Parking meters’ limits doubled

Dave Brooks

The Huntington Beach Business Improvement District enjoyed its

largest victory this week, convincing the Huntington Beach City

Council to change downtown parking rules to be more accommodating to

local businesses.

In a 6-0 vote with Debbie Cook absent, the council voted to extend

the time limits of the city’s parking meters from one hour to two

hours.

Originally created to keep beachgoers from hoarding parking

spaces, the short time limits became a headache for restaurateurs and

merchants who complained that patrons weren’t enjoying their visits

downtown because they were constantly worried about getting a parking

ticket.

The victory was a coup for the recently formed Business

Improvement District, said President Stephen Daniel of Rocky Mountain

Chocolate.

“We always wanted it to be two hours,” Daniel said. “We feel two

hours is a fair amount of time.”

Unlike past associations, the Downtown Business Assn. is a

mandatory member agency formed during a special election in August.

The city’s auto dealers and hotels have their own business

improvement districts, which like the new association, pay an annual

assessment fee based on the business’ square footage.

The money is used for marketing efforts and to pay for

infrastructure improvements.

More businesses are participating than in past attempts to

organize, Daniel said.

“Once money gets taken out of their pocketbook, people start to

get a little involved,” he said.

Using its new funding, the group is working to create brochures of

local businesses and set up several marked stops for the city’s

bicycle-based “Pedicab.”

Daniel said the group also wants to concentrate on bringing in

local visitors during the off-season -- he is proposing a “Welcome

Back Locals” initiative after Labor Day to send out four free-parking

passes in the monthly water bill.

The group currently operates on a $60,000 budget, but Daniel said

he’d like to work with the city on downtown improvements.

The two teamed up recently to replace several aging trees along

Main Street with palm trees, and he said he is looking at a plan to

have the city reimburse the business improvement district for

sidewalk cleaning -- Daniel believes his group can find a way to get

the work done cheaper.

The recent successes have been a boon to the Business Improvement

District, which many local merchants watched with skepticism,

downtown restaurant owner Joe Carchio said.

“It gives us some credibility when we can show that we applied a

little pressure and we got what we wanted,” he said. “We can go to

other local businesses and say ‘You talked about the parking problem,

we got it done.”