City Council imposes parking district on
Palm Court, will reconsider other areas
September 05, 2014
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Santa Paula High School has opened up the baseball field to parking, but so far there’s been little use the City Council learned at the September 3 meeting where traffic impacts on neighborhoods and what to do about it was again a matter of discussion.
The issue has been lingering for about a year involving discussions with the Santa Paula Unified School District and comments from area residents tired of the parking that at times blocks their own driveways and creates traffic jams in the neighborhoods.
The council decided Wednesday to create a parking district for Palm Court, the area hardest hit by parking but to hold off on imposing restrictions on other areas to see if the school district might solve the problem.
Interim Public Works Director Brian Yanez told the council that although the school district has converted the baseball field to parking to ease shortages made worse by ongoing construction, few have taken advantage of it.
“It’ beautifully stripped and ready to go,” but Yanez said that in spite of urging by school administration for students and staff to use the field there has been little response.
Mayor Rick Cook asked City Attorney John Cotti if the district can order staff to use the parking but he replied the issue is not clear.
Cotti did note he was told by district legal counsel that notification of the available parking was not emailed to teachers until after school started.
The baseball field can accommodate 80 parking spaces, and Doug Henning, a project manager for the school construction project, said he himself was parking there but only about a dozen others.
He noted the field could only be used until - and if - there is rain and of course not when sporting events are taking place.
He noted the district had given direction for use of the lot on August 24 when, “They stepped up to the plate, literally,” to convert the baseball field to parking.
Construction workers are also using street parking and during breaks might smoke so they are not encourage to use the lot; construction is not expected to be completed until November 1, a timeframe Henning said is “very tenuous... “
Mayor Rick Cook said a parking district is still required on Palm Court because of its proximity to school sports facilities and 6th Street is also problematic.
“I’m hearing we now have a parking lot but no one wants to use it,” he added.
Councilman Bob Gonzales said informal site surveys “surprised” him his observation that there is street parking available from Olive to 6th streets on both sides of Santa Paula Street.
Overall, “There’s more parking available than I thought there was,” and he also recommended just implementing Palm Court restrictions and holding off on others until results of the baseball field parking are known.
Councilman Martin Hernandez urged that the council separate the issue into two actions to get parking restrictions started in select areas but not implemented in all neighborhoods, which he noted could be done later as need arose.
The council voted 4-0 - Councilman Jim Tovias was absent from the meeting - to create a district for the 33 residences in the Palm Court area.
City Manager Jaime Fontes said he would also direct staff to monitor the use of the baseball field for parking.
Initially the council had proposed to create a parking district to include Palm Court north of East Santa Paula Street, the north side of East Santa Paula Street from Olive Street to Palm Court and the east side of Sixth Street from East Santa Paula Street to Virginia Terrace.
Santa Paula Unified School District board members were not present at the Wednesday night council meeting, as the district board also had a meeting. The council met Wednesday because it’s regularly scheduled meeting for the first Monday of the month fell on the Labor Day holiday and the meeting was again rescheduled to Wednesday to accommodate council.
