By Charles M. Kelly
Part two of two.
City Council members were divided on some parking issues and in agreement on others during the May 28 council meeting. As reported last week, there will be no paid parking on the curbs of Main Street. (Paid parking on Main Street lots remains in place.)
In the end, the council only agreed to extend beach lot parking for one hour (subject to Coastal Commission approval) and to bring back wayfinding signage in the 2025-26 budget.
The council received and discussed the Citizen-Council Parking Advisory Ad Hoc Committee recommendations during the last half of a roughly three hour meeting.
The following is a look at some of the highlights from the parking discussion.
District Three Councilwoman Lisa Landau did not participate in the discussion. She abstained from the discussion out of what she called an abundance of caution because of a potential conflict of interest. She had received income from Main Street property owner Bob Griffith. (Landau reported the loan in her 2023 and 2024 FPPC Form 700s.) As of the May 28 meeting, Landau said she had not received a reply to her request for advice from the Fair Political Practices Commission.
The Parking Committee recommendations included:
• No paid parking at the curb
• A comprehensive wayfinding signage program
• Expand bike parking
• Parking permits and transit passes for Old Town employees
• Expanding the Eighth Street parking program.
• Allow more parking time in the Main Street lots.
“Under this plan, the current rate would remain at $1 per hour, but the third hour would cost $3. This strategy aims to encourage parking turnover while also allowing visitors the option to extend their stay if necessary,” wrote Seal Beach Police Operations Capt. Nick Nicholas in his staff report to the council.
• Create a pilot program for loading and passenger pick up on Main Street.
Discussion
• District Five Councilman Nathan Steele asked how many people showed up for the town halls and public hearings on parking.
Parking consultant Julie Dixon put the number at 10 to 12 people at the meetings in the Council Chambers.
According to Dixon, two people attended the meeting at the Fire Station.
Steele asked how many speakers attended those meetings.
Dixon said roughly four people online.
Dixon said she did not count the Parking Committee members who attended the meetings.
Steele asked if turnover was in indication of capacity.
“Yes, because the reality is if you don’t have the spaces turning over then there are not more parking spaces for more people to park in in the middle of the day,” Dixon said.
Dixon said the parking spaces fill up almost immediately.
“If we charge a dollar an hour for parking on Main Street, will that have any effect on traffic on Main Street?” Steele asked.
He said he was talking about the 174 curb parking spaces on Main Street.
Dixon said if you have free parking in the Main Street lots, it would push cars off the curbs.
Dixon later argued that $1 an hour was extraordinarily affordable.
She recommended Seal Beach continue measuring the data.
She said San Francisco’s parking policy is to only increase or decrease rates 25 cents at a time and to review their policy every 90 days. Other cities review their policy once or twice a year, according to Dixon.
Steele said variable pricing is a good idea. Dixon said she would not start with variable parking in Seal Beach.
District Four Councilwoman/Mayor Schelly Sustarsic said she had a few questions.
“Some of my concerns are still with me,” Sustarsic said.
According to Sustarsic, paid parking could have an impact on nearby residents. She argued that people who don’t want to pay will park a block over in residential neighborhoods.
“In the busy summer time they’re probably there anyway, but it might go farther,” Sustarsic said.
“It’s also an impact on businesses,” Sustarsic said. She said she’s had business owners tell her they are concerned.
Five of the seven stores that had recently closed seemed to be retail, Sustarsic said. (Two of those retail have recently acquired new tenants, both retailers.)
Sustarsic said the retail stores are probably the most at risk.
“As Councilman Steele told me, Main Street is a strolling street,” Sustarsic said.
Steele chuckled.
Sustarsic argued that if your parking time is up, you might not stroll Main Street and look in shop windows.
Sustarsic said when she looked at the data, the turnover on Main Street was actually pretty good. Sustarsic speculated that might be because of parking enforcement.
Sustarsic said she had expected that employees were taking up the parking, but when she looked at the numbers it appeared employees represented 15% to 20%.
“I’m also concerned about the winter time,” she said.
According to Sustarsic business was challenging in the wintertime
““You could actually do a higher rate during the summer a lower rate the winter as well,” Dixon said.
Dixon suggested flip-flopping the parking structure during the winter.
Sustarsic said the most congested streets are not Main Street but Central Avenue or Eighth Street.
Dixon again suggested charging for Main Street lots.
District Two Council Member Tom Moore reminded Dixon that the Parking Committee did not agree with that.
Sustarsic asked how a new visitor comes to Seal Beach, how much signage would the city need to put up to tell them they might have to pay.
Dixon said it would come down to a proactive marketing campaign.
Dixon argued that using a mobile app, the city could use the app for marketing and to send out messages on changes for policy and operating hours.
Sustarsic expressed concern for technologically challenged individuals.
Dixon said kiosks would also accept coins.
Sustarsic asked if the city would have to go to the California Coastal Commission if the council approved paid parking (at the curb) that night.
Seal Beach Police Chief Michael Henderson said currently Seal Beach has a coastal development permit in process before the Coastal Commission for changing the pay rates in the city’s beach lots.
Henderson said he expected that Seal Beach would have to seek another development permit from the Coastal Commission.
SBPD Capt. Nick Nicholas said it was not a long process, referring to the beach parking rate permit application.
He said that right now the CCC was “caught up on” was the last time the beach lots were last restriped.
Councilman Steele said he hoped the council would consider paid parking on Main Street. “I don’t think we’re in a position to vote for paid parking or against paid parking tonight, correct?”
