Parking F.A.Q.

1. Who is the parking board?

The City Council created a community parking district for La Jolla in 2005. As is common in the other five CPDs in San Diego, the city named the local business improvement district - in this case, Promote La Jolla - as the administrating organization for the parking district. PLJ controls three seats on the nine-member board - the others are held by representatives of the La Jolla Community Planning Association, La Jolla Town Council, La Jolla Shores Association, Bird Rock Community Council, City Council President Scott Peters, an at-large business and an at-large resident representative.

1. Why do they want to charge for parking?

The board views paid on-street parking as part of a comprehensive management plan that will increase turnover and reduce the practice of cars cruising for free parking. They think La Jolla’s commercial district is suffering because outsiders believe it is hard to access, largely because of a parking shortage. They believe the revenue could be used to increase parking inventory in La Jolla and fund improvements and beautification of the Village, among other things.

1. How much do they want to charge?

The current plan calls for parking in the Village to be free for the first 30 minutes, then $1.50 for the first 90 minutes, then $2.25 for two hours. Beach rates would be slightly lower with a longer time limit. But the board has emphasized throughout the process that the pilot progam will be changeable once it’s implemented. They say rates would be adjusted as needed to create a 10 to 15 percent parking availability rate.

1. How much do they think they could bring in?

The board estimates a parking management plan could generate up to $2 million in net annual revenue.

1. How much of that will the city keep, and how much comes back to La Jolla?

The current council policy calls for at least 45 percent of parking revenues to come back to the parking district that created them. It also allows for districts to ask for more on a case-by-cass basis. Peters has said he would favor La Jolla’s district keeping around 80 percent of revenue.

1. Scott Peters terms out next year - what does that mean for us?

Probably not as much as some people think. The discussion over revenue distribution will likely be resolved with a city-wide solution. If La Jolla’s parking district is allowed to keep 80 percent of the revenue it generates, Old Town’s parking district and others will likely expect the same deal. The exact percentage will be determined by the entire City Council, a decision that will probably happen before Peters’ term is over.

1. Where is the plan now?

The board could vote on the plan on Nov. 14, and the City Council would make the final decision in the months after that. The pilot program, as proposed, would last for one year.

1. Who decides if the pilot program is made permanent?

The La Jolla Community Parking District Advisory Board is just that - advisory. They make recommendations to the City Council, who ultimately make the final decisions.