Attachment 4ATTACHMENT 4
From: Catherine Somers
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2018 2:42 PM
To: Matt Morley
Cc: Monica Renn; Laurel Prevetti
Subject: Staff Parking Proposal - Chamber of Commerce suggests and supports the following - for
Council Meeting March 20
To Matt Morley, Staff and Council Members-
While I have yet to read your final parking report and staff recommendation, the Chamber’s suggestions
and opinions are as follows:
1. At this time, the Chamber does not support the Parking Garage. Our reasons include but are not
limited to:
a. Cost to town, ultimately the tax payers
b. Time to plan, to build
c. Nimby uprising
d. The necessity long term -10-15 years –
e. Resources can be better used - we believe there are enough parking spaces in town
2. The Chamber does support increasing the current 3 hour time limit to 4 hours in all downtown
parking lots -
However – without addressing the Employee Parking problem simultaneously, the 4 hour
increase time limit will not serve its purpose which is to allow customers the flexibility to park
longer. Employees will simply park there. The shuffling will happen less – but the spots will
all be full. Council and Staff must tackle these two challenges as one.
3. WRT the Employee Parking Challenges the Chamber suggests:
a. Designate Employee Parking Zones - We have the zone mapping already. Businesses
within certain zones need to encourage employees to ONLY park in their designated
lots.
b. The Chamber can help with a promotional campaign, mapping techniques, incentive
programs, placard or permit graphics. We can even help distribute passes if need be.
We are centrally located. We can track who asks for passes and assess total number of
employees needing them.
c. We currently have approx. 564 Unlimited Parking spots - though that does not include
all of Miles - we propose you add 60 more.
d. We DO NOT support eliminating the UNLIMITED parking in Lots 1 and 2.
e. Employee Parking should be easily recognizable – well marked, colorful, clean, well lined
and happy!!!!
f. We DO support enhancements and safety measures making it easier and seemingly
easier to cross Route 9 at both No. Santa Cruz and University. Ie – bright green
crosswalks - better electronic signage – trees and flowers … make it a welcoming
entrance into the historic downtown.
g. We propose moving the handicapped parking spaces in the North Lot to farther back in
that lot. Currently, those are the most coveted spots as they are right next to Rte. 9.
h. We think it is possible that 30% of the parking spaces on adjacent neighborhood streets
could be made available to employees between the hours of 9-6 p.m. Palo Alto has such
a program in place and it works well.
i. The Lower garage in Lot 4 should be exclusive for employees working in that zone.
j. A hard number to ascertain --- we estimate there are about 150 businesses with 3
employees working at any given time in downtown -- therefore, needing a total of
approximately 450 spaces. There are a few exceptions to this rule – i.e. Apple and St.
Mary’s, restaurants, among a few others. We should have plenty of space. Assuming
employees are in those spots – there are about another 1000 spots for customers!
4. 2 Hour Parking should remain as is.
5. 15 minute and 30 minute spots are important in various locations –and should be left in place -
ie at the Post Office, dry cleaners, etc.
6. We TOTALLY support the idea of Paid Parking - and welcome a Pilot Program asap. Paid
parking in and of itself, and more than anything else, will change employee’s behavior, will
result in employee parking “distribution” and will generate revenue for the Town.
7. We support Matt Morley’s suggestion to hire a consultant to devise a comprehensive and
holistic plan for downtown parking that includes the high school students, residents, employees
and most importantly patrons, but in the meantime we want to implement a few pilot
programs. I suspect a consultant would like to see how the pilot programs work anyway.
Thanks All.
Catherine Somers
Executive Director
Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce
408-354-9300
408-335-6618 direct