How Do You Solve the Walnut Creek Parking Problem?

How should the city solve the downtown parking problem?

Here are two ideas that have come out of a long series of meetings and studies:

Extend the daily hours for street meters, especially along highly coveted North Main and Locust streets, from 6 to 8 p.m.

And enforce meters on Sundays, too. 

These are two suggestions that have come out of a 13-month process of task force meetings, studies and community surveys, all designed to address what some might see as Walnut Creek’s most pressing issue: parking. The goal is to encourage turnover of limited street parking spaces in core downtown areas. 

These suggestions are likely to generate a fair share of discussion, debate and even controversy as the city’s Downtown Parking Task Force presents other ideas and recommendations  at a joint study session Thursday of the City Council and the Transportation Commission. The task force will present a range of ideas and findings about the city's parking issue. 

But some restaurant owners, such as ’s Kevin Weinberg, worry about extending the hours of meters with two-hour limits.

“It works if a customer parks after 6 (p.m.), but if a customer parks at 5:30 or 5:45 p.m., I don’t want them looking at their watch at a quarter to 8," Weinberg said. 

Some residents and visitors to Walnut Creek, interviewed in downtown Friday, said they don’t like the idea of charging for meters on Sundays.

Lafayette resident Monica Mrich, who often bikes into Walnut Creek to shop or do business, said people, including families, should have a day off, such as Sundays, from worrying about whether their meter is going to expire while they go to a restaurant, movie or show at the for the Arts.  

But others said they have no problem with extended meter hours.

In fact, they said they have no problem at all with parking in downtown Walnut Creek.

For one thing, they said, they already know there is plenty of parking in the city's garages.

They also accept the idea that downtown Walnut Creek is no longer a sleepy suburb where you can pull your car up in front of where you want to shop.

"If you think this is 1964 and you'll be able to park right in front of your store, you're going to be disappointed," said Alma Park resident Dave Schultz. "There's plenty of parking in the garages." 

Kish Rajan, a city council and task force member, says that none of the recommendations coming forward Thursday night are final, and the city council won’t be voting on anything. 

“The thing to keep in mind is that this is just the first step of the process,” said Brian Hirahara, vice president of BH development. He attended task force meetings as a member of the board of directors of Walnut Creek’s Downtown Business Association.

A 2006 study commissioned by the city documented how  there is plenty of parking in downtown Walnut Creek. There are some 7,000 spaces in public and private garages and lots. At peak times, on Fridays and Saturdays, 20 percent of those spaces are vacant.

However, the perception remains that there is not enough parking downtown.

That perception largely comes from motorists who try to park on the streets—ideally in front of the stores or restaurants they want to patronize in the core downtown area.

However, only about 8 percent of downtown parking spaces are on the street, according to the study. And, many Walnut Creek residents know these street spaces quickly fill up at lunchtime or by 6 p.m. in the evening.

Still, the perception that it's tough to park in downtown isn’t good for Walnut Creek businesses, Rajan said. This preception prompts residents to say they don’t want to shop or eat in downtown Walnut Creek and that they’d rather go to Pleasant Hill, Concord or Danville.

“I’ve heard my neighbors say ‘I’m not going to downtown. It’s a hassle,’” Rajan said. “It creates this perception that downtown is constructed as a place for outsiders, while the real residents live on the periphery. We take that seriously.”

Rajan said it also hurts the environment to have people circling downtown streets, looking for parking.

The goal of the task force is to make parking “work” in downtown Walnut Creek by creating a comprehensive parking management plan “that reflects the diverse needs of residents, businesses and visitors.”

Rajan said this sort of comprehensive plan has not been in place before.

And whatever plan the city devises, the key to making it work will be to effectively communicate it to the public.

The task force looked at six key areas where the city—working with business representatives, including from the Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Business Association—can make improvements: 

• Effective use of public and private garages.
• Successful management of employee parking.
• Effective “inventory management.”
• Effective communication about downtown parking options through outreach, marketing and signage.
• Making parking downtown easier or more cost-effective for residents.
• Finding effective alternative modes of getting around downtown.

While the task force looked at parking practices in private garages and lots, Rajan acknowledged that the city is limited in how it can enforce parking in spaces it doesn’t own.

The task force did not, for example, attempt to dictate how businesses should use valet parking. 

One of the major complaints expressed by participants in a city survey had to do with the number or location of spaces taken up for valet parking on the street and in private downtown garages.

Another complaint, and one that prompted some heated comments in the survey, had to do with the management of — as well as confusion around — the use of meters in private lots. The private lots did not receive a mention in the report coming before the city. 

At this stage, the task force is recommending that the city “establish collaborative relationships with private garage owners to increase available parking inventory.”

The suggestions to extend the meter hours to 8 p.m. and to Sundays are designed to encourage turnover in street spaces — not to generate more revenue for the city, Rajan said. Task force members were trying to address the fact that thousands of workers come to Walnut Creek each day and have to park. Some employees at restaurants and other downtown businesses use street spaces in core downtown areas.  

A restaurant worker might find a street space at 5 p.m., pay until 6 p.m. and then have that space for the rest of the night, Rajan said.  If anyone takes a space before 6 p.m. on Saturday, that person can theoretically keep it through Monday morning because Sunday is a meter holiday. 

The idea of operating meters on Sundays is to encourage turnover in parking spaces on what is the second busiest shopping day of the week, Rajan said.

The task force addressed another major complaint that is in the city's control. It says the city needs to re-evaluate the way it charges for special event parking in the lot next to the Lesher Center. The flat $5 charge for event parking at the North Locust Street garage was a subject of contention for the people surveyed. 

The special joint meeting of the City Council and Transportation Commission will take place 7 p.m. in the City Council chambers, 1666 N. Main St.