Saratoga News

Council considers making valet parking permanent

By Sarah Lombardo

Got better things to do than look for parking on a Saturday night? A village-wide parking plan may soon become a permanent fixture in Saratoga Village.

A report on a valet-parking trial run from city administrative analyst Jennie Hwang Loft to the City Council recommends implementing a permanent parking plan. The City Council is expected to consider the issue at its April 15 meeting.

Valet parking has been in the Village since November of last year. The 120-day trial period seems to have been successful, according to Loft's report, and could lead to two permanent valet stations along Big Basin Way.

Three stations--in front of Viaggio Restaurante on Fourth Street, the Plumed Horse restaurant and the Saratoga Dry Cleaners at Big Basin Way and Turkey Track Lane--were included in the trial run and served shoppers and diners Mondays through Saturdays. But Loft said she is recommending that the station in front of the dry cleaners be deleted from the plan because its numbers just weren't high enough. That station had only 12 customers use the valet parking from December through February, compared with the 1,380 times the valet service was used at the Viaggio station and the 2,089 times it was used at the Plumed Horse station over the same period of time.

Cars were parked behind the Plumed Horse, behind Viaggio's, in part of the Saratoga Elementary School parking lot and in the Bank of America parking lot. Before approving the experimental plan last November, the council had been concerned about how the valet system would affect residents on Oak Street; when the trial run was initially proposed, residents said they feared not only speeding cars as valets rushed to return cars to patrons, but also the loss of street parking.

Despite a few nagging concerns about parking on Oak Street, city staffers say residents' feedback has been positive.

The Plumed Horse has for years provided its customers with valet service, but the trial was the first time visitors to the Village could use the valets regardless of where they were dining or shopping. Loft credited the success of the plan to the effort made by both the city and businesses to let visitors know about the Village valets.

"I think what happened was that in the past, there was the perception that you could only use the valet if you were going to a particular restaurant," she said. Through signs, handbills and verbal advice, Loft said, word got out that anyone with about $5 could use the service.

City Manager Larry Perlin said that although the recommendation is to make only two valet stations permanent, the City Council may not want to rule out a third. A third zone may not be needed now, he said, but with the return this summer of a full concert series at the Mountain Winery, including many weekend shows, there may be a higher demand for valet parking as concert-goers stop in the Village for dinner before a show.

[ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ]