City staff to gather input from local merchants and explore options for maintaining 30-minute parking spots
PASO ROBLES — Following a discussion Tuesday night, Aug. 20, at the Paso Robles City Council meeting, city staff will be reaching out to Downtown merchants for input on the Employee Parking Permit Program, along with keeping or possibly adding more 30 minute parking spaces.
Following the removal of the paid parking program in Downtown Paso Robles in May, the Employee Parking Permit Program remained in effect. Council requested staff to bring the employee parking program forward for discussion. With the frequent changes to paid parking downtown, enforcement of the employee and 30-minute spots has been pulled back.
Currently, the downtown employee parking lots provide employees with dedicated parking spots. Downtown employee parking permits are valid daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and come at $5 each. They can be purchased in bulk or individually, monthly or annually, by employees or the business. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, the number of employee permits issued was 4,286, which decreased to 3,845 for FY 2024, which comes to about $12,000 per year for the City.
There are 98 parking spots dedicated to the permitted parking. Those lots are located at: Spring Street and 12th Street; 12th Street, near Marv’s Pizza; Alley between Pine Street and Railroad Street, 13th Street and 12th Street; and 12th Street and Railroad Street.
According to staff’s report, they estimate that if the employee parking lots are converted to public parking, “it may be more challenging for employees to find parking close to their place of work, and it is not as guaranteed that an employee will find a spot in a timely manner” and it may increase the amount of employees parking in front of the downtown businesses.
According to staff, they are also working on a project to enhance the permitted parking lots next to Marv’s Pizza and at 12th Street and Railroad Street.
Planned improvements include upgraded lighting, redesigned layouts, EV charging stations, and other moreenhancements not listed. According to staff, the design phase is nearly finished, and the project will soon be put out to bid. It is fully budgeted and is proceeding as planned.
There are also 35 30-minute parking spots that were originally implemented to offer short-term, free on-street parking. Staff does predict that reduction or elimination of those spots will impact “may impact these short-term types of transactions taking place in downtown businesses if other parking spots are not available.”
Concerns were raised by Mayor John Hamon on charging employees for parking if they are not charging the public and how they will be able to enforce employee parking.
In the end, the council directed staff to review ownership of the parking lots, researched either a reduced cost or free decal-based permit system, looked at keeping the 30-minute spaces, and conducted outreach to local merchants and employees in the downtown area.
The next Paso Robles City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 3, at 6:30 p.m.
