SLO pulls plug on Palm Street safe parking site. Here’s what happened
A push to use part of a downtown San Luis Obispo street for a new overnight safe parking program is dead in the water after the city and a partner in the project withdrew their application this week.
The city of San Luis Obispo and the Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County have withdrawn plans to use part of Palm Street as an interim site for a new rotational safe parking program, according to documents released ahead of a Planning Commission meeting Wednesday.
The project would have set aside 200 feet of the 1700 block of Palm Street near the Veterans Memorial Building to be used as an interim location for the program.
Similar to CAPSLO’s previous Railroad Square program, the rotating safe parking program would have given unhoused residents living in their vehicles a place to stay between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., but would have alternated between volunteer faith-based organizations’ properties and public land each month instead of using one location.
The city selected Palm Street as an interim home for the program to bridge the gap between the end of the Railroad Square program and the start of the new program because the rotating locations had not yet been identified, homelessness response manager Daisy Wiberg said in August.
The city effectively put the plans on pause in August after neighbors protested the proposal and Community Development Director Timothea Tway referred the director’s action permit — which would have allowed the program to move forward without Planning Commission approval — back to the Commission for deliberation.
A Planning Commission hearing on the site was set for Wednesday — until the application was withdrawn entirely.
Agenda correspondence released just before the Wednesday Planning Commission meeting indicated city staff were concerned the use of Palm Street for safe parking might be illegal.
“In the course of reviewing agenda correspondence related to this item, city staff was made aware of recent case law that casts doubt on the city’s ability to temporarily close Palm Street pursuant to California Vehicle Code Section 21101(e) to establish a safe parking location at that location,” Wiberg wrote in the correspondence, which was addressed to Deputy Community Development Director Tyler Corey.
The same day, CAPSLO withdrew its application to act as a site administrator for the Palm Street project, city housing coordinator Kyle Bell told The Tribune in a Wednesday email.
Without an administrator, Palm Street cannot be used as an interim safe parking site.
The Wednesday meeting will proceed as planned, but will provide an overview of the safe parking program and an opportunity for public comment instead of a hearing, Bell said.
The Planning Commission will not take action on the program during the meeting.
This story was originally published September 7, 2023 at 8:00 AM.
