Visitors to the city’s website at sonomacity.org these days are being asked to take a survey about downtown parking issues. The survey, designed by transportation consultants working for the Planning Department, asks 16 questions about how much time people park, how often, and why.
Of its 16 questions, though, one is sure to raise eyebrows: the last, Number 16: “Would you support having parking meters installed, with any money raised used to fund parking-related improvements (or establishment of a parking benefit district in which funds may be used on amenities such as lighting, benches, street furniture, landscaping, etc.)?”
City Councilmember Gary Edwards said of metered parking in Sonoma, “It hasn’t come up officially, it’s come up in conversation around town. I don’t believe it’s ever been a popular conversation.” Edwards is serving his first term on the council but spent almost seven years on the Planning Commission.
While the city may be a long way from putting in parking meters, it’s certainly something that, once again, is coming up in conversation. It’s a bit ironic that only two years ago the free parking duration for the downtown area was upped from two hours to three.
The Planning Commission is in the midst of preparing the “Circulation Element” update about all aspects of vehicular travel in town, and a parking study is part of that larger study, according to City Planning Director David Goodison. The Circulation Element is part of the 2020 General Plan in development; the Housing Element was updated last year.
So asking about parking issues downtown seemed timely to Goodison. “We’re getting a lot of data about traffic conditions, around the city and into the plaza, and we are hiring transportation consultants to do that work.” The consultants include W-Trans, who also developed the Hap Arnold Roundabout at Hanna Boys Center. “It seemed like a good time to leverage the work we’re doing on the Circulation Element to come up with information about downtown parking conditions.”
The online survey, a simple click-through multiple choice in a Surveymonkey format, asks if the respondent lives, works or is just visiting, what their parking experiences is like, how long do they park – and how long they’d like to; asks them to rate parking and congestion, specifically in the Plaza and core areas, and similar questions.
While many of the questions are yes/no, or choose one of three options, answers for this question are requested scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being strongly oppose and 10 being strongly support. Coming at the end of the survey, it seems to be a way to gauge public interest in, or support for, a parking district.
The question introduces a topic close to the interests of Robert McDonald, a Planning Commission alternate and 16-year resident of Sonoma, with a deep background in city planning in San Mateo and San Francisco.
“Many progressive cities, other than Sonoma, have parking districts,” said McDonald. “A good example is Cambria, California. It’s the same size as Sonoma, they have a parking district. I don’t know why we don’t.”
A parking district could levy fees on business owners downtown to pay for the meters, to pay for upkeep, perhaps use money for improvement to garbage cans, street lights, street cleanings and the other uses specified in the city’s survey question itself. “There’s a whole bunch of ways to encourage businesses to participate in a parking district,” said McDonald.
Enforcement would, of course, be key to a downtown parking district: making sure that cars feed the meters, park legally, and move on when – and are ticketed when their time is up, with the revenue going to pay for the enforcement itself instead of it coming out of the general fund.
Sonoma is not the only wine country destination city grappling with the issue. Recurring plans to place parking meters around the Healdsburg Plaza, with its much smaller footprint, usually evoke strong local reaction from residents who feel they are being double-taxed for living and shopping in town.
“A lot of people think parking meters are not business-friendly, but there’s a way to do it,” said McDonald. “You can have parking meters that are enforced on the weekends. I can tell you that locals don’t go to the Plaza and park on weekends.”
Edwards counts himself among those who aren’t in favor of parking meters, just as he wasn’t in favor of extending the duration of downtown free parking from two hours to three, implemented in 2013. “That really eliminates any opportunity for parking for guests for the business.” Edwards owns a building on First St. East, and added, “I’m interested in turnover in traffic.”
“If parking meters are looked at as an option for downtown, it would be for parking turnover, not revenue,” said Goodison.
The survey will close on Aug. 28.
Around that time or possibly later, the Planning Department will hold a special meeting to update the Planning Commission on the status of the Circulation Element, and the parking survey is likely to be part of that conversation. And, perhaps, parking meters.
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