City may try preferential parking

Midtown residents will decide in the spring whether to test a preferential parking program in their neighborhood next summer.

The City Council agreed unanimously Tuesday on proposals for a three-month test of limiting nighttime parking on midtown neighborhood streets to residents with permits and their guests, which included dipping into the city’s parking fund to hire a part-time employee to plan and manage the test and related costs.

Still to be decided by the council is who will be able to vote on the issue, renters and/or homeowners only, as well as the boundaries of the voting district.

“I do think we have to decide if we want a [preferential] parking permit program, but only after a vote by residents and it must be specific,” said Mayor Pro Tem Jane Egly, who co-chaired a parking task force, established at the request of midtown residents.

“We have been struggling with ways to balance different interest groups and I have a concern about how preferential parking will affect others.”

Egly cherry-picked recommendations from all three sources in her motion, which augmented the five actions recommended by City Manager Ken Frank if the council chose to ignore the staff recommendation not to implement a preferential parking program.

Under the test program approved Tuesday, no one would be able to park in the residential area from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. without a “shopper” parking permit issued by the city. Shopper permits are available to all residents and are limited to four per household.

Five-part plan

Frank’s recommendations, made reluctantly and approved by the council:

1. The vote and possible trial;

2. Use of shopper parking permits, which allow residents to park at city meters and paid parking lots at no charge for the maximum time permitted;

3. Limit restricted parking to 10 p.m. (amended by the council to 9 p.m.) to 6 a.m.;

4. Appropriate $50,000, half of the original recommendation, for expenses that include a parking manager, preparation of informational materials, installation of signs (possibly lighted), environmental studies after the trial period, overtime for existing parking enforcement staff to monitor the test area, and hiring a parking consultant to review the proposals and recommend a boundary for the pilot program; and

5. Develop a guest pass system.

Egly’s motion was bifurcated at the request of Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman, who thought nonresidents should be allowed to park until 10 p.m. in the test area.

Mayor Iseman said 10 p.m. was too late.

“My focus is on peace and quiet and sleep in the neighborhood,” Iseman said.

Tom Girvin, president of the Flatlanders Neighborhood Assn., said “It should be 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.”

Employee parking issue

The proposal for a preferential parking program originally emerged as the preferred solution of the Flatlanders to the problem of employees who worked on South Coast Highway roughly between Thalia and Diamond Streets and parked on public streets in residential neighborhoods, which are not metered.

“We feel we need a parking permit program,” Girvin said.

Woods Cove resident John Ferrante said his neighbors also want a preferential parking program. A neighborhood survey was distributed to homes, asking for feedback, not approval. Of the 300 homes sampled, 139 of 143 responders signed a petition favoring a program.

However, of the 289 responders to the 1,036 Chamber of Commerce surveys mailed to the Woods Cove and Flatland neighborhoods, 189 residents and 60 businesses opposed a preferential parking program, although 76% of them believed there is a problem, said chamber President-elect Jeffrey Redeker.

Girvin opined that the survey was flawed.

Chamber representative Pat Barry said preferential parking in one neighborhood will simply move the problem, not solve it.

Woods Cove resident Ed Todeschini disagreed.

“We don’t believe spillover into other neighborhoods will happen,” he said.

Woman’s Club concerned

Woman’s Club of Laguna Beach President Lee Winocur Field fears that, if implemented, spillover will occur and adversely affect the club and nonprofit organizations that use it.

The club, at the corner of Glenneyre Street and St. Anns Drive, has some on-site parking, but not enough to accommodate everyone at well-attended events, she said.

“Many occur in the evening and last well into the night,” Field said. Field estimated a drop in club income of 30 to 50% if parking is limited to vehicles with shopper stickers.

No ‘free parking’

“The only way to remove reliance on neighborhoods for easy, cheap parking is to remove it from the equation,” Barbara Slevcove said.

Catalina Street resident Barbara Bowler is among Woods Cove residents who oppose preferential parking.

In a letter submitted to the council Tuesday, she wrote: “Such a program will alter our lives dramatically, directly cost us more money and make us really angry.”

Woods Cove resident Bobbi Cox said enforcement of a restricted night-time parking program in Jersey City is a major revenue source, at which Frank’s ears perked up.

“I am starting to like this program,” he said.

But PTC member Dennis Myers said the committee had concerns that preferential parking in one neighborhood would set a precedent that would spread like wildfire.

“Be prepared,” Myers said. “And it doesn’t solve some of the problems.”

A KAKU Associates study requested by residents who participated in the task force meetings and prepared by parking consultant Pat Gibson identified as a problem the underutilization off-street parking and recommended encouraging business owners to fully utilize those spaces in non-business hours.

Liability remains a problem.

“I have been saying for two years that we need to encourage the use of business parking that sits there empty at night,” Councilwoman Elizabeth Schneider said. “Toni and I are working on it.”

The study also showed that neighbors are parking on the residential streets — about 300 vehicles were monitored on the Flatlander’s streets at 3 a.m., Gibson said.

Councilmembers Kelly Boyd and Kinsman fear tranquillity may be a vain hope.

Kinsman said deciding who will get to vote will lead to contention. Boyd had a problem with only one area getting preferential parking.

Neighbor vs. neighbor

“I think it will pit neighbor against neighbor,” Boyd said.

Boyd also envisioned the police department mired in enforcement.

“I can see the phone ringing off the hook at the police department on a nightly basis to check on people walking and talking on the street,” Boyd said.

Frank was directed to come back to the council with recommendations for boundaries and eligible voters in April.