SLO will bring back some free parking downtown after heated City Council meeting

San Luis Obispo will once again offer all downtown visitors a free first hour of parking in its downtown structures — as well as free parking in those structures on Sundays — after a revolt from residents and businesses culminated in a spirited City Council meeting on Tuesday.

Following a recent flood of complaints and a new round of public comment, the San Luis Obispo City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to bring back some free parking, just in time for the holiday season.

“I just feel like right now, we are trying to get people back downtown,” Mayor Erica Stewart said during discussion Tuesday. “And we are trying to get people back downtown for the holidays.”

Barring any future changes, the free first hour and free Sunday parking will go into effect by as soon as Thanksgiving and last at least through the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Both changes apply only to downtown structures, and not to metered street parking.

The council was able to bring back some free parking thanks in large part to approximately $2 million in cost savings for the new Cultural Arts District Structure under construction at the corner of Palm and Nipomo streets.

That surplus funding is a one-time thing, however, meaning San Luis Obispo will in the future still have to figure out how best to fund the new structure and continue to meet the parking needs of the city.

In light of that, the council on Tuesday night also voted to authorize a rate study that would examine not only the city’s optimum parking rates, but also prioritize user experience and ensure the downtown was an attractive destination for shoppers and visitors.

The results of that study are expected in mid-April.

Residents, business owners call parking changes ‘disaster’ for downtown

The issue drew a big crowd to Tuesday’s meeting, and at one point the main Council Chambers was standing room only, with about 20 people relegated to an overfill room.

Many showed up to voice their objections to the changes to downtown parking, whose impact has only been fully realized in recent months.

The City Council voted to stop providing the free first hour in 2022 but elected to subsidize that hour of parking for downtown visitors for a year. In July, that subsidy ended.

At the same time, downtown parking rates also nearly doubled, going from $1.50 per hour in the structures to $3, and jumping from $2.50 per hour to $4 on the streets. Meanwhile, the city unveiled its new gateless technology at the 842 Palm St. structure that pushed payment away from a traditional ticket to mobile apps or pay stations. It also increased its parking enforcement hours from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

In an effort to keep local visitors downtown, the city rolled out a new Park Local Program, which offered a free hour of parking at the gateless structure to locals who registered for a permit, but the pilot program ended up being confusing and fraught with difficulties thanks to incompatibility with the city’s parking payment technology.

On Tuesday night, many speakers shared concerns that all of these changes created a perfect storm that was driving people away from the downtown core and threatening its businesses.

“Your parking policy has been a disaster for us and everyone downtown,” said Erica Hamilton, creative director for Blackwater boutique. “With your removal of the first free hour and the increased rates, our customers have vanished — and the vibrancy of downtown SLO with them.”

Hamilton urged the council to bring back the free first hour of parking, as well as free parking on Sundays, along with lowering rates and making it simple for anyone who wishes to visit downtown to easily do so.

“Salvage what’s left before you turn downtown into a wasteland,” Hamilton continued. “Act now or be remembered as the council that killed downtown SLO.”

Others on Tuesday night said bringing back the free hour was the least the city could do — several who spoke campaigned for two or more hours of free parking as well as other changes to make it more accessible.

“Invite people to participate in our community instead of punishing them for it,” resident Pete Evans said. “I know you need money to manage your affairs. We all need money. But this is not the way.”

Though the majority of the crowd voiced support for finding ways to make downtown parking more affordable and easy, several people did speak in favor of the rate increases.

“I think it’s a damaging assumption to think that all of our economy should be based on the car,” resident Hans Hershberger said, noting that he would like to see more money going toward public and active transportation.

‘They’re asking for help now,’ councilmember says of businesses

Councilmembers in general expressed sympathy for the gathered business owners, downtown workers and longtime residents who spoke out against the parking changes.

“Honestly, hearing the frustration — it is heartbreaking,” Councilmember Andy Pease said during discussion. “And so I appreciate how deeply people care, and the passion and commitment they have for their businesses, for downtown.”

Others expressed their own frustrations at how the council has been “rushed” into decisions on its parking policies without a full picture.

“In an ideal world we would have run the rate study before we changed any rates, but the truth was we found ourselves rushed into change by the challenges of replenishing our coffers from the deficit created from free parking created during COVID,” Councilmember Emily Francis said. “And now we’re rushing again to make a decision without data. We don’t have a full picture of what economic challenges our community is facing.”

Francis noted that though she would like to have more conversations about the topic when all that data is available, the city is “not in a position where we can wait for all the data to be in place and for all the studies to be completed.”

“They’re asking for help now, and we have to act now in order to skip the trends that all of your businesses have been describing,” she said.

Francis also pushed to ensure downtown employees on lower Higuera Street were being helped to find consistent parking in light of ongoing construction and a lack of a structure in their area.

Though the council ultimately voted to bring back the free hour and allow free parking on Sundays, Mayor Stewart also championed for other short-term changes to help downtown business owners, such as reducing enforcement hours and prioritizing making the app and pay station payment much more understandable.

“The user experience has been so challenging, so when you take the user experience and the cost — it’s just made a terrible recipe,” Stewart said. “Unfortunately, the experience at this point has been such a bad taste. I really want to get people to be able to come back downtown and know that we are here for them and to have our businesses thrive.”