Parking crunch eased for deli, restaurant at Fountaingrove Village

All it took to ease parking woes at Fountaingrove Village was some white paint.

About a month ago, Santa Rosa city officials restriped the north side of Stagecoach Road, directly in front of the shopping center's Traverso's deli and Santi Restaurant.

The move was a response to a growing parking crisis at the shopping center that local business owners say was struggling for business before it landed Traverso's and Santi.

But creating parking on Stagecoach seemed like something that would take a lot longer to achieve, said Santi proprietor Doug Swett.

"I was definitely surprised at how quick it happened," Swett said Tuesday, shortly after the busy lunchtime crunch - which ends about 1:30 p.m.

Until recently, there was no parking on the four-lane strip of Stagecoach Road in front of the shopping center and the the parking lot quickly filled up at noon.

Neighbors on a nearby quiet residential street didn't want cars in front of their homes. And the golf and athletic club across the parkway said it couldn't spare any spaces.

Employees at Santi, which moved to the shopping center in April after a decade in Geyserville, were cramming their cars in a fire-lane area and a small stub-street on Stagecoach Road.

At one point, Santi employees resorted to parking on nearby Parker Hill Road to free up shopping center parking. That move provoked an angry response from residents, with at least one leaving notes on cars threatening legal action or police involvement.

After a news article reported on the conflict, Michael Taverso said he contacted Santa Rosa City Councilman Ernesto Olivares, who Traverso described as a "longtime friend of ours."

Adding parking to Stagecoach seemed like a "simple solution," Olivares said.

Traverso's left downtown Santa Rosa for Fountaingrove in May 2009, partly to get away from parking problems. Olivares said he was there for the salami-cutting ceremony.

"They were kind of like the victims of their own success," Olivares said. "I went ahead and met with Michael out there....It seemed like on-street parking was the most obvious thing to do."

Segments of the right-hand lane on westbound Stagecoach Road have been used for both parking and a wide bicycle lane. There is now enough parking for about 19 vehicles, from Parker Hill Road to the second entrance to the shopping center.

Stagecoach's eastbound lane remains two lanes wide and there is no parking in a long stretch in front of the city bus stop. The bicycle lane extends a Parker Hill Road bike path, which at times is so narrow it almost vanishes, that begins at Chanate Road.

Restriping occurred on Oct. 16-17. Olivares said he contacted city staff to have them investigate the possibility of putting down new stripes. He said he wanted to expedite the process in time for the holidays and bad weather.

"All it took was paint," he said. "It wasn't going to be any serious infrastructure changes."

Aside from additional parking spots on Stagecoach Road, the shopping center ownership previously used parking valet services to help alleviate noontime congestion.

Swett said on-street parking and the valet parking service have made "all the difference."

"Occasionally, it will fill up, but there's never the worry about someone circling and leaving because there's no parking," he said.

Michael Traverso said he'd still like to see parking on the other side of Stagecoach Road.

"It's going to be a big test here as we get into the holiday season," he said.