Bobby LeeAfter over a year of workshops, community feedback and council review, the City of Emeryville has scaled back its proposed citywide parking management plans. Under a revised proposal, the City will now focus on managing parking in just the North Hollis and Triangle neighborhoods initially.
The change comes after hundreds of comments from community members and feedback from various stakeholders, including City Council, over the last few months.
Under the revised Parking Management Plan being proposed, parking meters will be installed in approximately 350 parking spaces in the affected neighborhoods. They will be initially programmed to charge $2 per hour for the first two hours, jumping to $7 per hour for any time exceeding two hours.
The goal with the tiered pricing, according to the staff report, is to encourage visitors to stay for short durations. This would allow the spaces to turnover and become available for other visitors in the busy retail and commercial areas, while discouraging long-term parking. In addition, through the pricing structure, the city hopes to keep metered spaces 85% occupied.
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Visitors could pay at the meter, kiosk, or mobile phone. Parking meters would be patrolled using enforcement staff, aided by automated license plate readers or other software.
Previously proposed changes to the residential, businesses, and employee parking permits has been removed from the revised parking management program plan. However, the City says they may ask for proposals from vendors to understand the cost and technology needed to implement a parking permit program in the future.
Additionally, city staff have proposed launching two new studies related to mobility in these same areas. The first study is a dedicated peak-hour transit-only lane on Hollis Street. The second study would look at the “highest and best use of curb space.”
The cost of the proposed program has dropped significantly from the previous version of the plan. City staff now estimates a capital investment of $518,000 would be needed to launch the program, with all of it covered under existing grants and city funds.
Operating costs are almost neutral in the first year. The City estimates first year revenue at $836,000, compared to $825,000 in operating expenses.
The report also assumes a 5 percent annual increase in operating costs. Under these assumptions, the City projects a 5 percent deficit in the programs operations during fiscal year 2022, increasing annually unless there are revisions to the parking program or an increase in meter rates.
Later this evening, city staff will present the revised plan in front of Council once again for approval and for public comment. If approved, the City will move forward with requests for proposals from parking equipment vendors and other elements needed to get the plan off the ground.
View all documents related to the plan on emeryvilleparkingmanagement.com.
February 19 Update: City Council voted to move forward with the revised plan framework, with direction to city staff to research enforcement and metering options on San Pablo as well. The Council also provided direction to city staff to look at metering parking under the Powell Street overpass, among other minor changes.
I’ve never gone back to EmeryBay since they started charging to park. That was years ago. I drive all the way to Pleasanton, Walnut Creek or Concord to go the Apple Store, etc. I shouldn’t have to pay to give them my money. You can totally enforce time limits without charging people for it. If they charged to park at Trader Joe’s I’d stop going there too. They’re going to do what they do but I don’t have to comply. Thanks for hippin’ us to the news.
I assume you mean Bay Street? IKEA parking is of course free. I often wonder how many people park there and across the street at Powell Street Plaza to avoid paying $4.
Wait, what? You’ll pay for gas/electricity to drive 30-60 miles round trip and spend a minimum of 1-2 hours of your precious life to avoid paying for parking at Bay Street? What?
Surely it costs you more than $4 in time/gas/electricity costs to get to/from Pleasanton…but you do you if it makes you feel better.
This new Plan is no better. I live in one of the affected areas where parking is already tight. For some reason they recently took out a block of our street parking and replaced it with a landscape feature. Now the meters will push more people into our neighborhood in order to get free parking. I don’t feel that the residents are considered when these plans are being made. This is very frustrating and disheartening.
My concern is somewhat selfish. I live on 67th between Hollis and San Pablo. 2 issues:
1. Speed bumps, the greenway crossing is an interstate highway on weekdays and vehicles speed through there. Someone getting hit is inevitable under current configuration.
2. Permit parking or some variation of that. I often park 2 or 3 blocks away on weekdays as people working or visiting the Marchant building- or whatever it’s being referred as- take up all the space in the 3 block area. There is ample parking on top of the building!
Some residents here drive large trucks for a living. There is no opposition to that. They live here and are good, hardworking people.
Some of this falls in Oakland which is a logistical challenge. Curtailing speeding through the greenway crossing should be be an easy fix.
Hi Rob,
An employee at Dewey’s ice cream, in the Public Market, shared that we’re going to get a grocery in about two months! Please check it out with the developer and maybe get a scoop! (not the ice cream kind)
I’m proud to be paying $50 for the second year for your excellent publication.
David
Thanks for this tip (and your support!). We’ll follow up.
I was contacted by a customer service rep from New Seasons after I recently dropped them a line for any kind of news (2/18). The reply seemed like a standard corporate reply; still in talks with the landowner and no news to publicly report.
When was the public hearing on changes to the street sweeping schedule next to Watergate? City crews have been changing the signs on the North side of Powell this week. Signs with “No Parking on the 1st Thursday from 8 AM > Noon” are being replaced with “No Parking on the 1st & 3rd Thursday from 8 PM > 5 AM” signs.
Compliance with the monthly daytime restriction was very good – even though the street was often not swept for several months – including this entire summer. Why change a non-problem? Is it another form of eco-terroism practiced by city councilors with private parking for their two vehicle households? This change needs to be reversed because of the lack of due process.
Why would the city not recognize that 50+ vehicles that park there every night? The city councilors think they have found another way to generate ticket revenue and steer the tax payers away from “auto-centric mobility.”