San Carlos studies transportation, parking

“While the project is technical in nature, this is proactively working toward meeting transportation related goals and guidance from policies,” Senior Planner Rendell Bustos said. 

While San Carlos officials want to provide adequate parking — and residents have raised concerns over the loss of parking amid developments — the city must consider the matter against its effort to reduce environmental impacts from car usage, consultant Brian Canepa said. 

“If you supply a large amount of parking and you try to provide TDM measures at the same time, that large amount of free and abundant parking will essentially undercut and trip reduction measures you might have in place,” Canepa said. 

Recent state and regional laws have also demanded cities to make major changes to their requirements, Canepa said. In addition to the daylighting law being phased out throughout the state, Assembly Bill 2097 removed minimum parking requirements for projects near major transit stops. 

The most significant change is the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s new Transit-Oriented Communities policy requires cities to now adopt parking maximums for new developments by early 2026 to remain eligible for grant funding, Canepa said. This policy also requires all minimum requirements of parking to be eliminated, however, Canepa said most are already. 

Specifically, compliance with the new maximum requirements will keep San Carlos eligible for One Bay Area Grants that are typically used for bicycle and pedestrian improvements, local road repair and Safe Routes to School programs. Mayor Sara McDowell noted the grant funding that will be needed for the Holly Street/Highway 101 interchange upgrades that residents are seeking. 

The new MTC policy requires maximums of one parking space per bedroom in multifamily residential developments and 2 1/2 spaces per 1,000 square feet of nonresidential developments. Flexibility is given to cities to establish their own maximums that are comparable, though. Ultimately, the organization is looking to reduce vehicle miles traveled, Canepa said. 

For San Carlos’ more urban areas, proposed vehicle parking maximums are 0.7 spaces per bedroom for multifamily residential developments and two spaces per 1,000 square feet of nonresidential developments. Some additional parking may be allowed if developers contribute more public benefits, such as publicly accessible spots. 

“We want to adhere to policy maximums and not undermine your ability to produce housing,” Canepa said.  

Other parking policies were discussed, such as establishing standards for electric vehicles and disabled parking, considering shared parking spaces, and implementing paid parking in nonresidential areas which was opposed by the entire council. 

“We do not need paid parking in San Carlos,” Councilmember John Dugan said. “Paid parking does not support the vibrancy of downtown, I don’t see it as a big enough issue right now and I don’t foresee any circumstances where I would support paid parking downtown.”  

San Carlos’ transportation demand management program will also likely be amended to increase the required trip reduction of new housing, offices and hotels to reduce transportation impacts on the environment. 

Currently, the city requires new developments to commit to measures that will reduce the average daily trips on the road by 20%, but regional standards are higher, and San Carlos will consider increasing this reduction up to 35%, consultants said. 

Mitigations that residential developers can implement include minimal parking spaces, bicycles available to rent or passes for nearby public transit fares. 

No action was taken on the study session, but consultants will return with drafts of updated parking and transportation demand management plans at a future date.