A Meter Matter : Laguna, Facing Parking Crunch, May Double Hourly Rate to $1

Many motorists come to Laguna Beach to escape inland civilization’s concrete shopping malls and swimming pools, and experience leisurely ocean-side boutiques and sunny beaches. But the serenity they hope for often is interrupted by one of civilization’s most annoying products--gridlock.

Especially during summer, drivers taking the tranquil, scenic ride along Laguna Canyon Road or Coast Highway into the town are abruptly confronted with bumper-to-bumper traffic as hundreds of cars attempt to park in Laguna’s few hundred parking spaces.

The village’s popularity continually brings more visitors, and with them, more cleanup and maintenance costs to the city.

So, the city is considering several changes, including an increase in parking meter rates from 50 cents to $1 an hour, effective June 1. The City Council will take up the matter next month.

The rate increase could mean an estimated $725,000 in additional revenue that would be used to ease the costs for parking-meter maintenance, acquiring more parking spaces, and non-resident city services, such as cleaning the beach.

Merchants don’t like it, contending that it will drive customers away. Others say the additional revenue will take some of the burden off the residents, whose taxes end up paying the bills that the parking meter revenues can’t cover.

“Tourists who come during the day aren’t paying their way,” City Manager Ken Frank said, noting that many visitors are beating the system by parking in non-metered residential areas and walking to the beaches instead of parking in the metered stalls near the sand.

“You’ve got to know the ins and outs,” said Marine Corps Maj. Benjamin L. Williams, who, until becoming a Laguna resident one month ago, spent a lot of time visiting the city.

‘Play the Game’

“I’m waiting for my son to get out of the store and I’m waiting in the car,” Williams said, sitting in his van in a parking stall with an expired meter on Forest Avenue. “You just play the game.”

Williams had not yet purchased the $20 yearly resident parking permit, which the city staff has recommended be extended to two years at the same price.

“I’m sure it’s really a hassle for the tourists, and there’s a lot of competition for spaces. . . . It’s like survival in the wilderness, only this is survival in civilization. . . . ,” Williams said.

Residents must also play the game to a certain extent. Although their permits allow them to park in any parking space, metered or otherwise, in the city, they often are forced to wait like everyone else for a space to open up.

“Even with a sticker it’s tough to find a spot,” said eight-year resident Michele Lewinter. “You just know you have to leave home 10 to 15 minutes early.”

“It’s part of living in a tourist town,” said resident Marsha Osborn. “It’s a walking town and many people have no problem parking up in the residential area and walking or just walking from their homes. . . . I hope they don’t raise the (meter) rates because this town needs tourist business to survive.”

‘I Just Cringe’

Many downtown merchants agree.

“I just cringe at it,” said Luke Solis, owner of Luke’s Birkenstock Footwear on Forest Avenue for 15 years. “I absolutely cringe at a dollar for one hour. . . . It will have a major impact because the consumer will rather go to South Coast Plaza to browse and not Laguna Beach.”

“There’s a parking problem, without a doubt,” said Diane Pittaro, manager of Laguna Flower Co., who agreed that raising parking meter rates could cost her business.

“I think it keeps people away,” she said. “We can’t depend on locals for our business.”

Marjorie Hall has been a Laguna resident and owner of Live Wire Cleaners since 1954.

“It’s difficult to find a place; you just drive around and around and around,” Hall said. “I’ve lost (customers) because they can’t find a place to park. They go to other cleaners. And I would do that, too.”

But Don Black, a Laguna Beach attorney and president of the Chamber of Commerce, agrees that those who park downtown and along Coast Highway should pay $1 an hour. “I paid $4.50 to park for one hour in downtown Los Angeles, and not in a pretty area,” he said.

But he disagrees with the city staff’s suggestion that some of the parking meter revenues should go to projects beyond parking.

The staff has recommended dividing up the projected $1.8 million in annual parking meter revenue (including the rate increase) into four different areas: $700,000 toward parking maintenance and enforcement costs; $600,000 for acquiring and building more parking facilities; $150,000 toward tourist-related city services such as beach cleaning, trash disposal and street cleaning, and $375,000 for the capital improvement fund, used for repairing and replacing worn facilities such as beach stairways, and for undergrounding utilities.

Black said the chamber’s board of directors unanimously supports keeping all of the parking meter revenues in a parking fund, which could help improve the parking crunch for tourists as well as residents.

‘Doing a Disservice’

“We are a tourist area and we cannot ever back away from it,” Black said. “The tourist has a right to come here and enjoy it. . . . If we make it so uncomfortable for people who come here that they never come back, we’re doing a disservice to them and the people who live here.”

Todd Tarter commutes from Irvine to his job at Photo Express on Forest Avenue. He also comes to Laguna to surf.

“You just accept it. The parking meters have been here for years and years. . . . It’s always tough to find a spot. The way I look at it, if you want to go to the beach, you have to find a spot. When you live in Southern California, that’s just the way it is. You have to cope with it.”

But some people are not as philosophical about it as Tarter, especially if they receive a parking ticket.

Parking “is an extremely (tense) situation,” said Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Greg Bartz, who has worked for the department for 15 years. “People become more irate over a $14 parking ticket than they do if someone has taken a baseball bat and smashed their car.”

The city’s recommendations come after researching the parking situation for the past year. Surveys conducted in four downtown parking lots during January and February of 1987, and in July and August of that year revealed that non-residents outnumbered residents--nearly 70% of those parking in two of the lots were summer tourists.

“It goes back to what we’ve heard for a number of years,” Councilman Neil Fitzpatrick said. “The merchants get aggravated when they see people park in front of their stores, get out of the car, pop open the trunk, take out their beach chairs and go to the beach.”

But even the merchants bank on the possibility that the beachgoers will do a little shopping while they are there. The higher parking rates might drive potential shoppers away with a bad feeling for the city, Solis said.

“As far as public relations for the city of Laguna Beach, the destruction is substantial,” Solis said. “This summer, if (tourists) are hit with a substantial increase (in parking meter rates), that’s what they’ll leave Laguna Beach remembering. That’s disastrous.”

But Fitzpatrick said that those who are discouraged by having to pay for parking already have abandoned Laguna Beach.

“The fact you charge people to park in the first place is the biggest economic deterrent,” Fitzpatrick said. “The fact you increase the rate isn’t going to make much difference. It’s a minor disincentive.”

The city staff knows some measures must be taken before the parking problem becomes worse.

“Everybody’s complained about parking in Laguna Beach forever. . . . There’s just not enough,” City Manager Frank said. “We can’t build enough parking places and garages; well, I suppose we could, but we’d destroy the place in the meantime.”

LAGUNA BEACH PARKING IDEAS Laguna Beach is considering these measures to ease parking woes: Increase the parking meter rate on June 1 from 50 cents to $1 an hour downtown and at the beaches. Change all short-term meters to 30 minutes and all one-hour meters to two hours. Extend use time of a resident parking permit from one year to two years--at the same cost of $20. Install meters that accept quarters only. Change enforcement time (previously 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. ) to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Hiring a consultant to analyze the operations of the Parking Meter Maintenance Division and the possibility of using a sealed coin collection system on the meters. Installing a computerized parking fee collection system in the Broadway lot on a 6-month trial basis.