New Parking Meters to Be Installed Near Beach

Patrons and beachgoers will soon have to pay to park in front a small section of businesses near the beach on Ocean Boulevard in Belmont Shore. However, there might also be more parking available, according to city staff.

Despite objections from some business owners, residents and one council member, the Long Beach City Council voted 6-1 at its meeting on April 17 to set rates and hours for approximately 80 new parking meters to be installed in zones 31 and 32, located on Ocean Boulevard and Olympic Plaza between Termino Avenue and Bennett Avenue.

Once installed, parking-meter time limits will be enforced daily, excluding holidays, during the hours of 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at a rate of 50 cents per hour for a maximum of two hours.

Seventh District Councilmember Roberto Uranga, who serves on the California Coastal Commission, cast the lone dissenting vote, questioned whether parking meters negatively impact beach access.

According to city staff, the new parking meters, which are expected to generate revenue for public infrastructure improvements and maintenance in the area, are being installed to increase turnover of parking spots and ensure short-term parking for “better customer access.”

Craig Beck, director of the city’s public works department, said in a presentation to the council that the city’s policy to install parking meters in areas with high parking demand is consistent with other business districts in the city as well as other nearby coastal cities.

“Just like in any of our of business districts, when we see a lot of demand for parking, which also happens frequently in our coastal areas, not only in Long Beach but in many coastal cities, you provide parking meters in those areas to encourage turnover so their businesses can see patrons have parking opportunities,” he said.

However, owners, employees and members of Olympix Fitness, one of five businesses located in the new parking meter zones, stated that the city’s current two-hour parking time limit already creates enough turnover and parking meters would only encourage customers to park in nearby residential areas.

Kurt Schneiter, owner of Olympix gym and surrounding commercial property, stated that the fitness club has “cleaned up” the area since opening in a renovated building last year that was previously occupied by Yankee Doodles, once a nuisance and source of police calls.

Schneiter, who served on the Belmont Shore Parking & Business Improvement Area Advisory Commission for more than a decade, said parking meters might “work fine” in coming years as commercial activity grows, but the existing two-hour time limits suffice for parking turnover.

“This proposal does not address a parking issue as no resident has ever asked for this proposed change,” Schneiter said. “This is something that the government has brought forward. Sometimes you gotta wonder when the government comes in and says, ‘I’m here to help.’ This is one of those times. We didn’t ask for help. Our parking is working.”

Third District Councilmember Suzie Price, who serves the district in which the new meters will be located, said the city takes a “consistent” approach to installing parking meters across the city regardless of how much a certain property owner has invested in the community.

“As unpopular as the statement may be, we don’t impose fees, taxes and other assessments based on democracy, because no one would raise their hands and say, ‘I would like to be charged extra for things,’” she said. “It just doesn’t work that way.”

Price offered to mitigate impacts by reducing the meter fee from 75 cents to 50 cents. A recommendation to increase the grace period in which parking is free from five minutes to 15 minutes was retracted as such a change would need to be consistent with other business districts in the city.

Beck pointed out that the new parking meters are part of an overall infrastructure project in the area, adding that the city’s recent “road diet” of replacing a traffic lane along Ocean Boulevard with diagonal parking added more than 150 new public parking spaces.

Still, Councilmember Uranga questioned whether moving from limited free parking to paid parking meters would negatively impact beach access.

“I can see the city’s need to raise revenue and I’m not against raising revenue of course, but I am concerned about the effects it would have on the public who want to enjoy the beach,” he said. “I’m conflicted with this.”

In response, city staff said parking meters are common in beach communities across the state, adding that the California Coastal Commission, which has jurisdiction over parking lots along the beach, has previously suggested parking meters promote beach access by preventing nearby residents and employees from taking up lots during enforcement hours.

City staff is expected to provide the council with a formal response from the commission on the issue as well as results of a recent parking study that gathered data from Southern California beach cities on parking meter rates.

In an email response to questions posed by the Beachcomber, Beck stated that the city is working to provide “enforcement consistency” across all public parking lots in the city. Operating and enforcement hours are posted at each parking lot and are available on the city’s website, he said.

In general, parking time limits are enforced from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., but some lots have different hours, Beck said, adding that the city is looking to revise its annual beach passes for overnight parking at some lots, a change that would require California Coastal Commission review.

sean@beachcomber.news