HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/21/2023 Item 6a, Stackhouse
From:Steph Stackhouse <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Fwd: Feedback on 6/7 Council Meeting Agenda item: 6a. Supplemental Budget
2022-23
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Council Members and City Staff,
In response to the Parking and Access Management Plan, I would like to once again share my concerns about the potential impact to patrons to our
business. I own the Center Studio and Boutique located at 672 Higuera St. We have owned and operated our business downtown for the past 8 1/2
years. We offer over 65 yoga and fitness classes per week and have over 1,000 visits to our studio downtown per week. I have included the email shared
with Council last June, 2022 on this same topic. There was a robust discussion during last year’s meeting and I was very thankful that the City was able to
use some ARPA funding to keep the first hour free parking in the garages for another year. Although the increased parking rates were approved in order to
secure debt financing, I was hopeful with the direction from Council to look at ways to avoid the businesses and visitors to downtown bearing the brunt of
financial shortfalls for the structure.
I’m disappointed that the Parking and Access Management Plan as drafted, does not address pricing strategy or feasibility for other ways to finance the
Cultural Arts District garage. The plan emphasizes promoting mode shifts and emissions reductions as the primary goal and while I don’t disagree with the
importance of this goal, the reality is that SLO County lacks the infrastructure to support significant mode shifts. There are simply not enough viable
alternatives to driving downtown particularly for those that live outside of SLO, as is the case for many of our customers. The cities that were chosen for
comparison like Sacramento, Portland, Rotterdam, Strasbourg all have several alternative transportation options like trains, trams, subways, etc. We do not
have this infrastructure in SLO County and so perhaps this was intended as aspirational but doesn’t reflect our reality now or five years from now.
The local incentive program referenced in the plan is appreciated but I would encourage the city to also look for options for metered parking spaces. This
could include things like demand pricing that is done in other cities, providing locals with a lower rate than tourists based on license plate registration,
or providing options for businesses to offer parking validation (at the businesses' expense).
My primary concern is on the steep increases at metered parking spaces as those are the parking options closest to our business. As I mentioned in my
email below from June, 2022, if a customer is coming for a 60-minute class, they currently pay $3-$4 at a metered spot. With the approved rate increase to
$4 per hour, July 2023, they will pay about $6-$8 per class. That is a steep increase that could deter customers and therefore severely impact our
business. Within the past six months, we’ve already had customers cancel their membership due to the parking costs.
In addition, this rate increase would make metered parking in SLO amongst the highest of any city in CA. I’ve detailed below the metered parking rates
across several cities in CA, for an accurate comparison. With an increase to $4 on July 1 and another increase to $5 per hour in 2025, we would be one of
the most expensive places to park in CA.
Parking Meter Rates in CA, with links to data source (city website):
City Parking Meter Rate
per Hour
Sacramento $1.75
Oakland $2.00
San Francisco $0.50-$6.00 Demand-based parking
San Jose $2.00
Santa Rosa $1.50
Monterey $1.75-$2.00
Pismo Beach $2.00-$5.00 Demand-based pricing (10am-
6pm)
Ventura $1.00
Beverly Hills $0.75-$2.00
Los Angeles $0.50-$6.00 Demand-based pricing
Santa Monica $1.25-$2.50
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Long Beach $1.00-$2.00
Our business mission is to make a positive contribution to our community through movement and mindfulness. We do this by offering free community
classes each week, scholarships for training programs, and donating a portion of our sales each month to local charities. We are considering how operating
downtown with these increased costs for our customers and staff aligns with that mission. If you don’t live in SLO or even in some neighborhoods within
the city, it’s a challenge to find a viable alternative to driving. We have a significant amount of workforce that live outside of SLO for which there is not a
viable alternative to get downtown. Not to mention working families who have to drop kids at school or childcare. In addition to the economic vibrancy of
our Downtown, this is about keeping our downtown accessible and being realistic about people’s need to park downtown.
This plan falls short of expectations that were discussed last year when the increased parking rates were approved. Please consider ways to keep our
downtown accessible for those that need to drive.
Thank you,
Steph Stackhouse
Owner, The Center Studio + Boutique
www.thecenterslo.com
805.903.2729
stephstackhouse@gmail.com
Begin forwarded message:
From: Steph Stackhouse <stephstackhouse@gmail.com>
Subject: Feedback on 6/7 Council Meeting Agenda item: 6a. Supplemental Budget 2022-
23
Date: June 3, 2022 at 5:14:42 PM PDT
To: emailcouncil@slocity.org
Council Members and City Staff,
In response to the June 2nd press release about the proposed parking rate increases, I would like to share my concerns about the
potential impact to patrons of our business. I own The Center Studio and Boutique located at 672 Higuera St. We have owned and
operated our business downtown for the past 8 years. We offer 65 yoga and fitness classes per week and get over 900 visits to our
studio per week. Our customers live throughout SLO County and come from as far as Paso Robles and Santa Maria to take classes at
our studio.
Our classes range from 45 min to 75 min and most are 60 min. So, if a customer parks at a metered spot, they pay a minimum of $3 for
90 minutes. With the proposed rate increase to $4 per hour, July 2023, they will pay about $6 per class. That is a steep increase that
has the potential to deter customers, which could result in a severe impact our business.
With the most recent set of parking increases last year (parking rate increases plus extending parking hours to 9p) and the loss of
several parking spaces to parklets, we communicated to our customers that we take into account the extra expense of parking when
pricing our services. It makes it more challenging for us to charge market value for our services with our location downtown. While we
enjoy the benefit of tourists as a downtown business and charge market value for drop-in classes, the foundation of our business is
based on locals who have monthly auto-pay memberships. Many of our members take class 2-3 times per week. If I put myself in the
shoes of our members who live “driving distance” from downtown, I would have to consider alternatives with the proposed increases
to parking. It is an impactful jump over the last couple of years particularly at a time when everything is more expensive.
This also creates challenges for our employees, most of whom are instructors who come in to teach one class per day and so park at
metered spaces or benefit from the first hour free in the downtown garages.
This is a complex situation but given the potential impact to downtown businesses, I request that:
1) More time be spent doing a thorough analysis of parking rates throughout CA and how SLO would rank in terms of costs. I did
a Google search of rates for several cities in the Bay Area, the Central Coast (Monterey to Ventura) and So Cal and most offer
some amount of free parking in lots or garages and meters are $0.75 to $2.00 per hour. I could not find other cities that are as
high as what’s being proposed.
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2) The city consider allocating pandemic relief and economic recovery funds to fund the parking structure construction and
investigate other potential funding sources and methods (grants, business sponsorships, private donors for creation of a new
arts and cultural district).
The Cultural District garage is an important addition to the infrastructure of our downtown but all efforts should be made to avoid
harming downtown small businesses still in the process of recovering in many different ways from a challenging time.
The core of our business is to provide services that help support physical and mental wellness, where people feel comfortable and safe
gathering and spending time in our downtown. This is a material change for our customers and the sustainability of our business so
thank you for your consideration.
Steph Stackhouse
Owner, The Center Studio + Boutique
www.thecenterslo.com
805.903.2729
stephstackhouse@gmail.com
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