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COURIER photo/Gabriel Fenoy
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| Parked cars line Tenth Street near the College Avenue intersection. The city is considering implementing a residential parking permit program due to congestion in some neighborhoods such as those near the colleges. |
City plans stronger parking measures
For decades, parking has been a pestering problem in various hotspots around town. But in recent months, the topic has been heavily debated at several city meetings with officials looking to take bolder measures to deal with the ongoing problem.
Amidst growing complaints from citizens, the city is now considering a city-wide residential parking permit program to tackle problems in the most affected areas of town.
To come up with an appropriate ordinance, city staff has studied policies already in place in neighboring cities with similar parking regulations, such as Upland, Rancho Cucamonga and La Verne.
Claremont’s program would combine time-limited parking on certain streets and “residential permit parking only” in other areas, depending on the needs of the specific neighborhoods.
“Each location has slightly different problems,” said Traffic and Transportation Commissioner Chaim Rinde. “The situation in downtown is not like in other areas, so we are trying to deal with as many situations as possible and offer different applications for each area.”
Although nothing is set in stone, the city is looking at 5 zones where the permits or time limits would be applicable. The areas are: near Claremont High School, on San Jose Avenue north of BC Café Restaurant, on Baughman Avenue, south of Foothill Boulevard, on Via Santa Catarina and near College Avenue and adjacent streets due to college overflow parking.
Some are concerned about a recent effort from the Claremont Colleges to ease their parking burden through changes to the city’s General Plan. Residents fear the changes, estimated to be nearly 600 parking spaces, would directly impact their neighborhoods.
“We have reached the breaking point along College Avenue where institutional parking may push the city into a permit parking program,” wrote Ginger Elliot, executive director of Claremont Heritage, in a letter to the city. “Underground parking should be encouraged in the institutional zones where the demand cannot now be met.”
City Engineer Craig Bradshaw said other problems have arisen where businesses do not have sufficient parking to handle both customers and employees, causing spillover into neighboring streets. On Via Santa Catarina, near the entrance to Johnson’s Pasture, residents have complained about overcrowding and vandalism to their vehicles from people entering the park.
If the policy moves forward, it would be applied to several streets around problem areas so that parking problems do not simply shift over to adjacent streets, Mr. Bradshaw said.
Many of the details of the proposed ordinance still need to be fine-tuned. The Traffic and Transportation Commission has already studied the issue and will meet again to iron out more details. Commissioner Joe Salas said the commission is pushing to allow residents to apply for as many permits as their household requires. He said there would likely be no fees associated with the program for residents unless parking permits are lost and need to be replaced.
“[The program] is shaping up to be fairly resident friendly,” Mr. Salas said.
Residents can make their voices heard on the issue at an upcoming Traffic and Transportation Commission meeting scheduled for February 28. The commission will be discussing the proposed ordinance in more detail including exemption parking for service employees and guests and duration and number of permits per household. The Police Commission will also discuss enforcement measure.
“We really want residents to give their input,” Mr. Salas said. “Nobody understands how to deal with these problems better than the people who live there.”
— Tony Krickl
