ITEM 6-F
Council Meeting, September 26, 1995
To: Mayor and City Council
From: City Staff
Subject: Recommendation to Direct the City Attorney to Prepare
an Ordinance Establishing a Preferential Parking Zone
for the Area Bounded by Adelaide Drive, 7th Street, San
Vicente Boulevard, and Ocean Avenue
Introduction
This report recommends that the City Council direct the City
Attorney to prepare an ordinance establishing a preferential
parking zone for the area bounded by Adelaide Drive, 7th Street,
San Vicente Boulevard, and Ocean Avenue. Additionally, the
Planning staff should be directed to conduct an environmental
review of the proposed preferential parking zone.
Discussion
Staff received a qualifying petition from residents on Adelaide
Drive between Ocean Avenue and 7th Street, and some residents
adjacent to the intersection of San Vicente Boulevard and 4th
Street requesting the establishment of a preferential parking
zone. This area is primarily a single-family neighborhood, with
the exception of the properties on the corner of 4th Street and
San Vicente Boulevard, which are multi-family dwellings. These
streets are impacted by numbers of exercisers that park when they
use the stairs that lead from Adelaide down the hill to Los
Angeles. The stairs is a very popular, well known exercise
location. Parking, traffic and other problems associated with
users of the stairs has been a long standing concern of the
local residents.
Staff has determined that the area from which the petition was
received satisfies the criteria in the enabling ordinance for
establishment of preferential parking, specifically the sections
of the criteria that state, "non-resident vehicles substantially
and regularly interfere with the use of the majority of available
public street" and "non-resident vehicles interference occurs at
regular and significant daily or weekly intervals."
Staff conducted a parking study and analysis of the proposed
preferential parking zone between 4:00 a.m and 11:00 p.m. on
Wednesday, September 6th. The parking study for Adelaide Drive
showed that of the 88 total parking spaces available the average
occupancy rate was 47%, with a maximum occupancy of 76% at 7:00
p.m. The study for 4th Street showed that of the 36 total spaces
available the average occupancy rate was 64%, with the maximum
rate of 97% also at 7:00 p.m. Although the average occupancy on
Adelaide Drive was 47% and the average occupancy on 4th Street
was 64%, staff did observe, as expected, that non-resident
parkers (exercisers) are concentrated at and around the
intersection of Adelaide Drive and 4th Street.
After reviewing the results of the parking study, staff is also
recommending that San Vicente Boulevard between Ocean Avenue and
7th Street be included in this zone to allow for future expansion
should the parking conditions shift. San Vicente Boulevard
already has an average occupancy rate of 77%, with a peak
occupancy rate of 96% in the early morning. This approach of
establishing a larger zone has been successfully implemented in
the past. By establishing a larger zone, preferential parking
for San Vicente Boulevard can be implemented when a petition is
received from the residents without the need to proceed with the
long preferential parking process. Although the larger zone is
being proposed, initially only Adelaide Drive and 4th Street will
be posted with preferential parking.
Staff recommends the parking restrictions for this proposed zone
be "No Parking Anytime, Except by Permit . This form of full-
time parking restrictions is the same as those along the beach
front in the Ocean Park area south of Pico Boulevard and west of
Neilson Way.
The Police Department has also been involved with issues related
to the users of the stairs and they concur with this
recommendation. They believe this will be one tool to assist
them in addressing some of the problems in this neighborhood.
After completion of the environmental review, the ordinance and
appropriate environmental documentation will return to the
Council for final consideration. It is anticipated the
environmental process will only require an initial study and
negative declaration which will be completed by staff.
Budget/Financial Impact
It is estimated that approximately 350 permits will be purchased
by the residents on Adelaide Drive. This will generate
approximately $5,250 annually in additional revenue in FY 95/96.
Upon adoption of the ordinance establishing the preferential
parking zone, the budget at revenue account 01-210-415-00000-
0029-10000 should be revised to reflect an increase of $5,250.
Installation of signs will be done by City crews. The
department's current budget should be sufficient to finance
necessary expenditures involved with establishing this zone.
Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council:
a) Direct the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance
establishing a preferential parking zone as outlined
in this staff report;
b) Direct the Planning Staff to conduct an environmental
evaluation of the proposed zone; and
c) Upon adoption of the ordinance establishing this zone,
revise budget revenue account 01-210-415-00000-0029-10000
to reflect $5,250 in additional revenue from the sale
of new preferential parking permits.
Prepared by: Suzanne Frick, Director of Planning and Community
Development
Ron Fuchiwaki, City Parking & Traffic Engineer
Doug Biagi, Associate Traffic Engineer