City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends the City Council adopt a resolution (1) establishing specific
locations for the installation of parking meters within the City’s parking meter zones
(including new meters on Washington Boulevard Between Elenda Street and
Sepulveda Boulevard); (2) directing the Public Works Director/City Engineer to install
parking meters in such locations, and (3) rescinding Resolution Number 2013-R062.
BACKGROUND:
In January 2011, staff presented to the City Council proposed objectives and policies
to guide the future installation of parking meters. The policy direction received from
the City Council was to install parking meters adjacent to all business/commercial/
industrial streets except places of worship, schools, State and Federal government
facilities, and residential frontages. In order for staff to install parking meters at
specific locations, the explicit authorization from the City Council is still necessary
via adoption of a Resolution.
The on-street parking supply on Washington Boulevard between Elenda Street and
Sepulveda Boulevard is primarily used for business patron parking and is currently
restricted by posted signs, to two-hour parking, with a few spaces restricted to 30-
minutes.
Meeting Date: 05/27/2014 Item Number: A-1
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM: Adoption of a Resolution (1) Establishing Specific
Locations for the Installation of Parking Meters Within the City’s Parking Meter
Zones (Including New Meters on Washington Boulevard Between Elenda Street
and Sepulveda Boulevard); (2) Directing the Public Works Director/City Engineer to
Install Parking Meters in Such Locations, and (3) Rescinding Resolution Number
2013-R062.
Contact Person/Dept.: Gabe Garcia/PW Phone Number: (310) 253-5633
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [] General Fund: Yes [X] No []
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [X] Attachments: [X]
Commission Action Required: Yes [] No [X] Date: ________________
Public Notification: (Email) Agenda and Meetings – City Council (05/21/2014); (E-Mail)
Chamber of Commerce (05/22/14); (Courtesy Notice Advertisement) Culver City News
(05/22/14); and (Mail) Property Owners, Business Owners, and Residents in the area
bounded by Venice Boulevard, Culver Boulevard (north), Sepulveda Boulevard, and
Elenda Street-Girard Avenue.
Department Approval:
Charles D. Herbertson (05/15/14)
City Attorney Approval:
Carol Schwab (by H. Baker) (05/20/14)
Chief Financial Officer Approval:
Jeff Muir (by M. Noller) (05/21/14)
City Manager Approval:
John M. Nachbar (05/21/14) City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
There is a total parking supply of 76 parking spaces in the subject segment, nine of
which are proposed to be excluded from being metered in compliance with the City
Council’s policy direction. Four are adjacent to La Ballona School and five are
adjacent to the King Fahad Mosque. The north side of Washington Boulevard has
31 parking spaces proposed to be metered; the south side of Washington Boulevard
has 36. Of the 31 parking spaces on the north side, one is an existing green zone.
Of the 36 parking spaces on the south side, six are existing green zones. The seven
green zones are proposed to be metered with a 30-minute time limit, while the
remaining 60 parking spaces are proposed to be metered with a 2-hour time limit.
On most blocks within the subject segment of Washington Boulevard, parking is
available during the regular business day, except on the north side of Washington
Boulevard between Huron Avenue and Washington Place where no parking is
allowed between 7 am to 9 am, and between 4 pm and 6 pm, to increase the
queuing capacity for the Washington Boulevard westbound right-turn movement
onto Washington Place.
DISCUSSION:
Community Meeting
Approximately 2,300 courtesy notices were mailed to property owners, business
owners, and residents in the area bounded by Venice Boulevard, Culver Boulevard
(north), Sepulveda Boulevard, and Elenda Street-Girard Avenue, inviting them to a
community meeting on Thursday, May 8
th
, at 7 pm in the Dan Patacchia Conference
Room in City Hall, to inform the community about the proposal to install parking
meters and to obtain input.
The meeting was attended by two business people and three parents who volunteer
at La Ballona Elementary School. One business owner, representing three
businesses on the north side of Washington Boulevard, toward the west end of the
subject segment, expressed support for the parking meter installation. The second
business owner expressed opposition to the installation of parking meters, citing that
metering business frontages is not friendly towards patrons, the economy is still bad,
and that the revenue to be realized from the meters will be less than the loss in
receipts by the businesses.
The school parent volunteers also opposed the parking meter installation. They
indicated that the neighborhood in the vicinity of La Ballona Elementary School is
economically disadvantaged, and having to pay the parking meters to drop-off and
pick-up their children at school is a financial hardship for parents. They also City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
expressed that the City should relax their parking enforcement policy against school
parents who are dropping-off or picking-up their children, or those who remain in
school to volunteer their time. Finally, they stated that the $63 parking citations
represent a financial hardship and discourage parents from participating in the
school-life of their children and volunteering at school. They expressed that the City
Council should not authorize the installation of parking meters between Elenda
Street and Huron Avenue, on both sides of Washington Boulevard, because this is
the general area where school parents park their vehicles.
