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Attachment 2Los Gatos Monte Sereno March 21, 2017 Dear Residents, POLICE DEPARTMENT Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns surrounding the Council's recent actions pertaining to preferential parking. The safety of our residents is the Town's primary concern. This letter is intended to clarify the history of the pilot program, Council's recent actions, next steps for adding other nearby streets into a residential permit program, and an assessment later in 2017 On March 1, 2016, Council approved a pilot preferential parking program on Alpine Avenue. Pilot parking permits were issued and enforcement began on April 18, 2016. The pilot was scheduled for review at the end of 2016 or early 2017. Prior to returning to Council for pilot review, staff collected statistics in an effort to measure the effectiveness of the pilot. Key findings include: • Speed analysis indicated that speeds on the street had increased during the pilot period. This was anticipated given the parking restrictions. • There had only been one reported vehicle collision on Alpine Avenue for one year prior to the pilot implementation and there have been none since. • Vehicle counts conducted up to four times a day, indicate that other than congestion created by commercial vehicles, parking compaction has decreased significantly. • All outreach efforts to the residents indicated they were satisfied with the pilot and the results from the pilot modifications. In October, staff was directed by Council to meet with the Policy Committee to review and provide recommendations for potential modifications to the Neighborhood Parking Plan Process (NPPP). In December, the Policy Committee directed staff to inform the pilot neighborhoods (Whitney and Alpine) that their programs would be extended and we could not predict if the pilots would be made permanent. In January, both neighborhoods were contacted and informed of the Policy Committee's direction. On January 3rd, Alpine Avenue was informed that the Alpine Avenue pilot review would not be heard by Council during January. On February 24th, Alpine Avenue was notified that the topic would most likely be going to Council on March 7th with recommendations for the NPPP, again providing information that pilots are not guaranteed permanent status. Upon completion of the staff report on March 3`d, an email went out to both the Whitney and Alpine neighborhoods informing them that the item was added to the agenda to be heard by Council on March 7th The staff report recommended both pilots be made permanent with adjustments to the hours and the portion of the year for parking restrictions. The red curbs and other modifications would remain Phone (408) 354-5257 • Fax (408) 354-0578 • Civic Center ♦ 110 East Main Street • Los Gatos, CA 95030 unchanged. Additional streets were also identified for parking restrictions and could be added to the program after these residents/property owners had an opportunity to opt out. On March 7`h, the Council listened to public testimony, deliberated, and approved the staff recommendations with the modification to reduce the amount of time allowed for parking from 120 to 90 minutes during the school year. For ease of communication, the combination of the new streets, Alpine, Whitney, and the existing Eastside parking area were proposed to be called "the High School Zone." Given the concern over the name, staff is not proposing to put the zone name on any of the parking restriction signs. Below in a question and answer format are my responses to some of the specific questions and remarks submitted in the correspondence from residents. My responses are in bold italics. Question: What are the next steps to implement the Council's March 7th action? Answer: There are several steps that are needed to implement this Council action. ® Outreach needs to occur to all streets that currently have permit parking (such as Jackson, Alpine, Cross, etc.) to inform them that the existing parking restrictions are in place and that the Town is starting outreach regarding a change of hours to 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. during the academic year. ® At the same time, outreach needs to occur to all of the new streets that are not currently part of any parking program (such as Loma Alta, Los Gatos Boulevard, Stacia, etc.) to determine their interest in participating in a parking permit program at all. Since these streets have not had the outreach and engagement as the other streets, staff proposed an "opt out" process for these locations. © In May or June, the Town Council would consider a formal resolution to establish the parking restrictions for the area around the high school. This would be the time for Council to consider the results of all of the outreach, and determine the hours for the parking restriction (9 a.m. to 4 p.m., or other option) and other parameters (e.g., academic year or year round). o If the resolution is adopted, then signs would be placed on all of the streets with the new restrictions. Based on resident input to date, there is no need to name the zone on the signs. Residents would be able to obtain parking permits. m During the summer and fall, staff would collect data regarding parking impacts on all of the streets in the area by the high school. Staff would also be available to receive resident comments regarding the program. ® in December, staff would bring the resident comments and data to the Council to determine if any modifications to the permit parking program are needed. Question: What is the Opt Out Process? Answer: The Council has approved an "opt out" program. If less than 25% of residents in a designated area vote to opt out, then the program will go into place automatically. If 25% of residences in a designated area initially choose to opt out, Town Staff will work with that area to review the program separately. Question: Will streets that already have permit parking be required to go through the opt out process? Answer: No, the "opt out" notification is only for the new streets under consideration. Johnson, Cross, Alpine and Whitney are already established as having parking restrictions and would not be part of the opt -out notification area for new streets. Page 2 of 5 Question: What are your plans for outreach and resident participation? Answer: To facilitate a smoother process, the Town will provide for broad participation through a streamlined process. The Town will begin outreach efforts with the distribution of an informational mailer to all the residences within the new zone of the Council's decision to allow the expansion of permit parking to their neighborhoods. The mailer will include links to locate more information, staff contact information, a brief Q/A section and a return postcard requesting residents to indicate whether they wish to be part of or opt out of permit parking. For those areas that want to have permit parking, a community meeting will be scheduled to provide more information on the program and to allow for a question and answer period. Based on recent responses regarding the pilot projects, staff plans on providing program updates via social media as well as scheduling community meetings as needed. Question: Did you conduct any outreach for the new plan? Answer: Alpine and Whitney residents were informed that the NPPP was being considered for modifications. After the Policy Committee's first meeting on this topic, we informed these pilot neighborhoods their pilots would continue, the Policy Committee