State Postpones Parking Fees for Old Town

The state parks department has postponed plans to charge for parking at Old Town State Historic Park, state officials said.

An aide to Assemblyman Mike Gotch (D-San Diego), author of a bill to block the state Department of Parks and Recreation from imposing the fees, said Friday that the parking plan was an ill-conceived attempt at raising revenue, and, in the long run, could have ended up costing the state money.

Gotch’s aide, Dia Goode, said parking fees at the historic site and shopping district would have discouraged visitors and slowed business at dozens of shops and restaurants in Old Town.

The state earns about $3.2 million in tax and rent revenue from businesses in the 13-acre park, Goode said.

However, the director of the Department of Parks and Recreation said the plan is still viable, if the Legislature provides no remedies for the department’s $30.5-million shortfall.

The plan has been shelved for a year in an agreement that gives Gotch time to develop long-term funding for parks, while quieting business constituents who were disturbed by the proposed parking fees, department director Donald Murphy said.

“Assemblyman Gotch sees the dilemma the Legislature has placed the parks in,” Murphy said, referring to various legislation that has, at turns, given the department the go-ahead to increase park fees, then subsequently blocked certain fees.

“The Legislature has clearly put us between a rock and a hard place,” Murphy said.

“So now (legislators) have an obligation to find us a viable funding alternative.”

Old Town’s Bazaar Del Mundo Complex--a sprawling collection of 14 shops and 4 restaurants--paid the state a bulk of the park’s $3.2-million rental and tax revenue last year, said Allan Lynd, a consultant for the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

Alone, the Bazaar paid more revenue than all other concessionaires in the state park system combined, Lynd said.