Parking Issues on Park Blvd. Could Come Before Council

After Millbrae Patch received a letter to the editor about street parking on Park Blvd., we asked city officials about the issue. 

City Engineer Khee Lim said that in Sept. 2011, the Park Blvd. area was incorporated into the city's parking permit zone. It was made a residential permit area in order to deter business employees from parking for extended periods outside nearby homes.

Since then, employees have been required to move their vehicles periodically throughout the day, rather than parking them on the street for full work days.

Mayor Marge Colapietro told Patch that in 2011 and again in early 2012, business owners did bring the issue of parking availablity along Park Blvd. to city officials.

"When this first came to Council, the city sent letters to about 50 businesses in the area of Park Blvd. and El Camino Real," Colapietro said. The letters were meant to gauge interest in C-permits, or parking permits for businesses. "Only about 4 or 5 responded that they would be interested," the mayor said.

The business parking permits allow business employees to park for up to 8 hours at a time, and cost $100 per year. Several business employees use these permits in other parts of the city.

She said that since last week's letter to the editor on Patch, it's likely that the issue of parking on Park Blvd. will come before City Council again in the near future. 

"This [issue] is not forgotten," she said. "It's being worked on."

The mayor said that the Council is likely to again look at whether C-permits for Park Blvd., as well as for the parking lot between Park Pl. and Park Blvd., would be a solution for nearby businesses. She said that not all spaces would be changed, and perhaps the area could become mixed residential and business parking.

An additional more recent change to the Park Blvd. area is that 2 parking spaces were removed in Sept. 2012, in order to accommodate a new turn lane at the intersection of Park Blvd. and El Camino Real.

Also, in other parts of Millbrae, about two years ago Colapietro said, City Council passed a resolution to decrease non-permit parking near businesses from a two-hour limit to be one-hour around the city. 

The city implemented that change after receiving complaints from business owners that more turn-over would improve parking availability for potential customers.

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