The Parking Problem

More than a year ago I argued for a Traffic Commission and one of the things I wanted the Commission to address was the parking problems in the City. The “Gang of 3” didn’t want a Commission, but I managed to get an “Advisory Group” but the Gang of 3 didn’t want them looking at parking, so the problem never got addressed.

Now it turns out we are being forced to address the parking problem, given the results of a recent court case. But it shouldn’t take a court case to underscore the parking problem. Every year, for the past several years, people from neighborhoods like Bennett Ranch and the Beach and Tennis Club have been asking the City to issue parking permits which restricts the use of the public streets. Usually the requests come from single family residences (SFR) that believe the parking spaces on their block are being taken over by people who live in nearby multi-family dwellings (e.g., apartment complexes).

No one has a right to the exclusive use of public streets, and by extension, no home owner has the right to have the parking space in front of their home reserved exclusively for their use. Of course everyone wants to park as close as they can to their home, but it isn’t an inalienable right.

So why are so many people complaining?

There are several factors that contribute to the perceived shortage of parking. I’ll try to describe them from my perspective but I’d appreciate any additional factors being raised.

GARAGES

In those areas where people are complaining about lack of parking spaces on the public streets, most of the garages have at least one space being used for storage. Some have both spaces used for storage. In addition, in other places spaces in the driveways are being used by RVs and boats. The result is that a SFR that should have 4 off-street parking spaces available often has only half as many, and this creates a shortage of parking spaces because most SFR neighborhoods have driveways that enter/exit from the street, thereby removing space on the street for garage access.

This self-imposed shortage of space comes about for several reasons –

Costs – the costs of storing your household goods has grown over the years, even while the number of storage complexes has grown. Lake Forest has about a dozen self-storage complexes with costs varying from $65 to $105 for a small 5 x 5 unit to $170 to $198 for a 10 x 10 unit. This isn’t cheap. In addition there are the costs of getting the stuff to the storage unit. So people are using their garages because it is more convenient and they save between $700 and $2400 per year. Storage for boats and RVs is more limited and more expensive.

Density – Over the years, the number of people living together has increased. It’s not uncommon to find 3 or 4 adults living in a SFR. Sometimes it is multi-generational with grandparents taking care of grandchildren, but more often it is adult children who are still living at home.In other cases, people are renting out rooms for the extra income, and with that comes extra cars. So, a SFR that normally would have 2 adults and therefore 2 cars, now has 3 or 4 adults, with 3 or 4 cars.

Stuff – It’s no secret that more and more people have more and more stuff, partially the result of so many cheap goods available at discount stores. More stuff means the need for more space.

The problem with garages is multi-varied, but basically it comes down to more and more people living together with more and more stuff and more than 2 cars in the household.

PARKING REGULATIONS

Within the City there are various organizations that control the parking within their neighborhood. This is true for HOAs and for Apartment Complexes, and most of Lake Forest is composed of these types of residential arrangements. Very few people in the City live in a SFR that is not controlled by an HOA.

Most of the apartment complexes and HOAs were built many decades ago, and most of the “visitor parking” in these places is severely limited. Without enough spaces inside an apartment complex or an HOA, the residents are forced to go outside their perimeter to seek street parking, and when this happens, they often go into a neighborhood that is also in trouble due to the lack of garage spaces being used for cars.

The City has a done a good job working with HOAs and apartment complexes to get them to alter their regulations to deal with the problem of overflow, but you can’t get blood from a stone. There are some inherent structural problems that won’t be solved without some changes that might entail building more parking spaces, which then brings with it associated costs.

DOMINO EFFECT

Over the past several years the City has issued one or two parking permits per year. In most cases, shortly after a permit is issued, an adjoining area seeks relief because the overflow parking addressed in the first permit now moves into that area, causing a new problem.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Public transportation is already poor and bus coverage in Lake Forest was recently reduced. The City isn't particularly bike-friendly so "the car is king".

CURRENT POLICY

The current policy includes the following features –

• · Review no more than once every 2 years.
• · Check to see if parking violations contribute to the problem.
• · Check to see if parking restrictions controlled by the City contribute to the problem.
• Check to see if parking restrictions controlled by the HOA/Apartment contribute to the problem.
• · Collect information about parking (e.g., traffic counts, license plate surveys)
• · Consider permit parking if (a) impact 30 or more SFR or 1000 feet, (b) continuous for 6 hours or more, and (c) 67% of people impacted are desirous.

COUNCIL REVIEW

Councilman Nick seconded my motion to put this topic on the agenda and it is scheduled for this coming Tuesday, July 19. Come with your best ideas.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be on August 13 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.