Santa Rosa halts downtown parking changes after pushback

Pat Lamb would rather pay more taxes to fund public parking than feed a meter, so it’s not surprising the retired environmental engineer turned Lyft driver would rather go to Sebastopol or Healdsburg than drive into the heart of Santa Rosa.

“I avoid going to downtown Santa Rosa because I have a pet peeve about paying to park,” said Lamb, a Santa Rosa resident of more than 20 years who calls the city’s paid parking system a “pain in the ass.”

“I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels that way,” he adds.

Lamb’s not alone in having strong opinions about parking in downtown Santa Rosa, where two competing sets of changes to the system have collided, creating an impasse between parking staff and downtown business and property owners.

The city’s Parking Division recently crafted several proposals to change the downtown street parking system. Since January 2018, the city core has been divided into parking zones, with “premium” spots in high-demand areas where it costs money to park until 8 p.m. and “value” spaces farther away from Santa Rosa’s core, where parking is cheaper.

The idea was to balance parking so that any given block is 85 percent full during peak hours, said Kim Nadeau, the city’s parking manager.

“We don’t need more parking, we just need people to use the parking that we have,” Nadeau said.

Parkers pay $1.50 an hour to park on high-demand blocks that are regularly packed, compared to $1 for the same time in outlying downtown zones, which make up about two-thirds of the city’s 4,500 metered parking spaces and which are more often vacant.

In February, parking officials proposed raising the premium price by a quarter and dropping the cost of value spaces by 25 cents, as well as adding four downtown value blocks to the list of premium zones. The parking plan also would make it free to park in the city’s five public garages on holidays - aligning with city policy for metered spots - and would allow free Sunday parking at the garages on Fifth and D streets.

But opposition mounted as downtown businesses - many already frustrated with what they consider overly expensive evening parking - started to get wind of the city’s plans.

A nonprofit representing downtown property and business owners, the Downtown Action Organization, launched a petition drive to push back against some of the city’s proposals.

They want the city to roll back the cost for premium zones down to $1 and charge only until 6 p.m., as was the case before 2018, said Zach Berkowitz, a San Francisco-based developer with stakes in a proposed apartment tower at 420 Mendocino Ave., a smaller housing project at Seventh Street and Humboldt Avenue, and the boutique lodging space Hotel E that is revitalizing the historic Empire Building on Courthouse Square.

“It’s a challenge, and it’s a balance working with the city to try to generate revenue and make downtown an inviting place to be,” Berkowitz said.

The group also suggested making it free to park in all city garages on Sunday and going ahead with cheaper parking in the value zones.

In the petition’s wake, the city has backed away from a goal of changing the downtown parking system in the spring and has no immediate plans to move forward with any alterations, Nadeau said.

Bernie Schwartz, the longtime owner of California Luggage Co. on Fourth Street, said he didn’t usually hear customers complain about parking, though he acknowledged his store’s experience was different than that of downtown restaurants that stayed open into the evening. He also credited Nadeau with delaying downtown parking changes in the absence of more compromise, suggesting more data was needed about parking habits and the downtown business climate.

“I think that both sides have to be looking to the interest of the other side,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Will Schmitt at 707-521-5207 or will.schmitt@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @wsreports.