San Bruno city officials are exploring the possibility of metered parking downtown and in the surrounding area to create more car turnover for patrons and generate revenue.
The City Council plans to iron out the details of the program in late September discussing parking price per hour, rates for downtown employees and how to use the revenue generated. Vice Mayor Tom Hamilton said parking along San Mateo Avenue, the city’s downtown, is overutilized and parking in the nearby city-owned parking lots is underutilized and the meters will help create a better ebb and flow in the downtown.
“My biggest priority here is to help our merchants be as successful as possible by having a downtown that is easily accessible,” Hamilton said. “We need to make it as easy as possible to do that. There are no restrictions and people can leave their cars on the avenue all day, and some do.”
The city has 839 parking spaces along El Camino Real and on San Mateo, Jenevein, Easton, Huntington, West Angus and Mastick avenues being considered for the meters. It is looking to buy and install 84 parking kiosks, which could cost the city $1.3 million to purchase and install. It will be a pay-by-plate service, which will eliminate finding spaces with time left on the meter. The proposed parking rates could range $1 to $3 per hour, and the prices could fluctuate based on parking occupancy and time of day. LAZ parking services was awarded a contract with the city for $2.5 million, which will cover five years of service. Parking will be enforced from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., every day, with a two hour maximum limit, according to the report.
“The pricing is all data driven and the prices will vary and it needs to be reasonable so people aren’t offended. The way I look at it’s a stream of revenue and the rates are higher because it’s going downtown. People trust that the city is trying to validate what we are doing with that money,” Councilmember Marty Medina said.
Hamilton said he wants to nudge people to park their vehicles in the city-owned lots, with signs pointing people to them.
The city will be discussing how to best manage employee parking and metered parking in its city-owned lots. The plan is to extend the metered hours from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.. The city-owned parking lots downtown and City Hall employee parking could range from $.25 to $3 per hour from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week and would have a 10-hour time limit, according to the report.
“Sometimes those parking lots are filled with cars from the neighborhood so it is going to be necessary [to meter those lots],” Hamilton said.
The downtown already posted a two-hour restricted parking enforced by the city’s Police Department. However, a lawsuit in San Francisco in 2021 over chalking tires has made it more difficult for the city to regulate parking.
Josh Traxler, the owner of Twice as Nice, a thrift store on San Mateo Avenue, said the issue is residents, merchants and even people from the airport know the city does not enforce downtown parking and they take advantage of the situation.
Still, the council will need to discuss how to best charge employees who work in the area to use the long-term parking lots. Ideas range from discounted hourly parking to monthly permits, according to the report.
“My goal here is to make it have the least impact on the merchants and employees as possible. We have to look at the technology and what is available to see if it is feasible if you are a merchant with six employees, could we have a system track any two of these cars could be in the lot at the same time,” Hamilton said. “I would love to see that but I don’t know if it’s feasible.”
Mike Kharsa, the owner of Grand Leader Market and Deli, said he supports the metered parking downtown but added the pricing for employee parking should be tiered based on the amount of employees per business.
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“For me more importantly is the merchant parking. They can’t allow them to park on the street all day anymore, they need to use the city lots,” Kharsa said.
The city estimates it could generate $2 million to $3 million a year in revenue. For Hamilton and Marty Medina, it is revenue that should be reinvested into the downtown.
“I fully support that money going back into the downtown,” Medina said.
The merchants don’t feel the city is listening to their needs, Traxler said. The metered parking revenue would be a great opportunity to reinvest it back into the downtown, he added.
“It doesn’t feel like there is any support from city officials, everyone has an answer but nobody has a solution,” Traxler said. “Hopefully, the revenue goes into a parking fund and that money should stay invested in the downtown. Power washing the sidewalks, lights and trees and there are so many ideas and things we need to do but we just crack the surface to start the beautification process.”
Traxler said he would be willing to collaborate with the city on ways to use the money for improvements. Kharsa echoed Traxler’s willingness to collaborate with the city.
“My door is always open and everyone is always welcome,” Kharsa said.
Mayor Rico Medina said the City Council will address parking meters at its Sept. 26 meeting.
Parking meters could be installed and enforced in the city as early as Jan. 1, according to the report.
Note to readers: This article has been changed because it previously said LAZ parking service was contracted by the city for $2.5 million per year, when it is $2.5 million for five years.
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(1) comment
A few more reasons (aka dollars) to not bother in patronizing San Bruno downtown shops. Those extra bucks each time will eat into budgets for absolutely nothing. But hey, after the city awarded a $2.5 million contract, you need to make the money back somehow… I guess folks should head back to the malls and places with plenty of free parking. Meanwhile, do we need some sunlight in finding out why a $2.5 million contract was awarded for parking services?
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