Parking Meter Rates and Hours to Increase Downtown

Beginning June 1, residents and patrons parking at street meters in Manhattan Beach's downtown district will pay over 50 percent more for the privilege.

Street-meter parking outside of the four pier parking lots will jump from 75 cents to $1.25 an hour, a rate increase that is expected to generate more than a quarter million dollars annually for the city, according to city staff. The rate for off-street meter parking at both the upper and lower pier lots, which are owned by Los Angeles County, is $1.50 an hour.

The increase affects only metered parking spaces on the street, not those in city-owned parking lots such as the Metlox parking structure, said Erik Zandvliet, the city's traffic engineer who urged the City Council to impose the rate hike for street-metered spaces.

Parking in off-street city lots will remain at 75 cents per hour. Zandvliet said his report to council members was meant to encourage the city to make better use of its parking spaces. Funneling more traffic into the less-used public parking structures such as Metlox, which has 459 parking spaces, would be a step in doing that, he said.

"There are still a lot of empty spaces," Zandvliet said. "There is a higher demand for street parking. We're trying to encourage people to park in places like Melox. These lots are under-utilized."

The street meter rate increase, recommended by the Parking and Public Improvement Commission, was approved at the February 16 City Council meeting.

The council also extended the hours of meter operation to begin an hour earlier, at 8 a.m., and end an hour later, at 9 p.m.

A group of local business owners that attended the Council meeting generally supported the extended enforcement hours, but spoke out against any meter rate increase.

"I would support starting the metering at 8 a.m.," said Maureen McBride, owner of Tabula Rasa Essentials. "It would be a reasonable solution; stopping at 9 p.m. as well. But, we beg you not to increase the rate."

The hike reverses a reduction enacted by the Council in May of 2009 that was meant to ease the financial pressure on residents facing tough economic times.

But Nhung Madrid, the city's management analyst, said the increase is needed to pay for meter repair and upkeep.

"This is not for more revenue," Madrid said. "We're just trying to cover the cost of the maintenance of the parking meters."

Patricia Schilling, administrative assistant in the City Manager's Office, said the increase is fair. Schilling said merchants are more resistant to the increase than residents are.

"I think the parking rates are very reasonable," Schilling said. "I think the business owners have more issue with it than residents do because they think it will deter folks from the downtown area."

One way the city is attempting to retain patrons who might balk at feeding so many coins into their meters is by providing meters that also take credit and debit cards. Such meters have been installed on a trial basis through September in the upper pier lots.

"We have to wait and see how the public likes it," Madrid said of the multi-payment meters. "If it works, then we'll have them throughout the city. We want it if the residents want them first. Right now, we're just testing them to see how everything works."