manages a duplex next door to

the church.

“This isn’t a recent issue; this has gone on for years,” Kelley

said.

To meet the city’s criteria for resident-only permit parking, at

least 50% of the on-street parking spots must be taken at any time by

vehicles “unrelated to the neighborhood,” or at least 40% of the

spots must be taken up for more than 24 hours by nonresident

vehicles.

A city survey showed Walnut Street between Orange and Westminster

avenues met the 50% guideline, but council members were faced with

the question of whether church visitors are “unrelated to the

neighborhood.”

Sometimes it’s easier for churchgoers to park on the street than

in spots at the farther reaches of the church lot, but they’re only

there for a few hours each week, said Rev. Enrique Sera, who heads

the St. Joachim congregation. He’s done his best to make sure people

use the parking lot and don’t litter, he said.

“We’re talking about people who are coming to church,” Sera said.

“This is not a bar; this is not an industrial complex; these are

people who are coming here in goodwill.”

Rather than approving or denying the parking restrictions, the

council asked the church and neighbors to come up with a plan to

address the complaints.

It’s not the first time people have sought “residents only”

parking for their Costa Mesa streets. The council adopted the

criteria for parking restrictions in 1997 largely to help people who

live near the Orange County Fairgrounds, which can get as many as

80,000 visitors a day during the annual fair, said Peter Naghavi,

Costa Mesa’s transportation services manager.

About 15 city streets have permit parking for residents, most of

them near the fairgrounds, but residents have begun to request it

more often, he said. Businesses and churches are commonly blamed for

residents’ parking woes, but in one situation homeowners complained

about nearby apartment and condominium residents’ cars.

“Now we are getting into issues of residents versus residents,

residents versus businesses, residents versus churches,” Naghavi

said. “To me as a transportation manager, the intent of this is to

protect residents from event parking, not to protect residents from

other residents.”

Newport Beach has faced similar parking issues, notably in the

ongoing battle over a proposed expansion of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian

Church. But that city in most cases can’t restrict parking because

many streets are in the coastal zone, meaning restrictions would have

to be approved by the state Coastal Commission.

City officials get plenty of requests from residents to restrict

parking, but even if they could, they probably wouldn’t, Newport

Beach City Manager Homer Bludau said.

“The parking on streets isn’t for the nearby residents. They’re

public streets, so anybody can park on the streets, and I think that

is the position that the city takes,” he said.

Because circumstances have changed since Costa Mesa’s parking

restriction criteria were written, Naghavi said the council will

reevaluate the rules, probably in May.

Some Walnut Street residents told the council this week they don’t

want permit parking, and they worried it would just shift the problem

to another part of the street.

The Costa Mesa City Council will revisit the Walnut Street issue

in April. Officials hope by then the church will have worked out a

solution with neighbors because they fear restricting parking will

cause tension.

While Costa Mesa does not face the parking shortages of larger

cities like Los Angeles, the difficulty of parking citywide is a

problem that’s not likely to get better, Naghavi said.

“The economy’s changing. The city’s becoming a little bit busier,”

he said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at alicia.robinson

@latimes.com.