Healdsburg considering paid parking at Plaza

Healdsburg may bring back paid downtown parking to free up more spaces around the popular plaza.

The City Council agreed Monday to consider paid parking - at least for visitors - but spare local residents who could park for free, perhaps with a form of license plate recognition technology.

Although council members were willing to explore the possibility of charging for parking, they also expressed qualms about following through with it.

Vice Mayor Brigette Mansell said she favors incentives to better manage parking, rather than charging for it.

“We have a lot of low-hanging fruit we can pluck before paid parking,” said Councilman Joe Naujokas, including better enforcement.

“It’s hard for me to embrace it … just because it feels so urban,” Council member Leah Gold said of paid parking, adding that Santa Rosa is the only city in the county with paid street parking.

Healdsburg used to have downtown parking meters, but did away with them more than 40 years ago.

In an analysis conducted this summer, Walker Parking Consultants found that street parking surrounding the Healdsburg Plaza was full much of the business day and evening.

The spaces around the plaza are free with a three-hour time limit and that’s where demand is highest.

It isn’t that Healdsburg lacks for parking spaces. There are 2,650 downtown parking spaces - many in private lots - and almost 1,000 aren’t in use at peak times, but are farther away from the plaza.

Increased enforcement efforts appear to have freed up some of the short-term spaces for visitors. But “abuse” of short-term spaces by long-term parkers remains a challenge, according to consultants.

Their survey found 14 percent of spaces occupied at the 1 p.m. weekday peak were occupied by vehicles parked for more than four hours.

Overall, 38 percent of spaces at some point between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m. were occupied by vehicles parked more than four hours.

Lack of parking around the Plaza remains a significant challenge.

Consultants recommended a paid parking pilot program along blocks that currently have three free hours of parking.

Another option was to increase enforcement efforts to further discourage overstaying of time limits.

Consultants suggested parking enforcement patrols be customer friendly by taking an “ambassador style” rather than punitive approach.

That means eliminating the charge for first offenses, but charging progressively higher fines for habitual parking offenders.

Several years ago, the City Council looked at instituting paid parking, but discarded the idea.

Building a parking garage was rejected because of the high cost.

Several speakers Monday noted the parking assessment comes amid changes such as self-driving cars, bike-sharing programs and the eventual arrival of SMART passenger train service, all of which could lessen parking demand around the Plaza.

Parking consultants say there are a number of ways to address parking issues, including designating parking spaces for employees in peripheral locations, establishing designated parking spaces for tour buses, limousines and contractor vehicles, and building or leasing new parking spaces.

Consultants suggested the possibility of free parking for residents and programs that promote the use of alternative modes of transportation such as biking and walking.

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 707-521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @clarkmas