 |
|
|
|
|
Town accepts the first stage of new parking plan for downtown
It should please the most people most of the time
Permits will increase to $25
By Gloria I. Wang
The Los Gatos Town Council recently approved a downtown parking management plan that admittedly won't satisfy every single person in the community, but council members believe it will solve most problems.
While business owners, residents and Seventh Day Adventist church members had conflicting opinions about the new parking restrictions, council members supported the plan that included new time limits on some downtown spaces, a residential permit cost hike to $25 and employee parking permits.
At the Dec. 17 town council meeting, the business community took issue with the two- and three-hour time limitations, some residents opposed the permit increase, and representatives from the Seventh-Day Adventist Church said more long-term parking was needed in the plan.
Councilman Steve Blanton said, however, that the town was an "eclectic community" with a variety of interests, and the plan "comes close to balancing these different interests." No parking program was perfect, Blanton said, but this one was the best he had seen in all his years on the town council.
"I think this one is absolutely the most comprehensive thing that we've looked at," said Rex Morton, chairman of the town's parking commission. The plan was a "living document" that could be flexible and change with the times, Morton said.
Los Gatos resident Ed LaVeque said, "I've been in the town since 1953 and have seen many parking plans go by. I've fought some and I'm happy to say that I'm supportive of this one."
Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Chief Larry Todd summarized the plan, made up of recommendations from parking consultant Kaku Associates. One of the primary elements affected residential areas around downtown: certain streets will be changed to time-restricted parking between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. except with residential permit, and parking will be allowed with permit only from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m. Those streets include sections of roads in the Almond Grove area, a part of W. Main Street and Broadway and portions of streets near Los Gatos High School. Those streets were chosen after a town survey showed that more than 60 percent of the households in those neighborhoods wanted to be included in the parking permit program.
Kaku had originally recommended that residential parking permit costs be raised from $10 to $50 a year to help offset the cost of the parking plan to the town. But because residents were strenuously opposed to the $50, the town instead decided to increase the permit to $25.
"We're willing to pay," resident Joan Cowan said, "as long as they're not going to increase every year."
Another major aspect of the plan is the implementation of employee parking permits and employee lots. Six parking lots--one on W. Main Street and Victory Lane, the others between and parallel to University and N. Santa Cruz avenues--will become three-hour parking from 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. except with employee permit. One such lot will have premium employee permits, selling at $10 more than the standard permit cost of $25 per month. Lots on the outskirts of downtown--south of Main Street, north of Los Gatos-Saratoga Road and on Miles Avenue--will offer free daily long-term parking.
Jennifer Marcoux, a representative of the Los Gatos Cinema, said the three- and two-hour time limits on downtown spaces would not benefit the theater. Having to move their cars would probably discourage visitors from having dinner and a movie or watching a double feature, Marcoux said. The Verizon long-term parking lot was nearby, but customers most likely would not want to make that short walk.
"This is not a horrible plan for us. This is just not the ideal plan for us," Marcoux said.
Members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church were also opposed to the time limits. The church holds programs on many Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and has prayer meetings and cooking classes during the week. The church is "heavily dependent on on-street parking for our participants," Pastor Thomas Garner said. The church's eight spaces would not be enough if the surrounding residential spaces became permit-only after 6 p.m.
Vice-Mayor Sandy Decker pointed out, however, that the church was only a short walk away from the Verizon lot on S. Santa Cruz Avenue and that the church was perhaps doing activities beyond its town-issued conditional-use permit. Decker suggested to Marcoux that the cinema consider asking people to move their cars in the break between the movies during a double feature.
Councilman Steve Glickman asked Todd if there were provisions in the plan for female employees who will have to walk a distance from their workplaces to the long-term lots late at night.
"The reality is that, from our perspective, we do not view it as a need but we recognize the concern and the perception that some employees have," Todd said. The police department did not see a danger that would necessitate the town's spending money on a "formalized process" for the safety measures.
But, at the same time, Todd said, "I want to assure council that we are not taking safety lightly." Police are working with bars and restaurants on teaching employee safety. Also, phase two of the parking management plan includes changes in lighting and tree-trimming that would improve safety.
Phase two also consists of reconfiguring and expanding the Verizon lot and the lot on Victory Lane and W. Main Street. Phase three, which town staff will work on in the coming months, is for the private property owners to lease or rent spaces to the town for public or employee parking. Council members unanimously voted for phase one, which was simply to implement the parking management plan.
|
|
|
|
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
