The City Council on Oct. 9 voted unanimously to authorize staff to apply to the Coastal Commission to raise parking rates in the town beach lots. This was the last item on the council agenda this week. The meeting lasted roughly two and a half hours.
District Five Councilman Nathan Steele argued that the city should address the issue of parking on Main Street first, but voted with the rest of the council on the issue.
The final decision will be made by the California Coastal Commission.
Discussion
“If we vote on this, and we send it to Coastal Commission, and they approve this, how long does that normally take? Would that be like a year or two years or is this going to be like six months from now?” asked District Five Councilman Nathan Steele.
Nicholas said it’s not a quick process. He said generally there is some back and forth between the commission and the city.
He argued that the sooner the city starts, the better.
Councilman Steele, however, thought Main Street parking should be addressed first.
“In principle, I’m actually not opposed to raising the prices on the beach lots. I’m opposed to the timing,” Steele said.
He said that increasing the prices charged in the beach lots before answering the question about Main Street parking, the council was exacerbating a problem.
“I would hate to see us increase beach pricing just before this panel deals with main street parking,” Steele said.
“We have a limited supply of parking places and we have unlimited demand, and we are charging zero for some of the most precious real estate in all of Seal Beach. And if we increase the prices down on the beach lots before we deal with this problem up here on Main Street we are just making it more difficult on ourselves later on,” Steele said.
“We are in the business of renting out real estate in the form of parking spaces. And we don’t charge anything for these up here,” Steele said.
Steele was concerned about when the CCC might approve the parking increase.
Nicholas said his concerns were valid.
“There’s paid parking on Main Street, which the council has convened the ad hoc committee to make a recommendation to you all about that. And the second thing is the increase in the beach lots. I can assure you that the Coastal Commission isn’t going to come back and sit in six weeks and approve this; it’s going to take significantly longer than that,” Nicholas said.
“But even if they did, all they’re saying by approving this is that the city now has the ability to raise those rates,” Nicholas said.
“Would it come back to us?” Steele asked.
City Attorney Nicholas Ghirelli said: “I just want to step in and note that the resolution before the council does say that the council is approving the rate increase and contingent upon the Coastal Commission accepting that rate increase. So it sounds like what you’re proposing is to flip that and say that the council is not approving the rate increase tonight but instead asking the Coastal Commission for permission to do so and then we’ll take action.” According to Ghirelli, if the commission approves the council will then take action.
Ghirelli said it sounded like Steele was proposing to ask the Coastal Commission to authorize the rate increase and then the council would take action.
Steele said that would be his preference.
“We have our price model backwards right now,” Steele said.
Steele said he would be more comfortable with the council deciding when the beach rates went into effect.
“I think that the resolution can be amended to state that the timing of when the rate increase will take effect will be approved by the city council at a later date,” Ghirelli said.
Nicholas argued that increasing beach lot rates would encourage turnover in the lots.
Later in the discussion, Community Development Director Alexa Smittle said there was a six-month time period for Coastal Commission approval. For example, the city submitted its short term rental program to the CCC for approval in April. The city is still waiting.
City Manager Jill Ingram said staff was presenting this to council now to ensure that staff was moving the parking program forward.
District Two Council Member/Mayor Tom Moore said he would be fine with sending the parking rate increase to the CCC and having the parking rates come back to council.
Steele asked when the parking committee would be done with their process.
Moore thought it might be January.
District Three Councilwoman Lisa Landau said she did not agree with Steele. “I don’t think it would exacerbate the problem. I think we could move this needle forward because the process does take so long,” Landau said.
She said rates for residents wouldn’t change.
Landau said the parking fees pay for marine safety and public parks. “I wish it was enough to build on the lifeguard tower but you know, I really think it is critical,” Landau said. She argued that Seal Beach charges less than other cities.
Steele agreed with that. He said he was worried about the timing.
Moore suggested getting Coastal Commission approval and then having the council change the beach lot rates.
Ghirelli recommended adding a new section to the council resolution to say the new parking rates would not go into effect until the City Council approves the effective date after approval by the Coastal Commission.
Landau moved to approve the resolution, with the language Ghirelli had suggested.
Presentation
Seal Beach Police Support Services Capt. Nick Nicholas gave the verbal staff presentation to the council.
According to Nicholas, any increase in activity in the coastal zone is considered a development and requires a coastal development permit from the California Coastal Commission.
That includes beach parking rates.
“And pursuant to a 1993 memorandum issued by the executive director of the Coastal Commission, the city is moving to increase these hourly and daily maximums by 50% to new levels of $3 per hour and $15 per day,” Nicholas said.
According to Nicholas, Seal Beach proposed an increase in the three beach parking lots from $10 to $18 in 2017.
The Coastal Commission denied the request because the proposed 80% increase did not abide by the limits set in the 1993 memo.
According to Nicholas, the revenues from the beach lots consistently fall short of the costs which results in a deficit that is covered by the city’s general fund. He put the figure at $1.5 million.
He said beach parking revenue supports the Marine Safety Department, beach public safety operations, as well as beach and facility maintenance.
In related news, Nicholas said a mini shuttle program for the beach area was expected to start in spring of 2024. The shuttle would be part of the coastal development permit application to the Coastal Commission.
Nicholas said Seal Beach welcomes about 1.5 million visitors a year.
According to Nicholas, Seal Beach charges a lower daily parking rate than neighboring beach cities.
Background
“The City of Seal Beach (City) is proposing a parking rate increase in the City’s three (3) beach lots within the Coastal Zone: 1st Street Beach Lot, 8th Street Beach Lot, and 10th Street Beach Lot,” according to the staff report by Seal Beach Police Chief Michael Henderson.
“The current hourly rate for each of these lots is $2.00, and the daily maximum for each of these lots is $10.00 between the hours of 6:00 am and 10:00 pm,” Henderson wrote.
“In compliance with the 1993 memorandum issued by the Executive Director of the Coastal Commission, staff is proposing to increase these hourly and daily maximums by 50 percent to $3.00 per hour and $15.00 per day during the above referenced hours,” Henderson wrote.
“At the current rate, Seal Beach is charging a lower daily maximum than the majority of Southern California neighboring cities for beach parking,” Henderson wrote.
“Since Fiscal Year 2015-2016, daily parking rates have been capped at $10.00 per day, when the daily maximum was raised from $6.00 per day to $10.00 per day,” Henderson wrote.
“This was the last application for rate increases,” Henderson wrote.
According to his report, Huntington Beach City and State parking lots charge a maximum of $20 a day in the summer season and a maximum of $15 a day during the off season.
“Increasing the parking rates in the three (3) beach lots will provide additional revenue to the City, which maintains the beaches and parking lots,” Henderson wrote.
“Like all services, the City has experienced increased costs related to maintenance of the lots over the last several years, however, parking rates have remained static,” Henderson wrote.
“Increased rates will also incentivize turnover among beachgoers, providing greater coastal access to more residents and visitors, in alignment with the Coastal Act,” Henderson wrote.
Some members of the public have the opposite opinion. This week’s Sidewalk Talk asked what people thought of the proposed parking rate increase. “We’re taking public access away from people who can’t afford it,” said Kimberly Burlingham of Seal Beach. (For the rest of the Sidewalk Talk responses, see page 6.)
“The City of Seal Beach welcomes nearly 1.5 million visitors per year, which makes parking a desirable commodity,” according to a draft of a cover letter that would be sent to the California Coastal Commission.
