SLO to drop downtown parking rates after public outcry. ‘We’re sorry’
Just under a year after a slew of changes to downtown San Luis Obispo parking had business owners, residents and visitors alike in an uproar, the city has chosen to significantly drop its parking rates.
But to do so, it will also eliminate a longtime parking perk: the first hour free in the downtown structures.
“I really think it’s important — as somebody in the audience earlier said — to say, ‘We’re sorry,’” Councilmember Emily Francis said during the City Council meeting Tuesday night. “We hear the pain and the frustration, and I think it’s important for us to acknowledge that and also say that we’re ready to make some changes here tonight.”
On Tuesday, the San Luis Obispo City Council reviewed a long-anticipated parking rate study that examined the city’s pricing structure, infrastructure needs and more. The study offered some preliminary recommendations for how the city could best balance its funding needs with the demands of the community to make downtown parking more affordable.
At the meeting, the council considered three approaches: Continue to offer one hour of free parking in the structures, prioritize the lowest rates possible or do some amalgam of the two.
Ultimately, the council unanimously voted to pursue the lowest rates possible, which would drop street parking to $2.75 per hour in the downtown core and $2.25 per hour farther out. Parking rates in the structures would also go down, dropping to $2 per hour with a daily max of $8.
That’s significantly below the current rates, which charge users on-street rates of $4 per hour in some places, and $3 per hour in the structure with a daily max of $12.
This came at the recommendation of about a dozen members of the business community who spoke during the meeting, begging the council to consider the negative impact the current rates have had on their businesses in the past year — and to act quickly if they had any hope to prevent further damage.
“Right now I do think we have a chance for a new start,” Councilmember Jan Marx said during discussion.
Mayor Erica A. Stewart was absent from the meeting due to illness.
Why was SLO considering dropping downtown parking rates?
Last summer, rates nearly doubled in some places downtown as the city sought to fund the long-anticipated new Cultural Arts District parking structure. At the same time, the city rolled out some technological changes such as a new gateless system at one of its Palm Street structures and more mobile parking payment options.
The one-two punch left many in the community feeling like it was “too many changes, too fast” director of public works Matt Horn said during Tuesday night’s meeting.
That culminated in a tense and at times emotional City Council meeting in November where community members blasted the city’s parking changes.
During the meeting, several local business owners and residents spoke out against the confusing changes, from difficulties navigating the myriad of apps to losing the free first hour of parking in the structures and — probably most importantly — how the increase in rates seemed to drive visitors from downtown.
The City Council ultimately voted to temporarily restore that free first hour of parking at its three garages and delay further rate changes as it waited for the results of its parking rate study.
In the following months, it contracted with Dixon Resources Unlimited for the study and then conducted a series of community forums and outreach efforts aimed at getting input on what residents felt were appropriate solutions for the city’s parking needs.
The effort included an online community survey that during the four weeks it was open garnered more than 2,700 responses.
A notable finding from that survey was that the majority of community members said cost was “the most important factor when looking for parking” while a majority of business owners said they believed the previous rate increase “led to a drastic decrease in business revenue.”
During Tuesday’s meeting, Dixon president Julie Dixon told the council that the finding about cost being the most important factor was significant, since in her time working on parking issues for other cities the No. 1 priority was usually security and safety.
“I think that’s something to really highlight, that again residents wanted to see that reduction in paid parking hours,” Dixon said.
SLO to lower downtown parking costs, get rid of gateless tech in structure
The City Council had three possible scenarios to consider as it decided how best to balance the community’s desires with its own funding needs, each with its own pros and cons.
“No more Band-Aid solutions, we’re really looking at that right size, right fit,” Dixon said during her presentation of those options Tuesday. “But I think I would be a fool to sit up here and say that any answer is going to be perfect. The reality is about making incremental changes.”
The first option would have prioritized keeping the free first hour of parking in downtown structures — but to pay for that, it would mean continuing to charge on-street rates of $4 per hour in the downtown core and $3 per hour further out. Under this option, the cost of parking in a structure would drop only slightly to $2.50 and the daily maximum would fall to $10.
The second and ultimately successful option, however was to prioritize lower parking rates across the board — but at the expense of the first free hour of parking. Free Sunday parking would also go away.
