An experimental employee parking permit program for two neighborhoods in and around the California Avenue Business District will become permanent, the Palo Alto City Council decided Monday.
In response to concerns raised by some businesses, the council also authorized staff to issue 40 more employee parking permits than the 150 currently available.
Businesses in the Evergreen Park and Mayfield neighborhoods had complained that some of their employees couldn’t purchase neighborhood permits during the second leg of the yearlong trial that ends next month.
For that reason, and also because employees will lose spaces on the west side of El Camino Real if Caltrans approves a two-hour parking limit during business hours there beginning in April, the council agreed more permits need to be disbursed.
The council also told staff to create three additional permit zones to reduce clustered parking near businesses and to allow unrestricted parking on the east side of El Camino Real from College Avenue to Park Boulevard.
Tim Mulcahy, who operates a family dentist business at 1795 El Camino Real, said there’s a demand for the extra parking permits because many workers couldn’t purchase them before the 250 cap was reached. He also noted that time limits will force workers with permits onto neighborhood streets, which would undermine the program’s goal of reducing clustered parking near the business district.
Staff said at least 11 businesses are affected by the permit shortage. Permits are first given to low-income employees and those on wait lists for business district garages and lots, staff added.
The council asked staff to reevaluate the 40 additional permits if Caltrans does not approve the two-hour restrictions on El Camino Real. Prompting that request was the claim of some neighborhood residents that extra permits aren’t needed because there weren’t any parking issues during the first six months of the trial program.
“When the permits came up for renewal (in September), all of a sudden there were problems,” Evergreen resident Michael Eager said on behalf of a group of residents who attended Monday’s meeting. “What really happened was this land rush. … People have more permits than they’re using.”
Eager said the permit trial is working because it’s reduced parking congestion on most neighborhood streets.
“We had a lot of people parking in the neighborhood and taking Caltrain to Stanford,” he said. “They have mostly moved out of the neighborhood.”
The council directed staff to return with a plan on how to prioritize retail and neighborhood-serving businesses over office workers when issuing permits in the future.
