TO: HONORABLE MAYOR FROM: Councilmember Matt Mahan
AND CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT: See Below DATE: June 14, 2022
Approved Date: June 14, 2022
SUBJECT: PARKING/TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT (TDM)
ORDINANCE UPDATE POLICY DIRECTION
RECOMMENDATION
Accept staff's recommendation and the memo put forth by Mayor Liccardo, Vice Mayor Jones, and Councilmembers Peralez, Carrasco and Foley, with the following additional direction:
1. As part of upcoming transportation planning and operations update efforts, include consideration of policy options for mitigating any potential unintended consequences of today's Council action for current residents, such as:
a. Include in "Move San Jose" Plan returning to Council in fall 2022 a discussion of:
i.Unbundled parking
ii.Shared use parking
iii.Demand-driven parking pricing
iv.Options for reducing the need for parking
b. When returning to Council with the ordinance implementing Council’s direction on this item, include a discussion of the following elements and potential improvements to parking operations:
i.Update Residential Permit Parking (RPP) program to align it with the policy goals in the General Plan and Climate Smart, ii.Expanding residents' access to privately-owned parking, especially after-hours access to commercial spaces,
iii.Modernizing payment solutions for curbside parking, including technologies that enable variable demand-based pricing.
COUNCIL AGENDA: 6/14/22
FILE:
ITEM:
22-916
10.3 BACKGROUND
Thank you to staff and my colleagues for leading the long overdue effort to right-size parking in San Jose. We know that rigid parking minimums result in less investment in housing and jobs, inefficient resource allocation, and negative environmental impacts. The data supporting these changes is clear and compelling. As San Jose grows from the inside out, we must move away from inflexible mandates that have produced six (vastly underutilized) parking spaces across the city per household and toward dynamic market-driven approaches that will result in a more vibrant and inclusive city.
At the same time, we should be sensitive to the very real frustration felt by residents who live in neighborhoods that have–or are on the cusp of having–the opposite problem: too few parking spaces relative to population density and demand for parking. One need only spend a few minutes speaking with residents in Mayfair, Checkers, the SUN, or many other neighborhoods in denser parts of our city to see that inaccessible parking is also a daily challenge for some San Joseans, and especially for older residents and families with small children.
As we lead our city toward a better future full of ample housing, bustling retail corridors, walkable neighborhoods, a variety of mobility solutions, and lower carbon emissions, we must also ensure that we don’t unnecessarily burden current residents who are already struggling to thrive in our city.
We can do this by carving out staff time to research and Council time to discuss potential parking management solutions that can complement this policy change. Residential permit parking programs are one long-standing method that could be expanded, but there are many other tools–from accessing privately-owned commercial parking lots that go unused after-hours to car share solutions to new parking payment applications with variable pricing for which we could subsidize low-income residents–that can help ensure sufficient and equitable access to a resource that most San Joseans will continue to rely upon for years to come. Thank you for your consideration.