EAST PALO ALTO
CITY COUNCIL
STAFF REPORT
DATE: December 15, 2022
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Patrick Heisinger, Interim City Manager
BY: Humza Javed, Public Works Director
Hansom Hom, Deputy Manager, Special Projects
SUBJECT: Parking Around City Parks and Facilities
Recommendation
By motion:
1. Accept staff report on parking regulations and enforcement on public streets in and around City Parks and other City facilities;
2. Provide direction to staff regarding the elements raised in the staff report;
3. Direct staff to refer the item to the Public Works and Transportation Commission for consideration; and
4. Direct staff to return to the City Council in early 2023 with proposed modifications to the City’s parking and enforcement policies on public streets in and around City Parks and other City facilities.
Alignment with City Council Strategic Plan
This recommendation is primarily aligned with:
Priority No. 1: Enhance Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Priority No. 3: Increase Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Priority No. 4: Improve Public Facilities and Infrastructure Priority No. 5: Improve Communication and Enhance Community Engagement Priority No. 6: Create a Healthy and Safe Community
Background
The City operates and maintains the following parks: Bell Street Park, Jack Farrell Park, Joel Davis Park, and Martin Luther King Junior Park. In addition, the City has other facilities including the Tate Street Office and Senior Center where at times, members of the community park.
The purpose of this report is to provide information about parking and enforcement around the City parks.
Analysis
The City owns and maintains a number of parks throughout the City with various parking regulations. A detailed description of each park is included below:
Bell Street Park
Bell Street Park does not have a dedicated parking lot. Park users park at the YMCA parking lot to access this park. This parking lot is owned and maintained by YMCA.
Jack Farrell Park
Jack Farrell park does not have a dedicated parking lot. Park users utilize the angled and perpendicular on-street parking on Fordham St. This parking area is maintained by the City of east Palo Alto. Parking In this area is restricted by posted signs restricting parking from sunset to sunrise. Parking enforcement is performed by the Police Department.
Joel Davis Park
Joel Davis park does not have a dedicated parking lot. This park is within a residential community and park users utilize on street parking around the park perimeter. The streets are public and are maintained by the City of East Palo Alto. Parking is restricted with posted signs prohibiting overnight parking. These signs are not standard signs and have not been placed by the City. In order for the City to enforce overnight parking, signage meeting the requirements of the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Devices (CA MUTCD) would need to be installed.
Martin Luther King Junior Park
Martin Luther King junior park is one of the only public parks with a dedicated parking lot. This parking lot is gated and not normally open for public use. The gate is opened on occasion for events. There is a public pedestrian gate which is always open for public use.
City Authority
The City has broad powers regulating the parking of vehicles on public streets. This authority comes from the California Vehicle Code sections 22500 and following.
In particular, section 22507 (a) provides that local authorities may, by ordinance or resolution, prohibit or restrict stopping, parking or standing of vehicles on certain streets or highways or portions of those during all or certain hours of the day. The ordinance or resolution may include a designation of certain streets upon which preferential parking privileges are given to residents and merchants adjacent to the streets for their use and the use of their guests under which the residents and merchants may be issued a permit or permits that exempt them from the prohibition or restriction of the ordinance or resolution.
Section 10.04.010 and following of the Municipal Code authorizes designation of restricted parking zones by resolution of the City Council. Whenever this is done, restrictions become effective upon installation by the director of Public Works of appropriate street signs and/or markings giving notice of the restriction.
Ordinance No. 142 adopted in 1992 authorizes the City Council to establish restricted parking zones by resolution. Restrictions are not applicable until signs or markings giving adequate notice have been placed.
There is no adopted Resolution regarding the parking restriction around the public streets adjacent to Joel Davis Park. There are also no restrictions in the Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) regarding overnight parking.
Discussion
By providing this information to City Council, staff would like to engage in a discussion about current parking regulations and enforcement practices around these parks. Upon direction from City Council, the item can be further discussed at a future Public Works and Transportation Commission meeting.
Fiscal Impact
No fiscal impact with the current action
Public Notice
The public was provided notice of this agenda item by posting the City Council agenda on the City’s official bulletin board outside City Hall and making the agenda and report available at the City’s website and at the San Mateo Co. Library located at 2415 University Avenue, East Palo Alto.
Environmental
The action being considered by the City Council is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because it is not a “project” pursuant to 15378(b)(4) because it is a fiscal activity which does not involve any commitment to any specific project which may result in a potentially significant impact on the environment.