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Downtown parking plan plays to mixed reviews
By Nathan R. Huff
The downtown parking plan continues to move forward, but those who have participated most in the process are beginning to wonder what is happening to their input.
The third draft of the downtown parking management program was released June 17 to mixed reviews by downtown parking community task force members, as well as other residents and downtown business owners.
The only major differences between the second and third plan were a short section addressing St. Mary's Church, an update on the possible purchasing of pay and display parking equipment and a lowering of the proposed employee permit cost. The program proposes $1 an hour parking for all of downtown's lots and streets.
However, following a pair of task force meetings the group reached consensus on a number of changes, including making parking on Sundays free.
The plan, crafted by Aspen-based consultant Tim Ware, is the latest in a string of attempts by the town to alleviate the parking shortage in downtown Los Gatos. The situation hit a new crisis last Christmas season, as three-hour limits in town lots forced shoppers and employees into the neighborhoods.
Residents and business owners have been optimistic this time around, coming together to form the grass roots downtown community parking task force. The task force, in conjunction with Ware and the parking commission, have held a number of public and task force meetings on each of the first two drafts of the plan.
But at the task force's June 29 and June 30 meetings, members questioned why certain items remained in the report while others were yet to appear.
"This is the third time we're looking at this and [the mention of revenue for a parking garage] is not in the report and we're wondering if it will ever be in the report," Steve Zientek said at the June 29 meeting.
However significant headway was made in both meetings between the task force and the consultant. Several streets off E. Main were taken off the pay-and-display roster and the task force agreed to 10 a.m. to midnight enforcement hours on the grounds it would be easier to roll back enforcement times than increase them.
Private meetings with the downtown theater owners and churches also yielded some progress. The idea of a business-subsidized electronic validation system for the theater and other interested merchants was discussed and agreed upon in theory.
A public meeting June 29 produced fewer results, as much of the three hour meeting was spent debating the need for a paid parking plan at all. Accusations were also leveled that Ware was in cahoots with town staff, and that the Los Gatos Weekly-Times was purposely hiding the details of the plan. Some suggestions about previously unconsidered street parking resources were received positively.
Solutions for St. Mary's, which is often blamed for weekend parking congestion in the surrounding neighborhoods, were present in the third draft of the plan. Two suggestions were made, the first of which is for the town to sell parking permits the church could hand out once its lot was full, and the second being to meter surrounding streets at a $2 an hour rate to discourage church parking.
Ware continues to meet with church representatives from St. Mary's and the Methodist church across from the civic center in an attempt to find a reasonable solution. With Sundays now free, churches' primary concerns were parking for weekday events such as funerals and weddings.
The other big difference in the third plan was the lowering of employee parking permits from $50 a month and $500 a year to $30 and $300. While business interests on the task force were pleased to see the drop, many complained that the discrepancy between the costs of employee and residential permits was still too great. Residential permits are currently priced at $50 a year, down from $75 in the first draft of the plan. However Police Chief Larry Todd said that if resident permit prices were raised, angry residents would send the plan down in flames.
A new addition to the plan may create a category of "premium" employee permits for centrally located parking. Task Force members also suggested that the Miles Avenue lot be a free parking lot for anyone willing to make the short walk to downtown or take the proposed shuttle system. Details for the shuttle system are still in the works.
Ware stressed that the current draft, as well as the draft that would go before the council July 17 would not be a final draft.
Copies of the third draft of the plan are available at the town clerk's office, the library and the Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce, in the Bank of America on N. Santa Cruz Avenue.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
