Most participants in the Old Town Online Parking Survey oppose changes to parking, according to results from one of the questions. More than half of participating District One residents and more than half of participating visitors opposed changes.
If you want the actual numbers and other details, you’re going to have to keep reading.
The Ad Hoc Parking Committee reviewed the results of the Old Town Online Parking Survey on Wednesday, Nov. 29. The Parking Committee took no action that night. (As for the Dec. 4 Parking Committee meeting’s recommendations to the City Council, see here)
Parking consultant Julie Dixon of Dixon Resources Unlimited provided the results. She said there were no surprises in the survey. The following is a look at some of the highlights from the survey. Space limits made it impossible to cover all the questions and answers.
Who participated
According to both Dixon and her slide presentation:
• 1,227 individuals responded to the survey. These individuals were separated into distinct groups: Old Town business or property owners; Old Town employees; District One (Old Town and Surfside) residents; residents of districts two through five, and visitors.
• 96 identified themselves as business and property owners
• 86 were employees
• 789 were Seal Beach residents who don’t work in Old Town or own a business or property in Old Town
• 256 were visitors
Some participants skipped some questions for their group or questions for all groups.
Dixon put the margin for error at “probably plus or minus 3 to 4%”.
“And I think that that’s fairly standard for any type of survey,” Dixon said.
Dixon said Seal Beach Police Capt. Nick Nicholas helped check on the legitimacy of some emails provided by survey participants.
“We had several exceptional email addresses as well that did not appear to be legitimate. And he actually tested and vetted many of those, and several of them came back basically invalid,” Dixon said.
Paid parking questions
Question 64: “Considering the current parking restrictions and parking lot rates on Main Street and surrounding areas, I don’t think there is a need to change the way things are.”
• 35.3% of participating business owners “strongly agreed”
• 30% of participating employees “strongly agreed”
• 51.6% of participating District One residents “strongly agreed”
• 43% of participating District Two residents “strongly agreed”
• 58.5% of participating District Three residents “strongly agreed”
• 46.3% of participating District Four residents “strongly agreed”
• 33.3% of participating District Five residents “strongly agreed”
*50.6% of participating visitors “strongly agreed”
Question 63: “I would pay to park for longer in Main Street paid parking lots if I could stay for longer than the posted 2-hour time limit.”
• Business owners: 23.5% “strongly disagreed”
• Employees: 22% “strongly disagreed”
• District One residents: 34.7% “strongly disagreed”
• District Two residents: 27.1% “strongly disagreed”
• District Three residents: 39.4% “strongly disagreed”
• District Four residents: 37.3% “strongly disagreed”
• District Five residents: 23.6% “strongly disagreed”
• Visitors: 33.7% “strongly disagreed”
Question 62: “I would support paid parking on Main Street if the hourly rate were $2 or less during peak season and $1 or less per hour for the remainder of the year.”
• Business owners: 43.1% “strongly disagree”
• Employees: 33.6% “strongly disagree”
• District One residents: 42.9% “strongly disagree”
• District Two residents: 35.5% “strongly disagree”
• District Three residents: 52.5% “strongly disagree”
• District Four residents: 48.8% “strongly disagree”
• District Five residents: 38.2% “strongly disagree”
• Visitors: 50.3% “strongly disagree”
Question 61: “If paid parking were implemented on Main Street and the City provided paid parking passes for Seal Beach residents to park on Main Street for free or discounted rates during specific times of the year, I would purchase a paid parking pass.”
• Business owners: 41.2% “strongly disagree”
• Employees: 29.3% “strongly disagree”
• District One residents: 31% “strongly disagree”
• District Two residents: 22.4% “strongly disagree”
• District Three residents: 31%“strongly disagree”
• District Four residents: 25.3% “strongly disagree”
• District Five residents: 12.7% “strongly disagree” (However, 30.9% of District Five residents voted “somewhat agree” to this question.)
• Visitors: 40.2% “strongly disagree”
Question: 60 “If paid parking were implemented on Main Street, I would be more inclined to shop/eat elsewhere.”
• Business owners: 43.1% “strongly agree”
• Employees: 43.9% “strongly agree”
• District One residents: 45.1%“strongly agree”
• District Two residents: 45.8% “strongly agree”
• District Three residents: 50.1%“strongly agree”
• District Four residents: 49.4% “strongly agree”
• District Five residents: 38.2% “strongly agree”
• Visitors: 49.2% “strongly agree”
Question 59: “I would be more likely to visit Main Street businesses if it were easier to find available parking even if it meant that I had to pay for parking.”
• Business owners: 29.4% “strongly disagree”
• Employees: 29,3% “strongly disagree”
• District One residents: 44.6% “strongly disagree”
• District Two residents: 40.2% “strongly disagree”
• District Three residents: 52.8% “strongly disagree”
• District Four residents: 47% “strongly disagree”
• District Five residents: 34.5% “strongly disagree”
• Visitors: 47.5% “strongly disagree”
Question 58: “Sometimes the parking congestion in Old Town on Main Street makes me choose to avoid it.”
• Business owners: 39.2%“somewhat agree”
• Employees: 24.4% “somewhat agree”
• District One residents: 32.6% “somewhat agree”
• District Two residents: 30.8% “somewhat agree”
• District Three residents: 30.3% “somewhat agree”
• District Four residents: 30.1% “somewhat agree”
• District Five residents: 43.6% “somewhat agree”
• Visitors: 29.4% “somewhat disagree”