With that, the cost of parking on the street would drop to $2.75 per hour in the downtown core and $2.25 per hour farther out. Parking rates in the structures would also go down, dropping to $2 per hour with a daily max of $8.
The final option was a mix of the two previous options, that Dixon said would attempt to push people to off-street parking in the structures rather than on-street, with street rates of $2.50 per hour, while structures would cost $2 per hour. That option also did away with the free first hour of parking.
All three options called for cheaper monthly permits in the parking structures, dropping from a price of $85 per month to $45. They would also not limit the number of these permits available at first as staff attempts to gauge interest, according to a city staff report.
None of the options proposed changes to the enforcement hours for either on-street or structure parking, which run until 9 p.m. daily. They would also not change the cost of the 10-hour street parking monthly permit.
Business owners, workers angered by SLO parking policies
A number of downtown business owners and representatives spoke at the meeting Tuesday, advocating for the option that prioritized the lowest rates in hopes that that could help save businesses that have been struggling in the past year.
Rusty Barker, who was speaking on the behalf of Downtown Centre Cinemas, said revenues have “dropped significantly” in the past year at what previously had always been the highest performing movie theater in San Luis Obispo County — a change he attributed largely to the change in rates.
“The owner was frank,” he said. “If things don’t change, and parking doesn’t come down and you don’t act, Downtown Cinemas won’t be there in 2025.”
Others were even more frank.
“In just 10 months, the city has done extensive damage,” Hemp Shak owner Katy Hemler said through tears. “To me (the lowest rates option) is a start in the right direction, but it’s not enough. I ask how else do you plan to undo the damage you have caused, and how are you going to help us get our customers back?”
Abby Turco, who said she works downtown, urged the council to consider how it could help downtown employees who see large portions of their wages going to paying for parking.
“The rise in parking costs put the burden on the ones who use your parking services most, the employees that keep downtown SLO alive,” Turco said. “We are not wallets. We are people. By upholding extreme prices in downtown parking, you’re hurting your city.”
SLO to get rid of first hour of free parking in structures
Some Tuesday night pushed for the council to both lower rates and keep the first free hour of parking in its structures — though the city said that option wasn’t feasible.
At the request of community members during outreach, Dixon had modeled what would happen if the city kept its free hour of parking and also reduced rates, according to the staff report.
The study found that if the city reduced street parking rates to $3 per hour in the core and $2 in the outer areas, while also dropping structure parking to $2 per hour, the city would lose almost $1.3 million per year, “which immediately jeopardizes the solvency of the Parking Fund,” the staff report said.
Meanwhile, the study advised against offering free parking in specific areas since it is often against best practices.
“Parking industry best practices show that offering free parking can be a detriment to downtown businesses,” the study read. “When free parking is offered for a limited time (e.g. first hour free in the structures), this encourages parkers to make quicker trips and to leave before the free time period expires.”
The study did note that this might be a difficult change to stomach, however, since the first free hour subsidy “has been provided since the first structure opened in the 1980s and is now synonymous with downtown parking for many residents, business owners and regular visitors.”
Ultimately the council decided it would do away with the free hour in favor of the lower rates, however.
The study also had several other preliminary recommendations for the city, all of which the City Council on Tuesday voted to go through with.
Those included going down to just one mobile payment vendor, rather than the three the city offers now; expanding the on-street parking time limit from two to three hours; and replacing the gateless technology at 842 Palm St. structure with a more traditional gated option.
“A lot of things happened at one time here in San Luis Obispo, so we really want to get back to basics,” Dixon said during the meeting. “Easy and convenient is the key.”
What happens next?
The city will conduct a second reading of the ordinance updating the rates on June 4. After that, the new prices for structure permits will go into effect on July 1, followed by the new lowered rates on July 8.
Other changes such as the reduction in the number of mobile vendors used and some sign updates will likely happen this summer, according to Horn, followed by removing the gateless entry at the 842 Palm St. structure and making other “invisible” tech changes in the winter.
These are just a tentative timeline, however, Horn cautioned, alluding to the messier rollout of last summer.
“We’re not going to let this schedule drive us,” Horn said. “We’re not going to roll it out until it’s ready.”
This story was originally published May 14, 2024 at 9:21 PM.
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