Permit parking vote axed

Residents in the Flatlands and Woods Cove areas won’t get to vote after all on whether they want a pilot preferential parking program to keep outsiders off neighborhood streets.

The Laguna Beach City Council failed to muster enough votes Tuesday to move forward on the pilot program, designed to keep non-residents from parking at night in a designated area.

The city has spent four to five years and thousands of dollars studying parking issues in the mid-town section adjacent to the city’s “hotel row,” where some residents complain of late-night and early morning noise from patrons and employees.

Residents of the proposed permit parking district — located between Thalia and Diamond Streets and from Glenneyre inland four to five blocks — were starkly divided on the proposal to restrict night-time parking to resident permit-holders. Residents would have been required to purchase permits to park in front of their homes, and would have been allowed a limited number of guest permits for non-residents.

Councilman Kelly Boyd expressed opposition to the permit parking idea early in the hearing. “This will be a can of worms,” he said prior to the public testimony. “It’s almost privatizing public streets. I don’t like that.”

Proponents said parking restrictions would improve “quality of life” for those living near the bustling hotel and restaurant district on South Coast Highway.

“If we approach this as a positive step, it could work,” said Eileen Hoffman, a Glenneyre Street resident. “Dana Point has three of these [permit parking districts]. You just get permits. I’m shocked by people saying it’s a quagmire.”

But even supporters of the parking district could not agree on whether the main parking problem is during the day or night, what the hours or boundaries of the district should be, or who should vote on it.

Neighborhood activist Tom Girvin said the permit parking district area should be reduced “so fewer need to vote,” and asked the council to allow each area to vote separately. Girvin also wanted all residents, including renters, to vote, instead of limiting voting rights to property owners, as recommended by a consultant. He also wanted expanded hours for restricted parking of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. instead of the recommended 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The consultant recommended a two-thirds vote for approval of the district; Girvin wanted a simple majority vote.

Parking activist Barbara Slevcove told the council that the district was too small, and that South Coast Highway should be the western edge, with Santa Cruz Street the eastern boundary. “You should also include lower Glenneyre [Street], because they are most impacted,” she said.

Opponents lined up against the permit parking idea, many appalled at the notion that friends and relatives might have to get special guest permits to park in the area, or risk a ticket.

Gene Gratz, a Thalia Street resident and local attorney, said his area has parking problems only two days out of the year — on Patriot’s Day Parade day and on the Fourth of July.

“This is madness,” Gratz said. “If employees are the problem, you should write a statute to correct it. Don’t make the rest of the city bear the burden. This could create litigation, if my friends can get ticketed if I’m having a party. Go after the people causing the problem and leave me the hell alone.”

Bev Connolly, a Catalina Street resident, said she likes being able to have her 14 grandchildren drop by unannounced. “I can’t imagine them getting tickets because I don’t know they’re coming,” she said.

Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce president Jeffrey Redeker objected that the signs for the district — which would number around 200 — would be “oppressive.”

Redeker also said members of his Woods Cove condominium complex — located outside the proposed district — worry that parkers displaced from the permit-only district “would flow to our neighborhood.”

After listening to arguments on both sides, the council was about to move forward with setting parameters for the voting and district boundaries, among other details, when Boyd expressed reservations about proceeding with the neighborhood vote.

“This is a problem. This [preferential parking] could go on through the whole community,” Boyd said.

Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman also expressed doubts. “I’m not ready for this [vote],” she said. “There will be more unhappy people than happy people. I don’t like this.”

After Mayor Jane Egly noted that the council had already approved the idea of a neighborhood vote, City Attorney Phil Kohn said the council could reconsider proceeding with the vote.

Councilwoman Toni Iseman supported the permit parking proposal. “We have an obligation to keep the neighborhoods quiet,” Iseman said. “A handful of people should not bear the burden of this economic engine.”

Egly, who served on a subcommittee on the issue for several years, agreed with Iseman.

“We’ve spent more than four years on this,” Egly said. “The problem is that businesses are allowed to go in without enough parking. This was to be a test case.”

Egly moved that the parking district vote proceed, joined by Iseman. Councilwoman Elizabeth Schneider, Boyd and Kinsman voted against it, killing the permit parking proposal.

Afterward, a disappointed Girvin said he wasn’t surprised the proposal failed to move forward.

“They won’t face it,” Girvin said of the council. “They need to tell employers to provide parking [for employees.]”