Council goes to bid on downtown parking

Second draft plan offers some answers, raises more questions

By Nathan R. Huff

The Town Council responded on May 22, to draft two of the downtown parking plan, asking staff to solicit proposals and bids for meters, signs and other parking paraphernalia.

The second draft, prepared by Aspen-based parking consultant Tim Ware, answered many of the residents' and businesses' concerns over ambiguities in the first draft. But new questions continue to arise as soon as answers are found.

The Town Council heard from members of a grass roots task force of business owners and downtown residents, as well as several new participants, including Los Gatos Cinema owner Jim Zuur, who said the proposed $1-per-hour parking charge would kill the theater.

Ware and the task force that was formed to craft an acceptable plan for all downtown interests are now focusing on more individual concerns, including those of restaurant and hotel owners and employees, and private parking lot owners.

"We know it will work, but it's going to take a lot more input," Sheri Lewis, executive director of the Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce said. "People who aren't part of the process--if they have concerns--need to become part of the process."

Council members agreed the plan needs more tinkering to make it more accessible and responsive to individual businesses' unique concerns. Most council members also said they were impressed with the second draft and were optimistic about a plan everyone could live with.

"The parking plan is probably 80 to 85 percent done," Mayor Steve Blanton later said, adding that the concerns voiced by Zuur were important but solvable. "I think that one thing this plan does provide is a level of flexibility."

Councilman Randy Attaway, once an ardent opponent of paid parking, said Los Gatos Cinema's concerns were an important consideration, as was the issue of parking for St. Mary's parishioners, which isn't discussed in the plan. Attaway questioned whether the plan was as close to completion as many believe.

"I think there were so many good and different issues brought up last night that I don't see how we can put all the implementation measures in place and decided before the Christmas season," he said.

But downtown residents and business-owners warned the council that it had better put something in place, or the town will face the same space crisis that arose last holiday season.

Town manager Dave Knapp, when introducing the second plan, underscored the fact that the plan could be adjusted once in place, but that a parking program needs to be enacted while the town pursues building new structures.

"The fundamental problem is that there are unused spaces, and new spaces are very expensive, and are going to take a while to produce," Knapp said. "In the interim, there need to be some steps to create incentives for people to park in some of those unused spaces."

The second draft plan offers more details on how the town could implement incentives by regulating different areas of downtown. It expands the first draft's neighborhood parking recommendations, as well as adding more details on its commercial aspects.

More than 100 residents responded to the 14,000 notices the town sent out to announce the review meetings of the first draft.

The second draft also expands the proposed employee permit-parking lots. It adds town lot #7 and designated spots on East Main St. to those areas earmarked in the first draft for employee parking. Soliciting bids for a shuttle system to the outlying lots--the park-and-ride and Miles Avenue lots--is also included.

The new draft breaks down residential areas as well, with maps included. While the previous plan called for extending paid parking into all the neighborhoods, the new plan provides a shorter list of proposed metered residential streets. Ware believes these streets can handle some overflow parking for downtown, and that they are critical to the business district's commercial success.

The second draft also provides a more detailed pricing breakdown. While metered street and lot areas are set in both drafts at $1 an hour, that rate may come down. Yearly permits for residents were reduced from $75 to $50 in the second draft, and employee permits went up from $300 a year to $500. Fine and ticket rates are also proposed, ranging from $25 for an expired meter to $100 for fraudulent use of a permit.

While a full-fledged operating budget is not yet ready, Ware's draft estimates an initial start-up cost of close to $1 million and an annual operating cost not to exceed $500,000.

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