Commentary: Balboa Peninsula parking permits protect the residents

The Newport Beach City Council has an opportunity to improve parking in the area west of the Balboa Fun Zone by granting final approval to the resident parking permit program currently under consideration.

The program was initiated by residents nearly four years ago in part to combat a Walker Parking Consultant recommendation to put paid parking meters on residential streets and to provide residents with protection for the proposed Fun Zone revitalization effort designed to turn the commercial area into a year-round attraction with intensified business operations.

Heavy traffic and parking problems are a part of every beach community during the summer. This area, however, provides parking to Fun Zone employees and customers in addition to beachgoers. In other areas of the city, businesses are required to provide parking for their respective operations. This neighborhood has supplemented the parking for Fun Zone businesses for decades because the majority of operations have little or no parking. The above Walker parking meter recommendation caused residents to evaluate their options.

This is what we found:

• The paid parking lots adjacent to the Balboa Pier are underutilized because Fun Zone customers, employees and the general public park for free in residential neighborhoods.

• The neighborhood is among the oldest areas of the city with homes that date back to the 1910s. While some properties have been rebuilt to meet current standards, many homes have no parking or garages designed for model As. Therefore, parking is insufficient to begin with.

• The proposed Balboa Fun Zone revitalization effort includes the expansion of ExplorOcean and will turn summer parking congestion into a year-round issue. This education/amusement operation anticipates drawing 261,000 visitors annually, plus 117 new employees, plus generate 188 surrounding jobs. That equates to 716 new visitors per day without additional parking.

• Seven different parking consultants have recommended a residential parking permit program to protect this neighborhood since 1990s.

The proposed parking permit program will maintain free parking access to the general public when they most visit the beach from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. And it will redirect Balboa Fun Zone fishermen, Catalina Flyer guests, restaurant-goers and employees in the evening hours to the pay lots where they can continue to access the beach if desired.

The permit does not guarantee residents a parking place, but it increases the likelihood of finding parking closer to home between Adams and 7th streets in a two-phase process, if warranted. The cost of each permit is $20 for three years with a maximum of four per residence. Special event or guest permits will also be available. Residents with sufficient off-street parking need not buy a permit.

If approved by the City Council, the program must also be approved by the Coastal Commission. However, because the program provides more public access than those approved in the cities of Capitola, Hermosa Beach, Los Angeles, Playa Del Ray and Venice Beaches, Santa Cruz and Santa Monica, it is expected to pass.

The proponents of the parking permit program collected signatures to tell the city that this was the residents desire. The city then validated the neighborhood support by mailing residents survey to learn if the proposal was valid. Among the respondents, more than 60% stated that they wanted the parking permit program.

A few vocal residents have complained about paying for parking permits, at any cost. Other residents of Newport Beach would like to be so fortunate.

DEANNA SCHNABLE lives in Newport Beach.