REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Introduce an Ordinance Designating Lori Avenue and Shirley Avenue as Preferential Parking Zones and Finding of Exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act
BACKGROUND
In 2017 per resident requests, the City conducted a parking study on Lori Avenue and Shirley Avenue to determine if a Residential Permit Parking Zone is warranted. Each street contains single-family residences along the entire frontage. There is office, and research and development land uses nearby to the east and south of these streets. In addition, the nearest Caltrain station is located approximately a half-mile away. See Attachment 1 - Aerial Map.
Residents contacted City staff to express their concerns about a noticeable increase in parked vehicles from non-residents including employees from surrounding businesses and Caltrain commuters. Recent resident outreach and input has demonstrated majority support for instituting a Residential Permit Parking Zone per Sunnyvale Municipal Code (SMC) Chapter 10.26 (Attachment 2). The parking permits would allow residents to park longer than the proposed 3-hour time limit parking restrictions applicable Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
EXISTING POLICY
SMC Chapter 10.26, Preferential Parking on Residential Street, allows the City Council to designate by ordinance (Attachment 3) certain residential streets as a preferential parking zone.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This ordinance is exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061 (b)(3) since it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the adoption and implementation of this Ordinance may have a significant effect on the environment.
DISCUSSION
In early 2017, residents of Lori Avenue and Shirley Avenue began contacting several City departments (Department of Public Works, the Community Development Department, and the Department of Public Safety), as well as City representatives to report a significant increase in on-street parking demand and illegal parking that obstructed vehicle sight distance, curb ramps, driveways and fire hydrants. The residents of Lori Avenue submitted a petition to the City in fall 2017 with a majority of residents (61% - 27 out of 44 total) supporting the installation of a Residential Permit Parking Zone. Although a majority of residents on Shirley Avenue had not signed the petition (30% - 13 signed out of 44 total), the City proceeded to collect parking data on streets in the neighborhood.
A neighborhood meeting was held at Murphy Park on Nov. 1, 2017 for all residents near the Sunnyvale Business Park to discuss issues with on-street parking (Lori and Shirley Avenues fall within this area). City staff from Public Works, Community Development and Public Safety were present to discuss the neighborhood parking issues that had occurred during the past year and possible counter-measures to alleviate the parking demand on their streets. Approximately 50 residents attended the neighborhood meeting and were given a feedback card providing an opportunity for them to indicate whether they are in support of or against a residential permit parking program, and their preferred on-street parking time limits with a variety of time limit options. The preferred time limit option indicated by the residents was a 3-hour on-street parking time limit (9 out of 19 responses). Staff also answered specific questions about the operation and future parking enforcement of the potential residential permit parking zones.
In addition to the petition and community meeting, residents on Shirley Avenue were given a subsequent opportunity through mail correspondence to indicate their support for the establishment of a Residential Permit Parking Zone. As mentioned above, less than 50% of the residents had signed the original petition. Based on the feedback, the petition and community meeting, a majority of residents on Shirley Avenue (55% - 24 out of 44 total) indicated they were in favor of establishing a Residential Permit Parking Zone on their street.
The City also sent correspondence to property managers and homeowners’ associations of the multi-family developments on surrounding streets in the neighborhood. The property managers and homeowners’ associations were asked to represent the residents on their property and inform the City if they were in favor of incorporating a Residential Permit Parking Zone on their frontage street, which included California Avenue, Pajaro Avenue, North Pastoria Avenue and Rio De Molinos Avenue (See Attachment 1 - Aerial Map). Two of the five multi-family developments that were contacted responded to the City’s request for comment. Both responded that a majority of residents were not in favor of establishing a Residential Permit Parking Zone on their frontage street. Therefore, the City will not implement residential permit parking on California Avenue, Pajaro Avenue, North Pastoria Avenue and Rio De Molinos Avenue.
To verify the need for a Residential Permit Parking Zone on Lori Avenue and Shirley Avenue, City staff conducted a parking study to determine the percentage of commuters and non-residential oriented vehicles that may substantially and regularly interfere with the use of available public on-street parking.
Findings
According to the SMC Section 10.26.030, the City Council can establish preferential parking programs for residential streets by ordinance. Certain findings must be made to the satisfaction of the City Council to support the establishment of preferential parking. Staff has made the following findings:
(a) Commuter and non-residentially oriented vehicles do, or may, substantially and regularly interfere with the use of the majority of available public street or alley parking spaces by adjacent residents: In February 2017, City staff performed a parking occupancy survey on Lori Avenue and Shirley Avenue. The results of the parking survey indicated that on-street parking spaces were 80% occupied (66 parked vehicles in 82 on-street spaces) on Shirley Avenue and 85% occupied (66 parked vehicles in 78 on-street spaces) on Lori Avenue during mid-day. In an effort to reserve parking spaces in front of their homes, residents began using cones, trash bins or other methods to block on-street parking spaces from being used by the public. A comprehensive parking survey was conducted on several days in October and November 2017 to determine occupancy and non-resident parking rates. The results of the parking survey showed that Lori Avenue had 64% occupancy (50 parked vehicles in 78 on-street spaces) with 52% of the parked vehicles (26 out of 50) from non-resident parking and Shirley Avenue had 52% occupancy (43 parked vehicles in 82 on-street spaces) with 28% of the parked vehicles (12 out of 43) from non-resident parking. It should be noted that without the practices used by residents to reserve on-street parking, the parking occupancy and number of non-resident parking would likely be higher than what was surveyed in October and November.
