Weekly Poll: Parking in Dublin
Dublin has been blessed with phenomenal growth in the residential and retail markets. An emerging trend over the past 5 years has been higher-density residential and mixed-use development. While this type of development has many benefits, there can be significant challenges along the way. One such issue that has proven to be a thorn in the side of otherwise fantastic projects for residents has been street parking. Around Dublin readers living in The Villages at Dublin Ranch all very familiar with this particular challenge.
With projects such as the West Dublin Transit Village and Dublin Crossing in the planning phases , it’s critical that we think of potential solutions to the street parking challenge that tends to go hand-in-hand with higher-density residential and mixed-use developments. This week’s Around Dublin poll question is – “How would you solve the street parking challenge posed by higher-density development?“
9:25 AM on September 4th, 2008
How about this: Each unit sold comes with a certain number of parking passes for a neighborhood. As an example, if you buy a 3 bedroom townhouse with a two car garage, you get one parking pass. The idea is that you would use your garage for two cars (what it’s intended for), and you can use the third pass for your teen driver, live-in parent or something… That woud really urge the residents to use their garages for their intended purpose (instead of storage spaces/living quarters. If you need an additional pass, you could purchase one for a set dollar amount (which would be higher than if you just cleared your garage (put stuff in storage) and parked your cars in there..
I see people with 2 and 3 car garages parking all their cars on the street (not wanting to clog their driveways) in my neighborhood. When their garage door is open, it is filled to the ceiling with junk/boxes, with a tiny walkway around the floor)…
Residents need to understand that not only does this perpetuate into a large problem for the neighborhood, but it also lowers their home value (Think about it, if you were looking to buy a property, and you couldn’t even find a spot to park to visit that property, do you think you might have second thoughts?)
11:26 AM on September 4th, 2008
Agreed – there is plenty of parking for everyone in the current plans; the problem is people don't use it for parking, they use it to store stuff. Our CC&Rs has a rule that you can't modify your garage or fill it with stuff or do anything that would prevent it from being used for parking, pity it's not enforced. Creating more parking spaces will only take away from the usable space in Dublin & make Dublin less appealing aesthetically speaking.
2:01 PM on September 4th, 2008
Perhaps we need to have some follow-up questions based on the outcome of this week’s poll. Yes, some CC&Rs do have rules about garage usage, but without strict enforcement and planning based on natural human behavior, street parking will always remain a problem with poorly executed higher-density developments. Are people really comfortable with board members’ periodically checking up on how residents use their garages? How should the City of Dublin go about making sure only visitors, not residents, park on the streets in higher density areas? How will we pay for the cost of such enforcement? Should the City of Dublin pass the cost of enforcement to HOAs in the higher density areas, which would most likely lead to a hike in HOA assessments? I just moved into Sorrento, and I am still grappling with the above questions. I am not thrilled by the fact that there is no street parking in front of my community after 8:00PM, because most of the spaces have been taken over by the Cottages residents, but I completely understand the inconvenience caused by tandem garages.
The city may have planned sufficient parking spaces in terms of absolute square footage, but if those spaces are not easily accessible, they should not be weighed the same as the more accessible parking spaces. I really hope the City of Dublin will apply the hard lessons learned from the Dublin Ranch Villages as we go forward with the other planned higher density developments. Our first step should be to stop the developers from building more residential units beyond what was initially agreed to. We should also deny zoning change applications like the one currently being considered for Grafton Plaza, which will only exacerbate the parking crisis at the Villages. Charter may promise to build a multi-level subterranean parking garage, but do you really think people will park on B5, when ground-level parking is available?
3:05 PM on September 4th, 2008
Why not do something similar to what San Francisco does?
Near San Francisco State University and other areas in the city where parking is very limited, the city offers residential parking permits to residents in those areas. There is a serial number on the permit that can be traced back to who it was issued to as a way of verifying that that vehicle and permit match up.
You have to pay an annual fee and prove that you reside in that unit. The permit must be visibly displayed somewhere on or in the vehicle. There is also a limit on how many permits can be issued per household.
If the city of Dublin implements something similar, this will encourage residents to use their garages and cut down on the number of cars per household. Also, people that do not live in the area will be discouraged from parking there, which will free up more spaces for residents.
In San Francisco, the Department of Parking and Traffic handles the enforcement. If the car does not have the permit visibly displayed, you get a ticket. The only thing is that this is only enforced between certain hours, which won’t solve the problem in Dublin, but the city of Dublin can make it a 24-hour enforcement.
I know that presently, Dublin doesn’t have the manpower to enforce those types of violations 24/7, but if people know that they have to prove that they live in the area and are limited to a certain number of permits per household, then this may help alleviate the problem.
6:58 PM on September 4th, 2008
I don’t get why tollbrothers builds homes with tandem garages? I am sure it is so that it can say that each household has 2 spots with the least amount of space. However, after seeing what is going on at dublin ranch, you would think that the city in plan check could say that it is not acceptable. Can you imagine in about 2 years when the promenade is built out, and people that actually live here are trying to find a spot to park. That should be interesting.
11:41 AM on September 5th, 2008
It’s simple, people need to use their garages for parking, not for storage. There would be no problem finding parking if residents would use their garage for what it is intended for.
9:41 PM on September 5th, 2008
With all due respect to the anonymous commenter above, it is precisely this simplistic view of human behavior that has led Dublin to the parking crisis in the Dublin Ranch Villages. Of course there would be “no problem finding parking if residents would use their garage for what it is intended for,” but people will do what is convenient to them and not what is recommended in the CC&R, especially when there is no apparent enforcement from the HOA or the city. As James Madison once wrote, “if men were angels, no government would be necessary.” The cost of parking enforcement must be part of the budget for all higher density developments going forward.
The City of Dublin may not be able to do much for residents in the Dublin Ranch Villages, but they still wield tremendously influence over projects currently in development. In addition to strict enforcement, parking garages in higher density areas must be designed with accessibility and convenience in mind, so home owners will want to use them.
Good parking design is a complex challenge that requires a multi-faceted approach. Dublin can no longer afford to continue its simplistic modeling of human behavior as it reviews garage plans from future higher density developments. Those of us who live in Dublin Ranch Villages bear the ultimate responsibility for the parking crisis in our neighborhood, but the developers, the Planning Commission, and City Planning should also be held accountable.
9:15 AM on September 6th, 2008
I totaly agree with the person who commented on parking permits. The city could make extra money siteing tickets and people probably will use their garages. Those people knew what they were buying when they bought tadem.. too bad. Permits from the city and after a certain time or however it works they get a ticket.. or incorporate a new garage to hold all the cars.. its not right that the cars from the villiages take up most of the parking everywhere, even on the Sorrento side. Its 2008 city council.. get a grip on this situatiion.. you would think by now, you would know the best thing for each city and quit making quick decisions on things that you guys never have to worry about because you dont live in this area.
4:30 PM on September 26th, 2008
Regardless if street parking requires permits or not, the problem won’t be solved if people use their own garages for storage. There just will never be enough curb side parking compared to the amount need to accommodate people living in home stacked 4-6 stories high with no convenience form of mass transit nearby like in big cities. High Density housing have no place being in suburban cities unless it is right next to a BART station.
One option is to do away with private garages for high density housing. Build parking structures or underground common garages with assigned spaces, much like the Terraces at Dublin Village. There the have to use there space as the common garage is no place to stack junk.
Best solution is put a halt to any additional high density residential development that is away from the two BART stations. It has no business being in Silveira Ranch, Wallis Ranch. Those are the last places where we can put single family homes with sizable yard which we lack in Dublin.