San Carlos OKs maintaining its outdoor dining

In a 4-1 vote, the council agreed to extend two overlapping programs by 18 months until Sept. 15, 2023 — its Parklet Program along Laurel Street and portions of San Carlos and Industrial avenues and a street closure program on the 700 block of Laurel.

The program was initially launched in 2020 as a way to drive business activity downtown and to give businesses additional space to expand operations when COVID-19 shuttered many indoor activities.

Many residents have lauded the program since its inception and have encouraged officials to keep it going, McDowell said, recounting an experience she had while recently working at the Laurel Street Farmers’ Market. And some merchants have credited the outdoor space with saving their businesses, particularly restaurants that have invested thousands of dollars into their outdoor structures.

“I’m really appreciative that you guys understand how important they are to struggling businesses. We’re barely looking at a great year this year finally again. The parklet is a huge part of it,” Jackie Campos, co-owner of La Corneta Taqueria, said during Monday’s meeting.

But others have not had a similar positive experience and have argued that customers have been discouraged from visiting their businesses due to the inconvenience of lost parking near storefronts.

Public Works Director Steven Machida outlined a number of changes made to the area aimed at helping the struggling businesses including posting wayfinding signs and parking maps on the city website, creating more temporary parking spots nearby and establishing an employee parking area at the Wheeler Plaza Garage.

Still, Councilmember Ron Collins, a member of the Downtown Subcommittee, voted in dissent of the expansion after arguing the city could have been working on a hybrid model that would have catered to both restaurants and retailers.

While appreciative of those improvements, Councilmember Laura Parmer-Lohan echoed Collins’ perspective, saying the city could be doing more to help still struggling retail businesses and requested that staff continue to engage with downtown stakeholders.

“We could do more to try to figure out how to integrate the needs of non-restaurant businesses,” Parmer-Lohan said. “They are an important part of our community and our community members are looking for that variety.”

Parmer-Lohan “reluctantly” voted in favor of the program after noting how quickly the recent omicron surge hit the Bay Area. The highly contagious omicron variant caused a historic wave of cases, infecting tens of thousands over the winter but resulted in far fewer deaths.

McDowell agreed with Parmer-Lohan and also said she’d like to see additional bike infrastructure in the area, echoing comments made by resident and avid cyclist Sonia Elks.

Before voting to extend the program, the council decided to forgo a $274,000-grant opportunity that would have covered the cost of implementing temporary pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements along San Carlos Avenue such as high visibility crosswalks, expanded pedestrian space and buffered bike lanes.

But to complete the full project, a requirement to receive the grant funds in the form of a reimbursement, the city would have had to remove parklets along San Carlos Avenue, Machida said. Staff had sought out the grant before city officials implemented the parklet program, Machida noted.

Ultimately, Machida said staff was advising the council to pass on the grant given the success of the parklet program and that officials are already pursuing a Downtown Plan study which could include a number of the same improvements on a more long-term basis. He argued a plan could be “cobbled” together that better reflects what the community is interested in seeing.

During public comment, Elks said she was disappointed to hear the plan would not be moved forward but recognized the importance of the parklets to small businesses and was encouraged by the council’s interest in implementing more permanent improvements down the road.

“I’m really disappointed to hear that the quick-build project isn’t possible given the parklets. … But I’m also grateful to hear you are cognizant that this could be built into a better overall plan,” Elks said. “It is super, super important that bicyclist, micromobility users can access downtown.”

The council also shared broad support for a parklet permit program that would require business owners to pay for cleaning services and an encroachment permit based on the square footage of their outdoor space. Instead of being charged a flat fee, some of the business owners with parklets who attended a workshop said they would prefer to be charged by square footage.

Councilmembers shared support for starting the fee program by June that would help the city keep track of the 36 parklets currently in use and would cover ongoing expenses to inspect the structures and potentially help recoup some city funds spent to stand up and operate the program, Machida said.

Businesses could also be charged rent to occupy the public space, however, councilmembers were mixed on whether to include that charge in the program.

Current recommendations would be to charge a cleaning fee of $23.50 per square-foot and the city’s standard encroachment fee of $539.54 per year which may change depending on the results of a fee study. If rent were to be added, businesses would be charged an additional $3.58 per square foot a year, about 9% of rental rates in the city.

Councilmembers also showed support for carving out exemptions for a couple of businesses that have provided a service to the community and have not financially benefited from the outdoor space.

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

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