HomeMy WebLinkAboutPW East San Rafael Parking Study____________________________________________________________________________________
FOR CITY CLERK ONLY
Council Meeting: 11/18/2019
Disposition: Accepted report and provided feedback to staff to return to the City Council with
information on a Permit Program; perform additional outreach to landlords, and increase
enforcement
Agenda Item No: 7.b
Meeting Date: November 18, 2019
SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
Department: Public Works/Parking Services
Prepared by: Bill Guerin,
Director of Public Works
City Manager Approval: _________
TOPIC: EAST SAN RAFAEL PARKING STUDY
SUBJECT: REPORT ON INITIAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EAST SAN RAFAEL
PARKING STUDY
RECOMMENDATION: Accept report.
BACKGROUND:
Parking in East San Rafael has gotten progressively worse over many years because of limited
parking options for residents of that neighborhood. In 2017, the City hired a consultant, W-Trans,
to study the parking availability in East San Rafael and to make recommendations to alleviate the
overcrowded conditions. W-Trans prepared a report dated May 11, 2017 that included short,
medium and long term solutions to the parking challenge. Following a City Council study session
on September 18, 2017, staff was directed to pursue short-term strategies as recommended by
W-Trans. The short-term strategies in the report included:
• Time-limited parking; restrict parking to 24 continuous hours rather than the City’s current
maximum of 72 hours in residential areas, restrict parking to 4 hours in certain commercial
areas, and allow for the towing of vehicles that overstay the limitations.
• Public/private off-street parking partnerships; negotiate with (then) Mi Pueblo and Country
Club Bowl to allow overnight parking.
• Expand and improve transit service; Request Marin Transit make operational
improvements to bus service in East San Rafael.
While the underlying authority existed for time-limited parking, the authority to enforce these time
limits and remove vehicles if necessary did not exist. In order to implement time-limited parking
within areas of the City, amendments to the Municipal Code were necessary and the City Council
was required to approve them. On January 16, 2018, City Council adopted a new parking
ordinance amending the City’s Municipal Code to address the surplus of vehicles on the streets
in East San Rafael. The ordinance changes allowed the City to:
• Change time limits on residential streets from 72 hours to 24 hours;
• Change time limits on certain commercial streets to 4 hours; and
SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 2
• Allow towing of vehicles parked beyond the time-limit instead of just ticketing
Since the approval of this ordinance, City staff implemented the recommended short-term
strategies by:
• Creating custom signs for East San Rafael;
• Determining the appropriate time limits for each block (4-hours or 24-hours);
• Working with residents and business owners on acceptable sign locations; and
• Adding painted parking markers (Ts and Ls) on street segments identified by Parking
Enforcement Officers where spaces might be otherwise preserved through strategically
parking vehicles.
Letters were sent to the affected public in East San Rafael in July 2018, along with contact
information to notify the public of the changes and allow the public to express any concerns or to
request changes. New parking signs were installed in August and September 2018, and the Ts
and Ls were installed by Public Works crews on Harbor Street, Canal Street, and Kerner
Boulevard in September 2018.
Agreements were not pursued beyond initial contacts with the two large parking lots in the area
because Mi Pueblo was for sale and has since changed hands (it is now Cardenas Market) and
the bowling alley has been proposed for development of multi-family housing.
Marin Transit did make operational changes to improve service in East San Rafael and the City,
through a grant, made improvements to the bus stop structures.
Parking warnings, notifying the residents that parking enforcement changes were forthcoming,
were issued in October 2018. Actual enforcement of the new regulations began in November
2018. One additional parking enforcement officer was hired by Parking Services to increase
enforcement in the area. The area is enforced seven days per week, except City holidays. The
new changes have been effective at reducing the number of parked vehicles, with increased
compliance rates as well as fewer vehicles overall that are parking on the streets.
The attached table summarizes the citations before and after program implementation, broken
down by month and by area (Attachment A).
Before implementation began, the City committed to evaluate the short-term changes after one
year. However, the residents of the neighborhood requested an update after 6 months. An interim
parking occupancy survey was conducted in April 2019 to monitor and evaluate the parking
program’s progress to-date. Figure 1 shows the subareas studied and Table 1 provides a
summary of the 2017 and 2019 parking occupancy data collected during similar periods in both
years.
The findings indicate that the changes have had a positive effect on reducing the number of
parked vehicles in East San Rafael with 69% occupancy during weekday mornings (compared to
85% during a similar time period in 2017), 91% occupancy during the weekday evenings
(compared 103% in 2017), and 85% during Saturday evenings (compared to 104% in 2017).
Overall, based on the results of the interim parking surveys:
SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 3
• The initial results indicate the time limited parking in combination with increased
enforcement has been effective, with some streets experiencing more of a parking
reduction than others.
• The measures implemented to date have proven to be effective in managing the limited
supply of on-street parking.
• The total number of vehicles parking on streets in East San Rafael has been reduced from
2017 levels, and overall parking occupancy levels have been reduced during each time of
day.
