San Diego OKs sweeping parking price hikes, from paid Sunday parking to $10-an-hour meters during Padres games

The San Diego City Council approved sweeping new parking rules Monday that pave the way for paid parking on Sundays, $10-an-hour meters near Petco Park and more meters in neighborhoods across the city.

City officials say they’re also close to finalizing plans to start charging for parking at the San Diego Zoo and the rest of Balboa Park. But they said details on parking there for employees, volunteers and city residents still must be decided.

Mayor Todd Gloria’s aides said they’ve also launched negotiations with the state Coastal Commission over city plans to start charging for parking in Mission Bay Park and inside city beach parking lots.

The mayor’s staff also committed for the first time to studying whether to exempt city residents from new parking fees — or give them discounts — at off-street lots, including the zoo and the rest of Balboa Park.

The commitment came after aggressive lobbying by Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera.

“We’re asking to ensure that San Diego residents have an opportunity to not be charged for parking at the same rate that non-residents are,” Elo-Rivera said. “Residents matter more than tourists.”

The parking changes are projected to raise tens of millions of dollars to help close a gaping city budget deficit. But exempting residents, or giving them discounts, could significantly shrink how much revenue is generated.

Council faced that dilemma during a long debate over the parking changes Monday.

Pushing back against the mayor’s proposals to aggressively generate revenue makes it harder to balance the budget, which the council is slated to finalize next week.

The changes approved Monday repeal a longtime city law that prohibited paid parking on Sundays. City officials said they haven’t yet decided which neighborhoods will have paid parking on Sundays, but they said it would only be at metered spots.

In an important compromise, the new policies stipulate that people in any neighborhood where paid parking is added on Sundays can buy residential permits, which now cost only $9 a year.

Despite that concession and several others, Council Marni von Wilpert and Vivian Moreno voted against the package of new parking policies, which the council approved 5-2.

“I’m not comfortable with charging for parking on Sundays,” said von Wilpert, stressing that her constituents in the city’s transit-challenged northeastern suburbs must visit places like Balboa Park and Little Italy by car. “It’s just the one day they don’t have to pay for parking.”

Moreno said all the parking changes threaten to hurt the ability of San Diego’s low-income families to enjoy the city’s most popular neighborhoods and attractions.

“Making parking a large expense could essentially become a barrier for them to go to something special with their family,” she said.

Elo-Rivera said he was particularly upbeat about progress on adding paid parking at the zoo, which he estimated could generate annual revenues of $15 million to $17 million each for the city and the zoo.

Gloria’s aides said they hope to finalize by the end of July ongoing negotiations with zoo officials on revenue-sharing and other issues.

“They’re definitely open to negotiations,” Randy Wilde, a senior policy adviser to Gloria, told The San Diego Union-Tribune before Monday’s council meeting. “We’ve had good discussions so far.”

The zoo has 3,000 parking spaces. Revenue from those spots wasn’t included in the mayor’s estimate of $22 million in annual revenue from paid parking in Balboa Park because charging at the zoo requires negotiations.

The zoo’s existing lease allows the zoo to manage its lots and take any revenue from paid parking, Wilde said.

Paid parking at the zoo and the rest of Balboa Park wasn’t among the policy changes approved by the council Monday, because City Attorney Heather Ferbert recently determined those changes must be approved separately as city fee increases.

Council appeared to be sharply divided Monday over the idea.

Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, whose district includes the park, said any proposal must include some free parking in addition to paid parking. He also wants free parking for employees and volunteers.

Whitburn and von Wilpert said they believe any revenue generated by paid parking in Balboa Park should stay in the park, where the city is facing roughly $500 million in deferred maintenance.

The Balboa Park Cultural Partnership opposes paid parking, contending it could reduce the amount of time people spend at the city’s most cherished cultural institutions.

“Unlike other destinations, we do not want to encourage turnover,” said Peter Comiskey, the partnership’s executive director. “We want our community to spend longer exploring the arts and culture society we have in Balboa Park — not rush to pay a meter.”

Councilmember Raul Campillo was particularly critical.

“I have some deep skepticism about charging in Balboa Park at all,” he said. “An attempt to collect more revenue could just backfire and lead to less revenue, all while summarily hurting museums, small businesses, artists, schools and employees.”

Elo-Rivera was more optimistic.

“I think this is a classic example of San Diego needing to be more confident in itself,” he said. “People are going to go to Balboa Park. It’s a beautiful park with incredible museums and resources.”

The new policy allowing demand-based variable pricing in some popular areas generated less controversy.

City officials plan to experiment with this pricing first in the areas around Petco Park, where during events they plan to charge $10 an hour — quadruple the normal meter rate of $2.50 an hour.

That pricing will likely apply to meters bounded by Island Avenue, 14th Street, Commercial Street, Harbor Drive and Sixth Ave, officials said. It will only be used during Padres games and other Petco Park events.

The policy change approved Monday allows the city to charge as much as $20 an hour, but officials said they plan to start with $10.

Another key change is allowing business districts and neighborhoods to add parking meters more easily.

Neighborhoods have generally been required to create a nonprofit community parking district that would handle the money generated by the meters. But that requirement was eliminated Monday.

In addition, neighborhoods are no longer required — as a precursor to meters — to test out two-hour and three-hour parking zones enforced by chalking tires instead of meters.

The changes also include a new fee charged to developers when their construction projects eliminate parking spots that could generate revenue for the city. The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce opposes the fee, contending it could discourage housing developers.

On paid parking at city beaches, Wilde said city officials have started the negotiating process with the Coastal Commission.

He said commission officials have told Gloria’s staff what analysis they’d like to see and provided examples of other cities where the commission has approved paid parking at beaches. Wilde said an application likely won’t be submitted until the council votes on the idea.