San Diego officials offer radical changes on how the city manages parking that will make it more expensive and much more complicated in certain districts.
The big package of updates, which is stimulated by a budgetary crisis in the city, includes proposals to end free street car park on Sunday and introduce variable prices based on demand in certain popular areas.
Other big changes could include the extension of the hours late in the evening, which a lot facilitates the neighborhoods to quickly add meters and increase the prices of what is billed in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
A second wave of planned changes, many of which require the approval of the coastal commission, should include parking fees in parking off street, Mission Bay Park, Balboa Park and other popular destinations.
The ambitious proposals, which could raise up to $ 100 million a year, intervene after the city’s voters have rejected an increase in the sales tax of one penny on the November bulletin which would have lifted $ 400 million per year.
The failure of this voting measure leaves the city in the face of deficits over the next five years which total more than a billion dollars.
San Diego launched the first wave of major parking changes at the end of January, when the municipal council doubled the hourly rate on Citywide park from $ 1.25 to $ 2.50.
And last week, city officials announced a sharp increase in parking ticket costs, which have not been raised since 2003. Examples include street sweeping quotes from $ 40 to $ 72.50 and expired counter fines ranging from $ 30 to $ 54.50.
The municipal council should approve the new quotation rates in March, and they should take effect on April 1.
The employees of the mayor Todd Gloria, who directs the proposed changes, say they plan to present a complete package to the municipal council this spring.
This package, which would affect street parking, should include variable prices based on demand, an extension of the counters at the end of the evening, the end of the free parking on Sunday and the addition of special prices for events at Petco Park and The Congress Center.
Another large batch of changes that would affect out street parking will not be included in the first wave, because most of these additional changes – including the city’s beaches parking fees – need approval from the coastal commission .
The members of the Council, who will have the last word on any change, have mainly expressed their support. But they point out that new income opportunities must be weighed with possible negative impacts on traders and residents.
The proposals are based on a 369 -page parking request study which was completed last month. The study analyzed how 16,500 parking spaces across the city were used during a 10 -day section last July.
He found that demand varied considerably from one district to another, day by day and from hour to time. The study recommends that San Diego moves at variable prices to take advantage of these demand tips.
City officials say that the 5,000 meters they have in place are sufficiently advanced to vary the prices according to demand, but they do not yet have the capacity to assess the peaks and valleys of the request necessary to make it effectively.
The objective of variable pricing is not of gouge motorists during the periods occupied, but rather to invoice less when the demand is low, so certain places are always filled and invoice more when the demand is high, so the stains do not are not monopolized, officials said.
“You do not want the prices so low that people are not encouraged to visit a business and to go out,” said Heather Werner, who directs the parking for an acting director of the acting director City sustainability and mobility department. “But you don’t want such high prices that people think” I can’t even allow myself to go to this shop or this store “.
Werner said the city had the two goals to ensure that parking spaces were used as much as possible and yet have an available space whenever someone needs it.
The tools that the city would most likely use to determine the fluctuations in demand – then adjust prices – would be the data from the sensors and the license plates recognition software.
Prices can increase on weekends or during evening hours in areas with many restaurants. But Werner said San Diego could also vary from tourist -based rates during the summer.
“You could have a dynamic solution that is not hour per hour but season per season in certain areas,” she said.
Another change that the study recommends is to complete free Sunday parking in popular areas. The average occupation of parking spaces increased on Sunday in all areas of San Diego that the study analyzed, including the city center, where the average occupation was 91% on Sunday and the advanced occupation was 99%.
The study carried out similar results concerning the occupation at the end of the hours – when the counters and the street rules are no longer in force.
The study also recommended that San Diego quickly facilitates that neighborhoods and commercial districts add meters.
They were generally required to create a community parking district that would manage money. But the study recommends doing a separate process.
“The separation of these two processes can help rationalize the deployment of parking meters,” said Ahmad Erikat, director of the city’s parking districts.
The study also revealed a wide gap in what San Diego is charged parking compared to other major cities and neighboring cities.
Los Angeles invoices up to $ 7 an hour depending on the location, while San Francisco, who uses prices based on request, can charge up to $ 18 an hour. Locally, DEL Mar invoices $ 4 an hour and the port district invoices $ 2.50.
“The city has parking rates considerably lower than nearby jurisdictions and other major cities in the region,” said Erikat.
Gloria’s staff have not yet said how much they plan to recommend costs.
San Diego should update his municipal code to make some of the changes. The Council must also modify a policy which indicates that 45% of the income generated in a parking district must remain there.
Werner has said that city officials also plan to assess how much money from new parking income should be used to stimulate security in the neighborhood where it has been generated by funding new amenities such as flashing beacons or cycle paths.
The second wave of changes is probably more controversial. Parking in the beach terrains and in the two most popular regional parks in the city – Mission Bay and Balboa – has always been free.
In addition to a likely backlash of people frustrated by new costs, the city will have to convince the coastal commission that the new costs are correct. The Commission examines aggressively all the new costs that make more difficult for ordinary residents to access the affordable coast.
It is not clear either if the residents of the city would obtain a discount compared to the non-residents.
The city’s independent budgetary analyst estimated two years ago in the two regional parks two years ago, even if it was limited only to non-residents, would generate nearly $ 6 million per year. Mission Bay Park has 5,900 parking spaces and Balboa Park has 6,850.
Ben Nicholls, the leader of the Hillcrest Business Association, said that he had no sense that the city has not already billed the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park.
“It seems crazy to me that someone has to pay to park in front of one of my cafes, while parking at the zoo is free,” he said.
But the study revealed that the demand for parking in the two parks is not as strong as in certain commercial districts.
During the week, Mission Bay Park had an average occupation of 40% and Balboa Park was 60%. On weekends, Mission Bay Park climbed 73%, but Balboa Park climbed 63%.
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