Proposed Meter Locations
In furtherance of the City Council’s policy directive to staff in January 2011, staff
recommends that 2-hour new technology parking meters be installed at 60 parking
spaces, and 30-minute parking meters at 7 parking spaces. These meters can
accept credit card payments, as well as coins.
The parking meters are proposed to be installed at the following locations:
NO. ON STREET SIDE FROM TO
1 Washington Blvd North side Sepulveda Blvd Harter Ave
prolongation
2 Washington Blvd North side Washington Pl Huron Ave
3 Washington Blvd North side Huron Ave Prospect Ave
4 Washington Blvd North side Prospect Ave Elenda St
5 Washington Blvd South side Elenda St Huron Ave
6 Washington Blvd South side Huron Ave Tilden Ave
7 Washington Blvd South side Tilden Ave Harter Ave
8 Washington Blvd South side Harter Ave Center St
9 Washington Blvd South side Center St Commonwealth
Ave
10 Washington Blvd South side Commonwealth
Ave
Sepulveda Blvd
In addition, the prior exemption for business adjacencies has been eliminated in
order to be consistent with the City Council’s intent in 2011, which was to meter
every commercial/non-residential street when an objective(s) of the City’s parking
meter policies are deemed to be met.|1010|
|1010| The exemption was for “business adjacencies where the parking demand stems primarily from employees rather than
patrons/residents or where the business has sufficient off-street parking and there is little demand for on-street parking
(unless the installation of parking meters is requested by the property owner).” City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
Proposed Meter Operations
The meters are proposed to be operational Monday through Saturday, from 8 am to
6 pm, in conformance with current Council-adopted ordinance, and in uniformity with
meters throughout the City.
Meter Rate
The meter rate for these meters, as per Council-adopted meter rates, would be $1
per hour.
Installation Timeline for New IPS Standard Meters
If the City Council authorizes installation of these parking meters, staff anticipates
that they can be installed within the next two to three months. Staff currently has
enough parking meter housings and new technology parking meters on-hand and
does not need to purchase additional materials to accomplish this installation. This
represents a significant savings in time. However, a few parking meter posts will
need to be installed by a contractor under an existing contract. Upon installation of
the posts, IPS, the new technology parking meter manufacturer, will be hired to
perform the installation of the parking meters. IPS is being hired to assist with the
meter installation in order to not negatively impact the maintenance of existing
parking meters by the City’s meter technician.
Status Update Regarding Jefferson Boulevard Meters
On August 12, 2013, the City Council authorized the installation of parking meters on
Jefferson Boulevard, between Overland Avenue and the City boundary to the east,
with the exclusion of the adjacency to the residential developments on the south side
of Jefferson Boulevard (from Overland Avenue to the eastern terminus of Raintree).
For several months, staff worked to acquire the parking meter equipment from the
authorized vendors and to obtain bids for parking meter post installations.
Eventually the City and the contractor entered into an agreement, and the required
parking meter posts were installed.
While these posts were being installed, a member of the business community raised
concerns over the potential of City staff utilizing some of these metered spaces.
This issue continues to be explored and will be the subject of a separate staff report
to be presented to the City Council in the near future.
City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
FISCAL ANALYSIS:
The IPS new-technology meters communicate wirelessly with network servers for
reporting of transaction data to City meter maintenance and meter revenue
collection staffs and with credit card processing services. Additionally, a web-based
parking meter management software is provided to manage and run reports. These
services represent an on-going cost of approximately $5.76 per meter per month, or
$437.76 per month for an anticipated 76 meters. The annual ongoing costs for
these meters will be $5,253.12.
Additionally, the City pays two fees to its merchant bank for each credit card
transaction: 1) a fee per transaction; and 2) a fee of .0027 multiplied by the amount
of the transaction. The total amount of fees for credit card transactions paid by the
City to its merchant bank cannot be accurately projected due to the variation of
parking meter payments.
If each of the 67 parking meters were occupied just 2 hours per day, at the rate of $1
per hour, out of 10 hours of operation, the anticipated annual revenue would be
approximately $47,424 per year.
There is sufficient funding available in PZ-949 Parking Meter CIP to pay for the
proposed expenses. The on-going costs will be paid from the parking meter
operations fund, and there is adequate funding to pay for the cost during this fiscal
year. The Public Works Department has incorporated the recurring costs in the
Fiscal Year 2014-2015 budget requests.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Parking Meter Locations Resolution
MOTION:
That the City Council:
Adopt a resolution (1) establishing specific locations for the installation of parking
meters within the City’s parking meter zones (including new meters on
Washington Boulevard, between Elenda Street and Sepulveda Boulevard),
(2) directing the Public Works Director/City Engineer to install parking meters in
such locations, and (3) rescinding Resolution No. 2013-R062.