Vista council addresses downtown parking

By: CRAIG TENBROECK - Staff Writer | Tuesday, March 13, 2007 11:35 PM PDT ∞

VISTA ---- Though they had varied opinions about the severity of downtown's parking crunch, Vista City Council members asked staffers Tuesday to craft a plan for meeting the area's long-term needs and present them with options this summer.

In the meantime, staffers will implement a host of smaller changes designed to improve parking in the short term, such as shifting the area's employees to underused spaces and increasing security in peripheral lots perceived as unsafe.

The council's discussion came after representatives from a city-hired consultant, Katz, Okitsu and Associates, presented the results of a downtown parking analysis for which the city paid $40,000.

Arnold Torma, a vice president with the firm, told the council that the overall parking supply in the study area, which included the Vista Village shopping center, the city's historic downtown and the Vista Transit Center, is "adequate," at least for the time being. But more could be done to funnel the right cars to the right spots, including increased security, time restrictions on the best spaces and signs to boost awareness of lesser-known parking areas, he said.

There are about 2,750 parking spots downtown, according to the consultant's report, which was still in draft form and subject to revision. Even during peak periods, there are between 1,600 and 1,800 empty spaces, the report states.

"The demand does not support construction of a parking structure at this time," Torma told the council.

But some City Council members disagreed.

"It's a huge problem," Councilwoman Judy Ritter said of the parking crunch. While spots may be available in some outlying areas, "at lunch time, if you're a working person, you don't want to park too far away," she said.

Councilman Frank Lopez said development in the area could stagnate without a parking structure. He said repeatedly that its construction should be placed on the immediate, rather than long-term, agenda.

"We need to put this thing up within a five-year period," Lopez said.

But building a structure would likely be "a big, big expense," Mayor Morris Vance said.

Assuming adequate land could be cobbled together, it would still take two to three years to build and potentially cost more than $30,000 per space in today's dollars, according to city staff.

"As a consumer, I think sometimes we expect a little too much," Vance said. "You're never going to be able to provide satisfactory parking for everybody."

Vance said the city may want to create a "parking management district" to develop strategies for the area

Tom Fleming, a downtown business owner and president of the Vista Village Business Association, cautioned the council that the inventory numbers in the report could be misleading. Many spaces are in private lots, reserved for the customers of banks or churches, Fleming said, and some appeared to be listed twice.

Still, Fleming said, the consultant's recommendations should "make a world of difference."

-- Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 631-6621 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com.

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