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Speaker 1: (00:01)
The days of easily finding parking in front of your local restaurant or retail store may be coming to an end in San Diego. The city council passed a measure on Tuesday to exempt some companies from the obligation to provide parking spaces for customers. These companies could use their parking spaces as dining areas or additional retail space. The unanimous city council vote is intended to reduce the use of local transport, reduce driving and bring the city in line with its climate protection goals. But the decision is likely to get out of hand for many residents. A group of neighborhood leaders overwhelmingly voted against the proposal a few months ago. I’m joined by the Tribune reporter from San Diego, David Garrick. Welcome back David. Hey thank you for being under this new measure. What would exempt a company from providing parking space?
Speaker 2: (00:54)
There are two ways the company is within half a mile of a transportation hub, which is defined as a trolley line or bus station, or two high-frequency bus routes. You would be excluded in this scenario. Also, if they’re near a, if they’re in a neighborhood business park, which is a fancy zoning term for a small plaza that only serves one kind of adjoining, uh, residential area, as opposed to a regional shopping center, such as fashion choice,
Speaker 1: (01:22)
And this would apply to both new builds and existing businesses.
Speaker 2: (01:26)
Yes. And that’s the interesting point, because when Citi puts in such a policy it usually only applies to new things, but it also applies retrospectively. So if you are a company now and have been in business for 30 years, you could in theory get rid of all of your parking spaces when this goes into effect. And only
Speaker 1: (01:40)
To be clear, a transport hub could be a bus stop.
Speaker 2: (01:43)
It’s either an express bus. That’s such a fancy term for buses that are our special buses with a special lane, or if there are two bus routes nearby, that would count.
Speaker 1: (01:53)
OK. Can companies in the vicinity of passageways and densely populated residential areas still choose to provide their customers with parking spaces?
Speaker 2: (02:01)
Yes sir. And that’s the most important thing that proponents are stressing, and the Chamber of Commerce has advocated this because they say it shouldn’t be seen as a call on businesses to get rid of their parking spaces. It should be viewed in such a way that companies have the opportunity to find out how much parking space they need and then decide whether they might have too much right now. And maybe they would be better served if they had a little less. So it will be up to each and every company to decide how to handle it.
Speaker 1: (02:26)
And which companies still have to provide parking spaces?
Speaker 2: (02:29)
There isn’t really a specific type based on geography, such as where you are when you are in one of these zones. You’re okay. But I mean, I think the idea is that if you are a business near transit, you will probably consider it. And if you’re a company really far from transit and you know everyone has to drive to your company, it seems very unlikely. They would eliminate your parking space.
Speaker 1: (02:49)
Now the vote in the city council was unanimous, but some city council members raised concerns. What did they have to say?
Speaker 2: (02:55)
Yes. Um, and those were two different sets of concerns. Um, council, President Campbell mentioned the elderly and San Diego is getting older. You know, as the boomer generation gets older, uh, the elderly and people with disabilities really don’t get out of their cars that easily. You can’t get around by public transport, bike, or on foot as easily as it can, but it’s not very easy. Uh, and then Marnie von Wilpert, who owns a Scripps ranch, pointed out that a lot of residential and suburban areas of San Diego like Scripps Ranch and Tierra Santa, you know, it’s just that they’re not really traffic-friendly areas are. They are really auto-dependent areas. And it would take them a lot to transform into a transit-oriented area. So
Speaker 1: (03:33)
How should these concerns be addressed? You know what
Speaker 2: (03:36)
I think they basically are, except Barney got the mayor’s office to agree that the city defines what a transportation hub is. They actually call it a priority transit area. But Marty would like to discuss the definition of what a transport hub is, but also how it is applied. She was particularly concerned that if a large residential project, if a tiny bit of it is near the trolley, but the rest of it isn’t huge, it is still considered a transportation hub. And she says she doesn’t think that’s a good reputation. So she would like to discuss with the mayor, maybe adjust this policy or refine it in some way,
Speaker 1: (04:08)
In which areas of the city is the abandonment of commercial parking likely to have the greatest impact.
Speaker 2: (04:14)
It will happen in areas where companies have looked into it and find that many of their customers get there on foot, public transport, or bike. Um, so I think that’s where it’ll happen at most. Um, and like I said, I think it’s script trans Rancho where I’m going, you won’t see hardly any companies use this because they need parking. Your, their customers are all relying on it and they don’t want people circling the block for an hour looking for a place before they can get into the store and shop.
Speaker 1: (04:39)
What do proponents say that eliminating mandatory parking will do for some businesses?
Speaker 2: (04:45)
Well it says it will achieve a lot. They say it will help businesses, but their main goal is to talk about climate change and how San Diego is looking to reduce its greenhouse gases by 15 people who cut off bikes, pedestrians, and mass transit from cars. And they say this is a way of speeding up that process, forcing people a little bit to nudge them in the direction that they are saying, hey, if you really want to shop, you have to switch to public transit , go by bike or walk because there are many shops where you simply cannot park anymore.
Speaker 1: (05:12)
And you mentioned in your coverage that an overwhelming majority of neighborhood leaders voted against abolishing parking when it was proposed last spring. So could this be some kind of deaf vote by the Council?
Speaker 2: (05:27)
I think that’s how it could be characterized. I think they haven’t been deaf on this for a while because they’ve been focusing on this idea since Mayor Faulkner was a dense office along the tram lines. And pretty much every one of these housing projects was not popular with the neighbors and local residents, but the city council approved it anyway because they have this idea, this agenda, this, I believe, vision of a city in which there are dense developments along existing transit routes and overhead lines, because this is where it makes sense to add new apartments where people can get to places without the congestion and urban sprawl and these problems. So, I mean, I think all of these choices could be described as just as deaf as this one. But I don’t know if it’s deaf. I think it’s just a different perspective. I believe many San Diego residents lived here for a long time. They live in the suburbs and are not really comfortable with the idea of transit, but I think if you look at the climate data they may need to be more comfortable.
Speaker 1: (06:23)
And when does this new measure take effect?
Speaker 2: (06:26)
Jan 1st in most locations, but in the coastal zone of the city, which is generally west of Interstate 5, it’s not quite that, but in general it needs to be approved by the Coastal Commission. And there are some doubts that the Coastal Commission will approve it exactly as it is, as the Coastal Commission in general is really focused on giving people access to the beach. So if you eliminate beach parking you could have a problem with that. Some heartburn, not sure but I know that in the past you have brought up things like this
Speaker 1: (06:54)
Okay then we have to keep an eye on it. I want to thank you. San Diego Union Tribune, reporter David Garrick. Thanks very much.
Speaker 2: (07:00)
Thanks for the invitation.
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