Parking still a puzzler

Barbara Diamond

Several proposals have surfaced in the city-sponsored effort to find

a way to accommodate the parking needs of residents and businesses.

Neighborhood parking problems drove residents of the areas

bordering South Coast Highway between Thalia and Ruby streets to form

the Flatlanders Neighborhood Assn. to lobby for assistance from the

city.

A series of workshops, sponsored by the City Council, is being

held to seek solutions to the problems Flatlanders blame on

businesses that do not provide free parking for their employees. “Our

neighborhood can’t serve as a model for the rest of the city because

of the number of saloons and hotels we have,” said Rik Lawrence, a

member of the Flatlanders Neighborhood Assn.

However, the Flatlanders have spearheaded a process presented at

the March 2 workshop that may be of value to other neighborhoods.

They mapped their neighborhood, identified the residential and

retail areas and hotels and counted the meters and parking spaces in

front of each structure. Private parking spaces were not counted.

“There are six hotels with [a total of] 301 rooms, 16 restaurants

and 367,500 square feet of retail space -- 600,000 if you include the

hotels and restaurants,” association member Jack Camp said.

The employees and patrons of the commercial area, not to mention

beachgoers, vie with 612 residential units for 680 parking spaces,

Camp said.

Minimum wage-earners don’t much want to feed the 330 parking

meters in the area, Camp said, preferring to park on the un-metered

residential streets.

“Employees are parking in the neighborhood, rather than at the

meters,” said Councilwoman Jane Egly, workshop co-chair with

Councilman Steven Dicterow.

“The idea is to put the residents in the residential area and the

employees in the business area.”

Where customers will park is another question.

Camp figures the neighborhood needs about 1,000 more spaces to

accommodate everyone. Based on a rule that he said is the standard of

120 spaces to an acre, 3 1/2 to 4 acres would be needed.

Employees and patrons of businesses arrive early and leave late,

disturbing the peace and quiet of the neighborhood, as well as making

it impossible for residents to park in front of their own homes.

“This is a quality of life issue, rather than a parking issue,”

Dicterow said.

After reviewing a residential preferred parking feasibility study,

the Planning Commission recommended a pilot program to limit

overnight parking to residents -- if more than 50 percent of them

sign a petition in favor of the street parking restriction.

The commission also recommended that the city use existing

resident stickers to identify vehicles allowed to park in the

neighborhoods, hire a consultant to verify if there is a problem, and

monitor the results of the pilot program.

It will also use the results in other neighborhoods and follow-up

approvals with the California Coastal Commission, as well as provide

adequate city staffing for the pilot program and research the

possibility of restricted daytime parking.

Commission recommendations are scheduled to be presented to the

City Council at the April 5 meeting.

“The whole idea is to stop studying and do something,”

Commissioner Norm Grossman said.

However, each workshop seems to draw more participants with more

points of view that need to be considered.

“I am confused about who we give our ideas to,” Chamber

representative Bob Dietrich said.

Dicterow said he assumed that the workshops were the proper forum.

“Hopefully, we will get a consensus and bring that forward to the

council,” Dicterow said.

Former Planning Commissioner Kimberly Stuart, who lives and works

in the Flatlander neighborhood, said the number of participants is

increasing at each workshop.

Certainly, the workshops have caught the attention of a growing

number of business owners and not all of them in the immediate

Flatlanders area.

About 25 of the chamber’s 450 members attended the March 3

workshop. They want to be part of the solution, chamber Executive

Director Verlaine Crawford said, but not to the extent of financial

hardship.

“I did $140,000 worth of business last month and I lost money,”

said Robert Castoro, owner of Ti Amo Restorante in South Laguna. “If

you add [the cost of] employee parking you will see a lot of

businesses crash.”

A proposal to bag the meters on Glenneyre Street to test if that

would bring the employees out of the neighborhood appears to have the

support of the business community, chamber Vice President Dave

Sanford said.

Meter bagging was not discussed by the Planning Commission.

Grossman said it related to city revenue and was not included in the

specific issues the council was asked to review.

“Revenue is a City Council issue,” Grossman said. “But I think it

is a good idea.”

He reminded the workshop participants that meters were installed

at the request of the business community to limit all-day parking by

beach-goers.

“The Planning Commission recommendations were supposed to be

city-wide, but they did have some suggestions for the Flatlanders,”

Frank said. “Maybe [all suggestions] should come to the council in a

package.”

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The next workshop is scheduled for 5 p.m., March 23 in the City

Council Chamber, 505 Forest Ave.

For more information, call Flatlanders President Tom Girvin at

(949) 376-7565 or council sub-committee at (949) 497-0705.