Millbrae moving to paid parking

“It would certainly help us transform the downtown, provide the funding and the financing structure for key initiatives such as the [Business Improvement District] and peripheral parking garages in the future and enhance our parking inventory and the whole parking strategy,” Mayor Anders Fung said. “So this is essential, and it’s also exciting.”

A majority of councilmembers expressed support for getting parking fees implemented as soon as possible, with Kimley Horn consultant Mike Iswalt suggesting construction on the system could begin in 2025 with a 25-year life span on the project.

Vice Mayor Maurice Goodman said that ensuring parking fees covered implementation of the new paid parking system should be a priority, whether that meant costs of $1 an hour or $1.50 an hour.

Capital costs of the installation of a parking system would be around $600,000 to $900,000, Iswalt said, and operating costs would be $1.2 million to $2 million per year, with revenue of to $1.5 million to $3 million per year from a $1 to $2 rate, respectively.

“I think we need that information,” Goodman said of the approximate statistics given. “I want to make sure we’re actually covering the cost and possibly having a modest reserve as well.”

Discussion stalled around the suggestion for a parking structure on Magnolia Avenue proposed by the consultant, and city staff will look into other potential locations for the structure, they said.

“In terms of the garage, I absolutely do not want Magnolia,” Councilmember Ann Schneider said, but supported looking into the feasibility of building a structure on a city-owned lot.

The concept of a city-owned parking garage in Millbrae should be framed around a vision of supporting future mixed-use development, including housing, City Manager Tom Williams said.

“As it comes to a peripheral parking garage, we have an opportunity to utilize our assets to build out housing, commercial and public parking,” he said. “I don’t see this just as one peripheral parking garage, I see it as a mixed-use opportunity for us to build out and have public parking as part of a mixed-use development in the future.”

A $20 million long-term parking structure could be built up to four stories with the potential for 320 spaces and would generate higher parking revenue when operating, as well as providing opportunities for ground floor retail, event space and electric vehicle charging, Iswalt said.

The City Council discussed a variety of options for parking strategies, weighing potential concerns around local businesses and the possibility of expanding residential parking permits to ensure those living near downtown retain parking options in case of spillover.

“We should consider talking to residents, and what’s our residents’ appetite for expanding that boundary,” Goodman said of potentially expanding residential permitting to protect parking spot availability.

Councilmember Gina Papan pointed to outreach of residents in downtown itself, as well as side streets.

“What we haven’t considered, and hopefully as we progress here, there are apartments [downtown], so we need to figure out what their needs are,” she said. “The more data we come up with is important. We don’t want to be San Francisco … as far as costs go, $1 or $2 an hour is fair.”

Schneider added that the council should work to protect residents on nearby streets like Hermosa, Magnolia, Silva and Hemlock avenues because they’re “going to bear the brunt” of any spillover parking.

The discussion also included conversation around increasing short-term commercial and passenger loading up to 20 minutes, including enhanced signage and wayfinding and potentially expanding parking enforcement and implementing automated license plate readers.

One speaker at public comment, Nathan Chan, requested the City Council implement different parking pricing at varying times of day.

“I think that we should consider more dynamic pricing strategies for pricing parking in Millbrae,” he said. “Certain times of day the parking demand is much more acute than others. It seems to me it would make more sense if we had different pricing tiers for different times of the day.”