TITLE
Recommendation to respectfully request City Manager to work with the City Attorney and return to City Council within 60 days with potential modifications to parking regulations in the Long Beach Municipal Code that would give the City Traffic Engineer greater discretion to develop more flexible parking solutions inside the City's designated Parking Impacted Area in subjects including but not limited to:
· Pavement and curb markings
· Parking space length and width
· Parking inside "T" intersections
· Customized signage
· Street Sweeping
· Diagonal parking
· Street design modification
DISCUSSION
Long Beach has one designated Parking Impacted Area encompassing parts of the First, Third, Fourth, Sixth, and Seventh Council districts as well as all of the Second Council District (see attached map). The Parking Impacted Area was developed through an extensive parking survey conducted with the help of a consultant to determine residential areas in which at least 75% of the on-street parking spaces were occupied at night. In order to create a continuous area and boundary lines, city staff and Council offices provided input into the final recommendations made to City Council, which adopted the area without change.
Despite having this designation, the Parking Impacted Area has not led to substantial changes in parking rules or regulations in this designated area, except for an ordinance requiring a garage inspection upon resale of a home to curb illegal garage conversion. I firmly believe that this designation should result in something more tangible than enabling city staff and residents to identify where the parking problem exists. The residents in our Parking Impacted Area need the City Traffic Engineer's leadership in developing and implementing unconventional parking solutions. To this end, I hope to encourage our city staff to use their judgment in experimenting with different approaches to our parking problem, provided public safety is not compromised. Should these solutions prove successful, they could be considered for use outside the Parking Impacted Area.
What I am requesting is a review of the parking provisions in our municipal code allowing the City's Traffic Engineer to use his discretion within the boundaries of our designated Parking Impacted Area to reach practical solutions to our intolerable parking problems when Federal or State guidelines or practices prove overly restrictive.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
None.
FISCAL IMPACT
None.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
Councilmember Suja Lowenthal
Second District
Vice Mayor Bonnie Lowenthal
Councilmember, First District
Councilmember Patrick O'Donnell
Fourth District