Arroyo Grande planners halt talks on homeless parking ordinance. What happens next?
Efforts to allow churches and businesses in Arroyo Grande to open their parking lots to homeless people overnight were halted in May after city planning commissioners tabled discussions.
On Tuesday, the Arroyo Grande Planning Commission voted 3-1 to postpone additional hearings on a proposed safe parking ordinance “until a time uncertain,” with commissioner Catherine Sackrison voting against the ordinance. Commissioner Bruce Berlin was not in attendance.
That effectively ended the ordinance’s progress for the time being,
This proposed safe parking program would have created an application and permitting process to allow the operation of overnight parking sites for unhoused people living out of their vehicles.
However, a provision that required each parking site to be operated by a social service provider ultimately halted its progress.
Planning commissioner Kevin Buchanan said that provision, which would have required each social service provider to oversee a maximum of six vehicles between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m., was an unfeasible goal that presented “real obstacles” to the ordinance.
“The money for that isn’t going to show up anytime soon,” Buchanan said during the meeting.
What happened to proposed Arroyo Grande safe parking ordinance?
Saint John’s Lutheran Church, operated Arroyo Grande’s original safe parking program for around a year starting in late 2020, according to the draft ordinance.
These Saint John’s parking sites were allowed to operate under a series of three temporary six-month permits.
The city adopted many of the ideas for safe parking that were tested at these sites, the draft ordinance said.
According to the draft ordinance, entry to the Saint John’s program required involvement with active case management with the 5Cities Homeless Coalition, which inspired a similar condition for the city’s proposed safe parking program.
Arroyo Grande planning manager Andrew Perez said the city reached out only to the 5CHC to serve as asocial service provider, though the Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County could also be a suitable option.
Perez said the city’s goal was to create a transformational space that would move people toward housing.
According to the draft ordinance, the lack of social service providers rendered the ordinance “infeasible from being adopted.”
While requiring social service providers would benefit unhoused clients, allowing the ordinance to hang in limbo was a case of “perfect being the enemy of good,” Buchanan said.
“I wouldn’t want to see this just get kicked down the road when I think we can be implementing a good ordinance,” Buchanan said.
Arroyo Grande planning commissioner Jamie Maraviglia agreed, and said unsheltered homelessness will continue to worsen in South County if actions are not taken.
“This is all a result of not having affordable housing in our area for the most part,” Maraviglia said. “If we’re expecting things to be transitional, we need to be sure that there is somewhere to transition to.”
What’s next for homeless parking plan?
While the Planning Commission voted to pause discussion of the proposed safe parking ordinance, it also recommended that city staff create a draft of the ordinance that keeps the performance standards in place but lowers costs for potential applicants and drop requirements for a social service provider.
That means the future of the ordinance is in the Arroyo Grande City Council’s hands now, Buchanan told The Tribune via email.
“If council does not want to move forward with the changes we recommended, then simply postponing the ordinance in its current framework would effectively mean that the ordinance is dead, in my opinion,” Buchanan said. “I don’t see the budget and staffing situation for 5CHC changing dramatically anytime soon.”
Buchanan said he is “hopeful, but not necessarily optimistic,” that the City Council will proceed with the newer draft of the ordinance/
“(Safe parking) is not, and should not be treated as an effective strategy for transitioning people living out of their car into more permanent and stable housing,” Buchanan said. “(That’s) something that can only be done with more lower income housing options, which we don’t have.”
This story was originally published May 20, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