City Attorney Nick Ghirelli said to establish a meter program, it must be done by ordinance. Staff didn’t have an ordinance that night because they didn’t know what the council’s direction was.
Steele presented the council with the results of his second online parking survey. He was helped by former opponents for the Fifth District council seat Jonathan Rich. According to Steele, Rich had a PhD in data analysis. Steele’s email survey was sent to 7,946 registered voters. Of that group, 747 returned completed surveys.
Steele said the survey had margin for error of 3.4%. He did not know how that was calculated.
The first question asked how participants felt about expanding paid parking at the curb on Main Street Seal Beach.
Steele said he provided survey participants with information about the city’s financial situation, (based on last year’s five-year forecast).
The second question asked how participants felt about paid parking in light of the city’s financial information.
Steele then gave participants with a proposal that Seal Beach residents wouldn’t pay for parking on Main Street. He also proposed exempting Main Street employees from paying for parking. His proposal included a Main Street business committee to use part of parking revenues to improve Main Street.
For his third question, Steele asked how survey participants felt about paid parking with those conditions in mind.
“In this whole pool, without any information, 29% favor support paid parking,” Steele said.
“With the budget information in tow, 43% now support paid parking and in the third column we have the conditions added to the mix, we now have 59%,” Steele said.
According to Steele, District One was the least supportive of paid parking (49%, District Three is the next least supportive (53), and Steele’s own Council District Five was the most supportive of paid parking. A slide showed 60% of District Two participants supported paid parking.
He said in District Four, 63% of participants supported paid parking with the conditions he laid out.
Steele argued that a “plural majority” of residents supported paid parking under the conditions he specified.
District One Council Member Joe Kalmick said he tended to lean toward making evidence-based decisions. “While a great number of, not even a great number, a number of merchants have said that ‘no one will come back;’ ‘we’re all going to die’, there’s no evidence that’s been presented that would indicate that in fact would happen,” Kalmick said.
He said during his time on Main Street, they went through recessions; they went through weather issues. According to Kalmick people went out of business because they didn’t manage their business well or because the products they sold were not current, the food was not great or their service was terrible.
“But I don’ think that whether or not we had paid parking was going to be the factor,” Kalmick said.
“I think that we do have evidence, as presented by our consultant who does this for a living, that the data indicates that sales tax revenue will generally go up if you are managing your parking spaces,” Kalmick said.
“While I don’t want to discount the feelings of my former fellow Main Street merchants, again I don’t think there’s any data that really would support the idea that if you have paid parking on Main Street that the people won’t come back,” Kalmick said.
Kalmick said he didn’t think that instituting paid parking on Main Street would impede the economic growth of the street.
Kalmick said preferential treatment for residents was one way to go.
Kalmick said improving signage was important, but Seal Beach doesn’t have the revenue to buy wayfinding signage.
District Two Council Member Tom Moore said he respected both of his colleagues’ desire to find new revenue. “However, we shouldn’t harm our small town atmosphere to increase revenue if that’s the only reason and the city has proposed other revenue options from the polling that the council put into place last year,” Moore said.
Moore thanked the Parking Committee and parking consultant Julie Dixon.
“We were also told by parking professionals, the person in charge of parking for Los Angeles, that typically paid parking does not get looked at unless the businesses are on board with the process,” Moore said. He was apparently referring to Ken Hunting of District Three. Moore appointed Husting to the Parking Committee.
Moore said most beach cities have some form of free parking. “It’s more of a mixed bag than we were told,” Moore said.
“Paso Robles was pointed out to all of us as an example of success of paid parking,” Moore said.
“Well, the City Council of Paso Robles recently reversed their decision so they do not have paid parking any longer,” Moore said.
Moore made a motion to implement the suggestions of the Parking Committee without paid parking.
Steele argued that he already had a motion to move in favor of paid parking.
Sustarsic said that motion did not have a second.
City Attorney Ghirelli apologized; he hadn’t heard a motion.
“I thought it was kind of a desire, but I wasn’t sure it was a formal motion,” Sustarsic said.
Sustarsic seconded Moore’s motion.
City Manager Jill Ingram said she wanted to confer with staff about the recommendations that move forward.
Moore proposed going forward with the proposal to extend parking in the Main Street lots one hour.
Moore voted yes. Sustarsic: Yes. Kalmick: No. Steele: No.
Ghirelli said the motion was lost.
Moore then suggested a motion to minimally approve one extra hour on the Main Street lots.
Moore voted yes. Sustarsic: Yes. Kalmick: Yes. Steele: No.
That motion passed.
“So then, just for clarity,” Kalmick said, “the only item on the list of requests that were presented by Mr. (Rob) Jahncke and the ad hoc committee, that none of those will be implemented with the exception of extending the one hour.”
Moore suggested asking staff to return with next year’s budget to at least consider the recommendations made by the Parking Committee. Moore explained he meant the 2025-26 budget. (Moore terms out this year.)
The council members didn’t cast a formal vote on Moore’s proposal but they agreed to a consensus, if there was one, and no one opposed the idea.
Ghirelli said parking would be considered as part of the 2025-26 budget.
Steele said he didn’t know what question the council was supposed to be answering.
Ghirelli said Moore wanted the wayfinding signage on the budget.
“Next year, not this year,” Steele said.
“We don’t have money,” Sustarsic said.
Chief Henderson asked: “Is it the council’s direction to come back with a report on the additional hour motion?”
Ghirelli said the council had approved that motion. “That will still need to be approved by the Coastal Commission,” Ghirelli said.
Sustarsic asked for Councilwoman Landau to come back in.
