SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : City to Reconsider Depot Parking Fee

A missing parking meter and an outcry from angry commuters have prompted the City Council to postpone the county’s first-ever daylong parking fee at a train station.

The $2-per-day fee, which was to have begun last Tuesday, met its first roadblock because a special meter had not been installed for 131 commuter spaces being leased by the Community Redevelopment Agency from the developer of a private, 352-space parking lot across from the Capistrano Depot.

In addition, protests by about 20 angry train commuters who spoke at a recent council meeting further delayed the fee, with the council agreeing to discuss the issue again during a meeting next Tuesday.

But commuter and one-year San Juan Capistrano resident Jack Frost was doubtful that the commuter protest would eliminate the fee.

“It seems like it’ll be tough to get the councilmen to change their minds,” Frost said. “They are obviously all for the fee.”

The $2 spaces replace 99 free spaces in the depot lot that are being converted to a three-hour limit, to match the rest of the station’s parking lot. About 40 free parking spaces are being provided on a dirt lot at the corner of Yorba Street and El Camino Real, about one block from the station.

City officials have said the $2 parking fee helps defray costs of maintaining the multilevel parking facility and providing a 24-hour security guard in a joint public-private venture.

Commuters argue that most train stations along the popular San Diego to Los Angeles Amtrak route allow free parking. Others have said that commuters are helping to reduce air pollution and freeway congestion, and believe that it is excessive to slap a parking charge on top of train ticket costs.

The multilevel lot was built for the nearby Franciscan Plaza movie theaters and shopping center.