Pay-and-display guru will consult on a parking plan

By Nathan R. Huff

Awed with its first impression, the town has contracted with Aspen's pay and display parking guru Tim Ware to design a comprehensive parking management plan for downtown Los Gatos.

Ware was invited by the Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce to discuss the innovative pay and display system. He will work with town officials and the newly formed Downtown Community Parking Task Force to prepare a parking program that addresses business, residential and employee concerns.

The task force, a grassroots organization of business owners and neighboring residents, has been meeting with the Parking Commission on a regular basis. At the April 3 council meeting, Rex Morton, chairman of the commission, and several task force representatives asked the town to hire Ware as a consultant.

The result, adopted by the council at its April 17 meeting, is a $12,000 three-phase, three-week consulting contract. Ware arrived in Los Gatos and began meeting with the task force on April 18.

"This is very good news," Morton said. "We're looking to create a management system that would make the parking situation more balanced between the commercial and residential. The devices he's familiar with are very flexible."

The pay and display system replaces standard block-long lines of parking meters with single electronic pay stations, which can transfer paid time from one area to the next. The system can be tailored to each community it serves, and is in use in Aspen, European ski resorts and several University of California campuses.

According to both business community representatives and council members, the program offers the town an opportunity to look at a proven program that can be easily adjusted. It could also provide a revenue stream to help fund the construction of two planned parking garages.

"Our intention is not to reinvent the wheel, but to make use of mistakes others have made," councilman Joe Pirzynski said, adding that the pay and display program was in line with the town's poll last summer, which indicated residents would support a "benign" paid-parking system.

"I don't know if it means paying less," Pirzynski said. "But we want a system that is effective yet accommodating to residents."

Councilman Randy Attaway, a long-time opponent of paid parking, said he remains to be convinced but the program is worth investigating.

"What I see is a more viable system if I were to ever change my opinion," Attaway said. "We need to evaluate everything else as well. [Ware] will bring a lot to the situation, but he's not a solve-all." Attaway also said he would prefer to examine all other forms of financing for new parking structures before turning to pay parking.

Ware's three-phase contract begins immediately. His first task will be to identify the specific elements of the plan, including residential, work and employee permits, area boundaries and pay-for-parking possibilities.

The second phase of Ware's contract will involve the preparation of bid requests for parking equipment, a draft operating plan that is complete with a two-year cost/profit analysis and an implementation plan. Finally, Ware will assist in the marketing of the new program and prepare a final revision of the draft PMP.

Tom Boyce, one of the Downtown Community Task Force organizers, said the group's members were excited about putting Ware's expertise to work in Los Gatos. He also emphasized that the end product would be a community plan with Ware's input, not the other way around.

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