District Two Councilman/Mayor Tom Moore proposed creating an ad hoc parking committee.
Staff will come back to the next meeting with a plan for a committee or commission that includes public participation.
The original proposal, according to the staff report, was for two council members and two members of the Seal Beach Police Department to be on the committee. Moore said he wanted more data and public input.
However, some council members agreed with the need for an ad hoc committee. Following discussion among council members, staff was directed to bring the matter back to another meeting.
Staff report
According to the staff report by City Clerk Gloria Harper, the council on May 22 gave staff direction to begin town hall meetings and outreach related to the parking program. As the Sun reported that week, Moore had proposed a moratorium on paid parking in the Main Street area.
“Staff recommends that if an Ad Hoc committee is established, the Ad Hoc committee should include two (2) Council Members and two (2) Police Department Staff Liaisons to engage in focused discussion on the proposed paid parking program for the Main Street area,” Harper wrote.
The committee would review Seal Beach’s parking program and advise on the paid parking proposal for Main Street, according to Harper’s report.
This matter was not a public hearing and this item was not on the Consent Calendar.
Council discussion
Moore said he had had a few residents reach out to him to request a parking committee. Moore said he saw no reason why the council should not listen to what the residents have to say.
“They’ve gotten the parking consultants expert opinion for the past few years on parking. However, at our meetings, we’ve not really gotten feedback from residents or businesses to town hall meetings,” Moore said.
He indicated he wanted more data. He said he wanted to discuss creating a parking committee that would meet for a few months in order to give a recommendation for paid parking on Main Street. He also said he wanted to discuss alternatives for improving parking in general from residents and businesses. He predicted the committee would work for three months.
District One Councilman Joe Kalmick said he tended to believe what parking consultant Julie Dixon said was true, referring to the consultant’s argument at a previous council meeting that paid parking would improve turnover rates. “I would be somewhat shocked if any resident would be in favor,” of paid parking, Kalmick said.
He said he was not in favor of paid parking.
“An ad hoc committee will just kick the can down the road to have town hall meetings; the town hall meetings can be adjusted to by us, or excuse me, by our staff, to allow as much time as we possibly can give to as many people that want to show up and express their opinion,” Kalmick said.
District Five Councilman Nathan Steele said the question was whether or not to have an ad hoc committee.
Steele said he was not sure how valid the recommendation would be coming from just two council members.
Moore said there would be one resident appointed by each council member as well.
Steele said it sounded to him like the ad hoc concept would take longer.
“I think the town halls are going to be good,” Steele said.
“I’m looking forward to hearing from people and I think their input is going to be interesting. As you know, Tom, mayor, I did a survey of my own a few months ago,” Steele said. According to Steele, 70% of the participants in the survey opposed paid parking on Main Street.
“So, does that mean that we as a city have to forego whatever the benefits would be to the business community and whatever the benefits would be to the city because 70% of our people don’t want [paid] parking on Main Street?” Steele asked.
District Four Councilwoman Schelly Sustarsic said she was always in favour of public input.
She said she sat through a year and a half of town hall meetings about parking in Old Town (District One) and she didn’t think paid parking was discussed. She said she hadn’t heard from her residents and she would be happy to hear from her residents.
Sustarsic said at a previous meeting a member of the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce said they would like to have input from the businesses.
Sustarsic said she didn’t oppose a committee if it was a short committee.
Sustarsic, who described herself as a data person, said she could not understand the information that consultant Julie Dixon had been “flashing” during Dixon’s May presentation to the council.
Sustarsic said she would appreciate hearing from the residents. Sustarsic said the residents could make suggestions that would be valuable.
“It’s amazing how passionate people are about parking in this town,” said District Three Councilwoman Lisa Landau.
She said she had been getting a lot of phone calls; a lot of feedback.
Landau said at this point she was really thinking that the council had a duty to listen to their residents. Landau said she had heard from residents who wanted to see a committee happen. According to Landau, they wanted a citizens committee where each council member would pick someone from the community that possibly has parking experience.
Moore said he is a database expert and he said the data that the parking consultant presented was not very good. “The data at the last meeting showed two hours from two days compared to this year versus past two years. But that’s not very much data,” Moore said.
He said he wanted to see a compilation of all the data spread out over every day, comparing this year versus the pre-pandemic period. Moore questioned the accuracy of the data, citing the pandemic and the parklets.
“So, I’d like to explore that on the committee,” Moore said.
Moore said town halls are city-driven, and in this case by the parking consultant.
He called for a motion.
Sustarsic wanted to add to the staff recommendation. She said she would like a representative from each voting district. She also said she would like a representative from the Chamber or some business.
According to City Attorney Nicholas Ghirelli, a committee is made up of two council members that meet on a discrete subject that meets for a certain period of time without having specific meeting dates.
However, according to Ghirelli, forming a group with members of the public would be like forming a new commission such as the Planning Commission. According to Ghirelli, it would be subject to the Brown Act.
Moore wanted the council to appoint one person from each council district.
Ghirelli said that was a different agenda request than to form an ad hoc committee.
Moore suggested revisiting the matter at the next council meeting.
Ghirelli said this item was not agendized as that type of commission.
Steele said the council needed to get to these questions sooner rather than later.
In response to a discussion between Moore and Steele about the length of time the committee would meet, Ghirelli said there was no specific time.
“The point is that once the work of the ad hoc committee is completed, the committee is disbanded,” Ghirelli said.
Following further discussion, Moore suggested looking into the committee at the next meeting.
