Should Paso Robles charge more for parking? Here’s what City Council decided
After weeks of deliberation and public input, the Paso Robles City Council voted 3-2 to keep parking near Downtown City Park free for the first two hours — for now.
The decision came during a joint workshop on Saturday between the City Council and the Downtown Parking Advisory Commission. The special meeting lasted about three hours.
The commission advised the council to start charging $2 per hour for parking and add 30-minute short-term parking spaces at the end of each block.
Although the parking program has cost the city roughly $180,000 to operate, some community members criticized the idea of making drivers pay for parking.
In the end, City Council members rejected the recommendation with a 3-2 vote.
“What I would like to do today is maintain the parking system we have right now,” Paso Robles Mayor Steve Martin said. “To realize the money we’ve expended today is an investment in our downtown and an investment in our citizens and a service to our citizens.”
Martin said he wants city staff to begin putting together strategies for building a parking structure in the future, which many feel is the most sustainable option for parking in downtown Paso Robles.
Council members John Hamon and Steven Gregory cast the dissenting votes.
“I can’t support it because we’re not getting into the black,” Hamon said. “It’s too cheap, in other words.”
Martin said the city should revisit the conversation about the parking program in about six months.
Gina Fitzpatrick, chairperson of the parking commission, suggested that the city look at parking costs, revenue and citations over the upcoming fiscal year cycle since the coronavirus pandemic has likely impacted visits to downtown.
Based on those numbers, the council and parking commission can work together to make future adjustments to the parking program.
Martin called parking “a very difficult subject — one of the most difficult ones we’ve dealt with.” “It will be an ongoing discussion that we will be able to adjust as time goes on,” he added.
Should parking in downtown Paso Robles be free?
The discussion about parking in downtown Paso Robles went in-depth during a meeting on March 15 and spilled into a March 22 discussion about the role of parklets in outdoor dining.
“The core question seems to be do we need a parking system?” Martin said during the March 15 meeting.
Many community members expressed strong opposition to removing the two-hour free parking in the Downtown City Park area.
John Roush, the owner of Park Cinemas, made a series of statements in public comment during meetings on March 15, March 22 and April 9 about how removing the free parking would negatively impact his Pine Street business, which is located near the park.
Roush is a member of the Downtown Parking Advisory Committee, an ad-hoc group of community members that makes policy recommendations to the city.
“I must request this parking committee recommend and the City Council agrees to the assurance and guarantee that the theater will continue to get ... free parking,” Roush said.
“It’s not a threat,” he added. “Without this guarantee, we need to reconsider investing any further funds in the theater and I suggest to you its very possible the theater may then go away and you will never get another theater in Paso Robles because the cost of building a theater today and equipping it is horrendous. “
Since it was clear by his comments that his business was impacted by the council’s decision, Roush’s further participation on the commission could be considered a conflict of interest, commission chairperson Gina Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick and Martin asked Roush to resign from his role with the the committee and instead participate in the discussion about parking as a member of the public, which he did.
Martin apologized to Roush for any misunderstanding about speaking during public comment versus speaking as a member of the committee.
Although Roush was among the most outspoken critics of parking fee changes, he was not the only community member who felt strongly about paid parking.
“I despise paid parking, which is one reason why I don’t shop in San Luis Obispo,” Paso Robles resident Linda Becker said during the Paso Robles City Council meeting on March 15.
“(Parking) was never intended to generate revenue for our community,” Becker said.
The idea that the two-hour limit on free parking was never intended to generate money for the city was a common refrain throughout the discussion about parking downtown.
What does parking program cost city?
There are about 450 parking spaces in downtown Paso Robles that offer free, two-hour parking, according to city staff members.
The two-hour free parking program was first introduced in 2018 to prevent employees working in local businesses from taking up valuable parking spaces, Julie Dixon, a city consultant, said in the April 9 meeting.
“This was about demand management. It was never about revenue generation,” Dixon said.
However, the cost of managing the parking program has eclipsed any potential revenue generated by the program, according to a staff report presented on March 15.
The current downtown parking program that includes two hours of free parking is not cost-neutral, Dixon said.
Instead, it cost the city roughly $180,455 to operate, Dixon said.
As of January, roughly $735,651 has been loaned to the downtown parking program from the general fund to help cover costs, which was more than anticipated during the budgeting process, according to a staff report.
About 85% of the people who visit downtown Paso Robles finish their visit within the first two hours, Dixon said.
That means that the vast majority of people who visit downtown Paso Robles park for free and revenue is only generated from about 15% of visitors who park in metered spaces.
Another problem is inconsistent enforcement of the two-hour limit, in part because the City has struggled to hire parking agents, Dixon said.
There is plenty of free parking in the side streets off Downtown City Park, making it easy enough for cost-sensitive visitors to park elsewhere, Dixon said, noting she has never had to pay for parking to visit the downtown area.
If the program did manage to generate revenue, it would be redirected into features to elevate the downtown, paying for lighting, secure bike parking, flower baskets and more, Dixon said.
