Santa Rosa considering 'progressive' parking downtown

Santa Rosa is moving forward with long-discussed plans to set parking rates downtown based on demand, a move that would likely result in higher parking rates in the busiest business districts and lower ones in areas that get less usage today.

The city is pushing the switch to a so-called “progressive parking” strategy as a way to make it easier for drivers to find parking spaces in the areas where competition for parking spots is most fierce, such as the core of Old Courthouse Square and Railroad Square.

“The overall goal is to make it easier to find a space, so that the most popular space has a different price from the least popular space,” Lauren Mattern, a parking expert hired to study the city’s parking program, told the council Tuesday.

The proposal would increase parking prices from $1 an hour to $1.50 and extend some of the collection hours for two hours to 8 p.m. But raising parking rates in Santa Rosa - the only city in Sonoma County that charges for parking - is likely to draw criticism from businesses and residents who have frequently complained the city’s parking program drives away visitors.

Some businesses have reported struggling because of the heavy construction work to reunify Old Courthouse Square and the ensuing changes in traffic patterns. Hiking parking rates so soon after the new square opens next month struck La Vera Pizza owner Sue Kade as unwise.

“I really want people to fall in love with coming downtown again, with using our square and seeing the vibrancy of downtown before we say ‘Oh, and by the way we’re increasing parking by 50 percent,’? ” Kade told the council.

No decisions have been made about the program yet. Tuesday’s meeting was a study session, and the issue returns to the council in June to establish a pilot program.

But there was clear support among council members for the concept, strongly suggesting that demand-based parking - like that in San Francisco, Berkeley and other Bay Area communities - is an idea whose time has come to Sonoma County’s largest city.

“I think we should have people pay for parking when the demand is highest,” Mayor Chris Coursey said. “That’s the name of the game, right?”

The program would create two parking zones, “premium” and “value.”

The premium areas would be the core shopping districts between Third and Fifth streets and B and D streets around Old Courthouse Square, and between Fourth and Fifth streets and David Street and the rail line in Railroad Square.

The city is proposing to increase rates in these zones from $1 per hour to $1.50. The remaining areas of the downtown parking district would initially remain at $1 per hour.

The idea is that if someone knows they can save a little money by parking a bit farther away from their destination, some will, while those who want the convenience of parking as close to their destination as possible still can, just at a premium.

That suits some merchants just fine.

“My customers don’t mind paying more for parking,” said Bernie Schwartz, owner of California Luggage on Fourth Street. “What they do mind is not finding a place, having an illogical way to pay for it and, of course, getting a ticket.”

The program would also delay the start of the collection hours in both zones from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., giving a break to drivers during the lightest period of the day, and extend the collection hours for the premium zones to 8 p.m., when competition for spaces near restaurants and bars can get tough.

The city will consider lowering prices in value areas, perhaps to 75 cents an hour, if drivers don’t shift there after rates increase in the premium zones, said Kim Nadeau, the city’s parking manager.

The city hasn’t increased its parking rates in nine years, Nadeau said. A modest revenue increase would not be inappropriate given the long-term operating and capital needs of the district, but it’s not the goal, she said.

A revenue increase in the premium district may very well be offset by revenue decline if the city creates a program to provide subsidized parking permits for low-income workers, Nadeau said.

The city of Sacramento gives low-cost parking permits to downtown workers making $16 per hour or less, and Santa Rosa is considering something similar, perhaps one that steers downtown workers into underutilized garages, she said.

The city has been considering progressive parking policies since 2009, when Donald Shupe, an influential academic on the subject, visited Santa Rosa and outlined his views.

He is the author of a book called “There Ain’t No Such Thing as Free Parking.”

Shupe argued that a community should shoot for 85 percent occupancy of its parking spaces, and adjust rates to hit that level if possible.

To reduce the anxiety some people feel about getting a ticket, Mattern also suggests the city increase the parking time limit for on-street spaces from two hours to three or four hours.

Councilman Chris Rogers said he supported the program but hoped the city’s older residents, some of whom might be less able to walk longer distances, didn’t feel put out by the new policy.

“They might feel penalized to have to pay more to park closer to the businesses that they want to patronize,” Rogers said.

Vice Mayor Jack Tibbetts said that if the city needed to extend collections to 8 p.m., he hoped it would be done in a way that didn’t surprise people who receive a parking ticket.

“I don’t think you should be able to go enjoy these businesses after hours and come back with a ticket on your windshield,” Tibbetts said.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 707-521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.