was continuing to discuss options, and would provide a recommendation to Council. We informed the pilot neighborhoods once the Council report was released so they could participate in the Council meeting and make their input known. We also communicated to all of Whitney and Alpine Avenue residents after the Council's action so they would know that the pilots are now permanent. Formal written notices are required by State law to be sent for public hearing items before Planning Commission and Town Council for ordinances, land use items, and certain other items. The Town's parking program does not require written notices. Based on recent feedback, staff plans to increase outreach efforts to effected residences associated with this program. Question: Did you consider how the new restrictions will affect the current streets with modified parking? Answer: We did and we realized by addressing the neighborhoods separately, the issue of parking compaction would likely be pushed to additional streets. A comprehensive approach was needed. Our goals were to identify an area that students are willing to park and walk or consider other alternatives; reduce privatization of public streets; and implement parking restrictions when necessary. Two surveys indicated that students will modify their driving and parking behaviors if they need to park or walk 10 minutes or approximatelymile from the school. The program considers the reduction of privatization issues created with permit parking by modifying enforcement periods so those not wishing to purchase a permit would have an opportunity to park in the roadway overnight without having to move their vehicle early in the morning. The program also acknowledged that the residential areas where permit parking has been implemented was because of high school' student parking and those compaction issues were not present outside of the academic year. The program will allow for considerable outreach to the high school and its students. Once the students learn of the restrictions in residential areas, we anticipate Page 3 of 5 they will make the necessary changes and locate other areas to park or utilize Safe Routes to School methods for getting to school. We appreciate that there are concerns with the hours and months associated with the parking restrictions. We do not foresee summer activities creating issues necessitating permit parking during the non-academic year. if such circumstances are manifested, we will bring any adjustments to Council for its consideration in December 2017. Question: What changes have resulted as a condition of permit parking in the Alpine and Whitney neighborhoods? Answer: Both neighborhoods have seen a reduction in parking compaction. Staff has seen a reduction in reported parking complaints in both areas. Vehicle collisions are rare in both neighborhoods. While there may have been collisions unreported, there was one (1) documented collision along Alpine Avenue on February 26, 2014 (Period 2014-Present Day March 14, 2017). For Alpine Avenue: Alpine Avenue received a second speed survey after permit parking implementation. The survey indicated that speeds have increased slightly during the pilot program. There have been no engineering changes to address roadway width on Alpine Avenue. During 2016, Parking Control issued eight (8) parking enforcement citations. During 2017, six (6) citations have been issued (primary violation being over time limit). Both neighborhoods have indicated they were satisfied with the results of the pilot programs. Question: How do streets with current parking restrictions request modifications? Answer: The Town has not formalized a mechanism for the streets with parking restrictions to request modifications. It is clear from the recent communications that the Town needs to identify a process for this, review it with the Council, and communicate it to all neighborhoods with parking restrictions. Question: What area will be affected? Answer: As noted in the staff report for the March 7th meeting, Attachment 1 to the staff report identified the streets that reflect a 10-minute or'2-mile walking distance from the high school. Community meetings will be scheduled with residents/property owners of these streets. Once the Town knows which streets are interested in participating in the parking restrictions, the Council would take formal action to include them in the program. The existing Eastside parking area, Johnson, Cross, Whitney, and Alpine are already part of the program with Council's March action. Question: When will the hours and times for parking enforcement occur? Answer: The Council identified that the parking restrictions would coincide with the high school academic year, which is roughly mid -August through mid -June. The hours of enforcement will be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., limiting on street parking to 90 minutes without a permit. Staff recognizes that the school year start and end times may vary and will take this information into account when finalizing the enforcement period. Question: What happens if parking compaction returns during the summer? Answer: We do not foresee summer activities creating issues necessitating permit parking during the non-academic year. !f such circumstances are manifested, we will bring any adjustments to Council for its consideration. Page 4 of 5 Question: Do you have to call it the High School Zone? Answer: Since the name is a point of contention, the Town can use the term "High School Zone" for its own administrative purposes and the signs on the street can simply state the parking limitations except by Town permit. Question: Why didn't you keep the current parking restrictions already in place? Answer: The intent is to create consistency within the parking program. Our goal is to create an effective and consistent preferential parking program that is simple for all users to understand. Currently, there is a lack of consistency in parking restrictions within different areas. This leads to confusion for drivers and enforcement inefficiencies. The program also considers the reduction of privatization issues created with permit parking, modifying enforcement periods so those not wishing to purchase a permit have an opportunity to park in the roadway overnight without having to move their vehicle at an early hour. The program acknowledged the residential areas where permit parking have been implemented were because of high school student parking and those compaction issues were not present outside of the academic year. We appreciate there are concerns with the hours and months associated with the parking restrictions. We do not foresee the two (2) hour reduction in daily enforcement time or the summer activities creating issues necessitating permit parking during the non-academic year. !f such circumstances are manifested, we will bring any adjustments to Council for its consideration. As always, I remain available to the Whitney and Alpine Avenue neighborhoods for discussions on this issue. Any changes to the program that differ from the motion approved by Council will need to return to Council for formal action. This would be an "Other Business" item on the agenda with opportunity for public comment. I do not wish to see the traffic and parking conditions return to your neighborhoods and do not foresee they will as a result of the changes; however, if new safety issues are created due to the modifications, I will coordinate with traffic engineering to review those concerns. Best Regards, Lieutenant JR Langer Page 5 of 5