Attachment 5March 20, 2018
Honorable Mayor and Town Council,
The topic of parking as it relates to allowable seats in restaurants has been discussed in many different
forums over the past few years. The current regulation is not functioning as it should. Since it is not
serving its purpose, we feel it should be eliminated and replaced by other regulations that ensure the
safety of patrons visiting the establishments. We support the fire code regulating occupancy limits. To
the extent this can bring some restaurants into compliance and allow other restaurants to maximize
their business potential, it will be a good thing for the Town. The notion that allowing more restaurants
to add seats without adding parking in Town will create gridlock or a parking problem is not very likely.
There are too many other factors that play into the equation, and frankly, many nights each week there
is a significant oversupply of parking on the street and in the parking lots. It’s only at peak times parking
can become challenging. With the advent of ride-sharing companies there are more options for how
patrons visit Town. This had never been contemplated when the original ordinance was crafted, so it
stands to reason a change can be justified.
We hope you take this first step in effecting change in the commercial core. Two more important steps
that should be evaluated soon are the temporary suspension of the formula retail policy as well as
ordinance 2021 in order to inject some vitality into downtown so we can compete with Campbell,
Santana Row, Cupertino, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Burlingame, and the North 40.
Thank you,
Jim Foley
La Cañada Investments, LLC