Willow Glen Resident
News
Parking along The Alameda isn't a
problem, according to consultant
By Mary Gottschalk
Parking along The Alameda is not a major problem, according to Patrick Gibson, a Santa Monica-based consultant hired in 2007 by the San Jose Redevelopment Agency to update a 1999 parking study on the area and project needs for the next five years.
At the third and final community meeting before finalizing his report into a draft form, Gibson said much the same thing he's said at previous meetings.
"If we manage employee parking, we will have plenty of parking for customers," Gibson told a group of 15 neighbors and business owners at the April 29 meeting at the Billy DeFrank Community Center.
Gibson, principal with Fehr & Peers/Kaku Associates, said his firm studied 900 parking spaces along and adjacent to The Alameda, between Stockton and Magnolia Avenues. Spaces, about half of which are curb spaces, were checked on different days and at different times to assess use.
The current supply of 900 spaces exceeds the current demand for 606 spaces, Gibson said. This means there are 249 more spaces than needed.
Factoring in all the new businesses scheduled for The Alameda and their parking, the completion of the scheduled parking lot on the old Westinghouse site, full occupancy of now-vacant spaces and a 30 percent increase in existing businesses, Gibson said there would still be 43 more parking spaces than needed.
However, to create a cushion, he is recommending that parking be increased by 88 spaces.
Although the need isn't here now, Gibson outlined four recommendations that would add 78 to 88 new spaces within a year: leasing 25 to 35 existing spaces at the lot owned by Westminster Presbyterian Church; leasing 18 existing spaces in a private business lot on Morrison Avenue; selling 25 special permits to business owners so employees could park in two existing residential permit zones off The Alameda during the day; and changing Julian Street to angled parking on one side and eliminating all parking on the other to create 10 more spaces.
Gibson said he is dropping his earlier recommendation that Martin Avenue be blocked off near The Alameda to create a cul-de-sac and 40 parking spaces because residents protested the idea.
Now, Gibson is suggesting San Jose consider blocking off Hanchett Avenue at the existing parking lots behind Peet's and adjacent to the Teak House. He said making that area a cul-de-sac and reconfiguring the existing spaces would create more parking.
This suggestion didn't engender the immediate opposition that blocking off Martin did.
However, one person said she didn't want motorists unable to access The Alameda from Hanchett to start using the Westminster parking lot as a thoroughfare to Shasta Avenue.
Gibson also pointed out that the empty lot at the corner of Race Street and The Alameda is ideal for 20 more parking spaces if the owner agrees to lease it to the city.
Less attractive options would be installing parking meters along The Alameda or building a parking garage. Neither option is needed at this time or in the next five years, according to Gibson.
Parking garages cost around $35,000 a space to build and are off-putting in a business district, Gibson said.
Abi Maghamfir, San Jose's director of administration and parking, told those at the meeting that the Redevelopment Agency has $500,000 set aside for alternative parking solutions along The Alameda, such as purchasing a lot.
Gibson said he hopes to have the study and his recommendations finalized and before the city council by the end of June.
