TO: Honorable City Council
FROM: City Manager
SUBJECT: VILLAGE NEIGHBORHOOD SURVEY UPDATE
MEETING DATE: October 8, 2024
RECOMMENDATION:
The City Council will receive an update about the Village Neighborhood Survey and provide direction as may be deemed necessary.
BACKGROUND:
On March 14, 2024, Public Safety hosted a Neighborhood Watch meeting in the Village Neighborhood. During this meeting, several comments were made about parking issues. These comments included permit parking, allowing lawn parking, allow wider driveways, and other public parking options.
After this meeting, staff was directed to create a survey and distribute to the 140 homes within this neighborhood. A survey was drafted and on March 26, 2024, the survey was presented, reviewed, and approved for release by the by City Council.
On April 4, 2024, staff hand delivered numbered surveys to each home in the Village at their front doorstep. The numbers on the survey were to assist with ensuring duplicates were not submitted and to keep a level of anonymity among the neighbors. The surveys were delivered at random, and addresses were not associated to the numbers. The deadline to email, mail, or drop-off the survey responses was April 18, 2024. The City received 72 of the 140 surveys by the deadline date. Below are the Village Neighborhood Survey questions and responses:
Should the City consider repealing, or amending the “No Street Parking 2AM-6AM” restriction in the Village Neighborhood? 54 voted “No”, 17 voted “Yes”, and 1 did not answer (72 total responses) Of those who voted YES or did not answer, what would you recommend? 18 responses received (14 voted for permit parking and 4 voted for no restrictions) If you support permit parking, how many permits should each house be able to receive? 54 responses received (30 did not support permit parking, 13 supported 2 permits per household, 6 supported 1 permit per household, 2 supported 3 permits per household, and 3 supported 4 or more permits per household) Currently, how many vehicles do you have associated to your property? 66 responses received (36 claimed to have 1-2 vehicles, 29 claimed to have 3-4 vehicles, 1 claimed to have 5 vehicles, 2 claimed to have 6 vehicles, and 1 claimed to have 7 or more vehicles).
Do you support amending the code to allow driveways to be widened? 70 responses received (54 said yes and 16 said no). It should be noted that a code amendment to allow driveway widening for parking is essentially requesting a parking pad to be installed in the front yard.
Staff also realized that only 72 of the 140 properties completed the survey. The surveys did not capture if the respondents were owners or renters. The City by code could not allow lawn parking and would either need to remove the overnight parking restrictions, institute permit parking, allow for wider driveways, or enforce as the code is currently written.
ANALYSIS:
City staff from Administration, Planning & Economic Development, and Public Safety reviewed the responses received. The Commerce Municipal Code (CMC) Section 19.07.070(A) states that “No motorized vehicle, either operable or inoperable, shall be permitted to be parked within any front yard area other than on a paved driveway leading directly to a garage or other approved vehicle parking area.” CMC Section 19.07.080 states that, “A driveway in a front yard in any residential zone shall be no more than twenty feet in width. In the case where a driveway or other access leads directly to three covered side-by-side parking spaces, the driveway width shall not exceed thirty feet.” In addition, Commerce Municipal Code 10.44.040(16) further states that no operator of any vehicle shall stop, stand, park, or leave standing a vehicle within any setback area on private property, other than a driveway, unless authorized or exempted by state law or the city's zoning regulations pertaining to off-street parking. The village area also has signs installed throughout the subdivision that prohibits street parking from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. to help address parking concerns from local businesses and other related issues.
The City Council may consider one or more of these options and direct staff to make the necessary changes to City code if applicable to implement such new policies. The City Council may also consider other parking alternatives and direct staff to investigate further:
Maintain status quo and enforce current parking requirements pursuant to CMC Sections 19.07.070(A)., 19.07.080., and 10.44.040(16).
Remove the parking restriction from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. and implement a parking permit program in the Village and issue a parking permit per property to enable one vehicle to park on the street.
Pursue Develop Village specific standards related to widening of the driveways. Existing work that has been completed would need to conform to these new standards.
Direct staff to look into the possibility of a zone code amendment and factor potential citywide impacts.
Staff recommends receiving and filing this update on the Village Neighborhood Survey and options and provide direction to staff.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None at this time.
RELATIONSHIP TO STRATEGIC PLAN:
This matter is applicable to the following Strategic Focus Area and Guiding Principle: Community Quality of Life – Guiding Principle 4: Support and evaluate community services, programs and events that promote healthy and quality lifestyles for our residents. Enhance public safety and social services through innovative programs that meet the needs of the residential and business communities.
Recommended by: Justin Edson, Public Safety Manager
Approved As To Form: Noel Tapia, City Attorney
Respectfully Submitted: Ernie Hernandez, City Manager
ATTACHMENT:
Village Survey
Survey Analysis
PAGE
Page PAGE 2 of NUMPAGES 2
CITY OF COMMERCE
AGENDA REPORT
Item No.