Figure 1 – Parking Subarea Locations
SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 4
Table 1 – Parking Occupancy Results
Location Time Period Supply
Time of
Peak
Parking
Utilization
2017 (Month X to
Month Y)
2019(Month X to
Month Y)
#
Spaces
%
Occupancy
#
Spaces
%
Occupancy
Commercial Subarea
Weekday Morning 668 1:00 PM 649 97% 474 71%
Weekday Evening 668 12:00 AM 818 122% 718 107%
Saturday 668 12:00 AM 822 123% 641 96%
Canal Subarea
Weekday Morning 596 12:00 PM 547 92% 507 85%
Weekday Evening 640 12:00 AM 775 121% 724 113%
Saturday 640 12:00 AM 793 124% 673 105%
Bahia Subarea
Weekday Evening 311 11:00 PM 329 106% 282 91%
Saturday 311 11:00 PM 326 105% 264 85%
Spinnaker/Baypoint
Subarea
Weekday Evening 426 12:00 AM 408 96% 398 93%
Saturday 426 12:00 AM 386 91% 383 90%
Kerner Blvd Subarea
Weekday Morning 358 9:00 AM 268 75% 166 46%
Weekday Evening 358 12:00 AM 263 73% 134 37%
Saturday 358 12:00 AM 240 67% 127 35%
A Boro Community Center
Weekday Evening 79 10:00 PM 66 84% 73 92%
Saturday 79 11:00 PM 81 103% 75 95%
Country Club Bowl
Weekday Morning 137 12:00 PM 16 12% 51 37%
Weekday Evening 137 8:00 PM 44 32% 58 42%
Saturday 137 7:00 PM 79 58% 61 45%
Sanitary District No 1-Marin
Weekday Morning 19 1:00 PM 25 132% 26 137%
Summary 2017 2019
Weekday Morning 1778 1505 85% 1224 69%
Weekday Evening 2619 2703 103% 2387 91%
Saturday 2619 2727 104% 2224 85%
SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 5
Staff conducted outreach to stakeholders to discuss the findings and assess reaction to changes
in parking regulations. City staff and W-Trans met with:
• Chamber of Commerce East San Rafael Working Group on September 5th,
• Chief Executive Officer of the Canal Alliance on September 27, 2019, and
• a Community Forum at the Boro Community Center on October 21, 2019.
A Spanish interpreter was present for the Community Forum, which was attended by about 50
residents of the Canal, Spinnaker and Baypoint neighborhoods.
In general, the recent stakeholder meetings indicated that reductions in daytime parking have
been noticed throughout East San Rafael, but parking during the evenings continues to be a
concern.
ANALYSIS:
In order to realize the potential benefits of the 2017 East San Rafael Parking Study, and because
certain streets have experienced more parking reduction than others, staff recommends the
following measures:
a. Continuation of parking enforcement, with emphasis on nighttime and key street segments
that are still impacted more than others.
b. Encourage people to park where there are available spaces, such as Kerner Boulevard
south of Bellam Boulevard, through time limit changes, sidewalk, crosswalk, lighting and
safety improvements, and notification to the public.
c. Explore public-private partnerships with the larger parking lots in East San Rafael.
d. Add parking capacity. Schoen Park, the Boro Community Center and Kerner Blvd. all
have capacity to add additional parking.
e. Continue to meet with stakeholders to provide an update on the parking program on what
has been done, the effectiveness, what is coming next, etc.
f. Pursue active transportation measures to reduce the need for vehicle travel, so that car
ownership is no longer the only choice for mobility in the area, and ultimately reduce the
need for a car. These measures might include working with Marin Transit to provide
subsidized transit passes to encourage more bus travel; adding secure bicycle lockers;
widening the sidewalk on Francisco Boulevard East (ongoing); and studying the feasibility
of Class IV bike lanes on Bellam Boulevard.
g. Conduct a second post-implementation survey of on-street parking occupancy levels in
September 2020 to assess the program’s effectiveness and develop next steps. Also,
document community engagement, comments received, and other changes relative to
parking during this period, and report findings and recommendations to the City Council
and stakeholders.
FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact.
RECOMMENDATION: Accept the report.
ATTACHMENTS:
SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 6
1. Attachment A – East San Rafael Parking Study Area Parking Citations Summary
East San Rafael Parknig Study Area
Parking Citations Summary
June 2018 - July 2019
Location June August September October November December January February March April May June July Total by Area
1 - Bahia 78 112 45 339 197 93 81 83 124 94 45 75 92 1,458
2 - Canal 209 225 146 515 296 185 256 194 238 196 112 227 204 3,003
3 - Commercial 315 294 196 1325 448 285 355 380 320 213 120 210 195 4,656
4 - Kerner 97 89 49 535 231 100 96 98 65 44 33 49 48 1,534
5 - Spinnaker & Baypoint 48 40 32 477 165 40 81 61 93 88 31 63 44 1,263
Total by Month 747 760 468 3191 1337 703 869 816 840 635 341 624 583 11,914
2018 2019