(b) The interference by vehicles referred to in subsection (a) of this section occurs at regular and significant intervals. For purposes of this chapter, such interference shall be presumed to be regular and significant if it occurs, under typical circumstances, not less frequently than three times per week, Monday through Friday: Conditions were confirmed to occur at least three times per week by site observations.
(c) The establishment of the proposed zone would benefit a majority of the residents adjacent to the proposed zone. Written requests for such a zone by residents of not less than fifty percent of the residentially developed parcels adjacent to the proposed zone shall constitute rebuttable evidence of such benefit: Residents of both Lori Avenue and Shirley Avenue provided input about the Residential Permit Parking Zones through various means including a resident-led petition, a community meeting and through postal correspondence. Feedback received by City staff showed that 61% of residents on Lori Avenue and 55% of residents on Shirley Avenue were in favor of the residential permit parking zone.
(d) No reasonable displacement of commuter or non-residentially oriented vehicles into surrounding residential areas will result. In making this determination, substantial weight shall be given to the availability of alternate public and private parking facilities, and in particular underutilized or underdeveloped facilities or areas: Several City staff members have made multiple field visits to the area and have noted that parking areas at the adjacent commercial buildings are significantly underutilized. It was observed that non-residents are parking on-street in the surrounding neighborhood and walking to nearby employment facilities. If parking management is improved at the nearby employment centers, employee parking will shift on-site. In addition, there are other non-residential streets in the vicinity that have on-street parking available.
(e) A shortage of reasonably available and convenient residentially related parking spaces exist in the area of the proposed zone: As reported, staff observed over 80% on-street parking occupancy rates during mid-day counts on both streets. This high parking occupancy rates have led to few open parking spaces for residents and their visitors.
(f) No alternative solution is feasible or practical: The City could elect to not make any changes to the parking regulations on Lori Avenue and Shirley Avenue. There are no other streets in this area west of Mathilda Avenue and north of the railroad that have a Residential Permit Parking program and on-street parking is considered available to the public on a first-come, first-served basis in most areas of the City. However, not implementing a Residential Permit Parking Zone on Lori Avenue and Shirley Avenue would not address residents’ concerns about high parking occupancies from non-residents. In addition, residents have indicated that the lack of a garage and/or short length of driveway facilities at their homes limits their ability to park on their property. The residents have stated that on-street parking is their only option and they cannot leave their homes during the day because of the fear that they will have to park several blocks away when they return home. In addition, there is rarely on-street parking available for visitors or caretakers.
FISCAL IMPACT
Staff estimates that the initial cost of an exemption permit program for the streets in question will be approximately $11,000 for the installation of time limit parking signs, printing and distribution of permits. The initial costs of the program will be absorbed within the Transportation and Traffic operating budget. The annualized cost for the program will be approximately $3,000 for printing and distribution of permits in succeeding years. Costs will be dependent upon the number of participants in the program. Participation in the program will be voluntary, but residents electing not to participate will be subject to the time-restricted parking. Costs for the program are proposed to be recovered through a permit fee. Costs of the annual permit per vehicle is currently established at $21.50 per permit. Per the Municipal Code, permit costs would be re-evaluated and adjusted annually as part of the establishment of the City’s fee schedule to ensure cost recovery.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council agenda on the City's official-notice bulletin board outside City Hall, at the Sunnyvale Senior Center, Community Center and Department of Public Safety; and by making the agenda and report available at the Sunnyvale Public Library, the Office of the City Clerk and on the City's website.
In addition, the City notified each residence in the neighborhood through regular mail to inform them of the neighborhood meeting on November 1, 2017. Due to a low number of Shirley Avenue residents signing the petition, a subsequent mailing was sent to these residents to learn of their preference for preferential parking.
ALTERNATIVES
1. Make the findings required by Sunnyvale Municipal Code Section 10.26.030, make a finding of exemption from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061 (b)(3), and introduce an ordinance designating Lori Avenue and Shirley Avenue as a preferential parking zone.
2. Make the findings required by Sunnyvale Municipal Code Section 10.26.030, make a finding of exemption from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061 (b)(3), and introduce, with amendments as noted by the City Council, an ordinance designating Lori Avenue and Shirley Avenue as a preferential parking zone.
3. Do not introduce an ordinance designating Lori Avenue and Shirley Avenue as a preferential parking zone.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Alternative 1: Make the findings required by Sunnyvale Municipal Code Section 10.26.030, make a finding of exemption from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061 (b)(3), and introduce an ordinance designating Lori Avenue and Shirley Avenue as a Preferential Parking Zone.
Staff
Prepared by: Ralph Garcia, Senior Transportation Engineer
Reviewed by: Shahid Abbas, Transportation and Traffic Manager, Public Works
Reviewed by: Wayne Tanda, Interim Director, Public Works
Reviewed by: Timothy J. Kirby, Director, Finance
Reviewed by: Teri Silva, Assistant City Manager
Approved by: Kent Steffens, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Aerial Map
2. Sunnyvale Municipal Code, Chapter 10.26, Preferential Parking on Residential Street.
3. Proposed Ordinance Designating Lori Avenue and Shirley Avenue as a Preferential Parking Zone for the Benefit of the Residents Adjacent Thereto.