HomeMy WebLinkAbout8/24/2021 Item 6a, Marlier
Delgado, Adriana
From:John F. Marlier <jmarlier@calpoly.edu>
Sent:Thursday, August
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Opposition to increasing parking district permits. Aug. 24 City council meeting.
This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond.
Dear City Council Members:
We are writing to you in opposition to item #3 from the letter sent by Parking Services to all parking district residents. This proposal
would allow “Greater Flexibility with Number of Permits" in the parking districts. Due to a prior commitment, we will not be able to attend
the August 24th meeting in person. We believe Jan Marks was on the City Council when the College Heights parking district was
established and may provide additional insight into the issues facing this particular neighborhood. Here are the reasons we oppose the
proposed changes:
1. Safety. We live on Stanford Drive in the College Heights district. Stanford is a narrow street with two significant
curves and it was not designed for the high number of cars stemming from the large increase in rental housing.
The resulting overcrowded parking blocks visibility and naturally leads to much higher traffic volume. These two
factors combine to decrease safety while backing out of a driveway or pulling out of a parking space. This
situation is exacerbated by the larger number of younger, inexperienced drivers. In part, the parking districts
were set up with safety in mind.
2. Current Lack of Parking. During the academic year, resident parking spaces are already scarce. Issuing additional
permits will force residents to park outside of the district. In addition, approval of the 468-500 Westmont
housing project with pre-approved ADUs and JADUs will further worsen the parking problem. When the city
council and our neighborhood first set up the parking district, the council told renters in opposition to the
district that, if they used their garages for the intended purpose of parking cars, two permits/house was
sufficient. Looked at from this point of view, the need for additional parking permits seems to be largely driven
by renters feeling inconvenienced by having to shift their cars when they need to access the street; in our
neighborhood renters typically do not use garages to park cars.
3. Neighborhood Quality. California faces many challenges concerning the availability and affordability of housing.
Housing in the College Heights area is not about affordability, since rents are extremely high. Permanent
residents are constantly trying to balance this new housing reality with an attempt to preserve some
neighborhood quality. To assist us with the quality issue the city has traditionally given us two tools: (1) parking
districts and (2) a noise ordinance. The current proposal by Parking Services greatly weakens the first of these
tools and takes a step backwards in the quest to save at least some neighborhood quality. We would appreciate
any help from the council to preserve some of the quality of our neighborhood by retaining the current parking
district rules.
Thank you for your kind consideration.
Respectfully,
John and Joyce Marlier (residents on Stanford Drive since 1990)
1
2