By Eric Heinz
Anyone elected to City Council can expect to be tasked with answering at least a significant amount of questions regarding parking. Downtown is a patchwork of all-day, three-hour or 20-minute public parking, and a long-term solution has been on the minds of residents for years.
Meanwhile, traffic alleviation has been explored since Southern California’s rapid expansion became obvious and the need for a wider interstate highway and alternate routes became imminent.
Recently, the Transportation Corridor Agencies hosted public input meetings to gauge what routes, if any, San Clemente and neighboring communities would accept, as plans to extend the 241 Toll Road from the end of Ortega and beyond were blocked in the past.
San Clemente Times asked the candidates questions about their visions for parking and traffic in the next decade. The candidates’ answers to the following question are in the order their names will appear on the November ballot.
Question: What should the city do to address parking and local traffic issues?
Steve Swartz
“I think one thing they should have done two years ago was a parking solution for the Pier Bowl area in downtown by using the difference in grade between the streets leading to Del Mar,” Swartz said. “They could have stacked it right next to the community center with very little cost and expense, and that would have tripled the parking right there and eliminated most of your Pier Bowl and downtown parking right there. You can coordinate with the local merchants to create spots that are easy to get in and out of; you can do validation situations, so people who are parking there are actually going to the stores. You can get to those situations to get that accomplished. In addition to that, we have a huge parking structure at the Outlets.”
Swartz said connecting parking areas like the Outlets to high traffic areas can be done via kiosks and advertising promoting downtown, the Pier Bowl and the trolley system. He added, though, that he’s been pushing for this initiative a long time, saying that “if you go back to 2002 or ’04, we (the Beaches, Parks & Recreation Commission) submitted to the City Council a suggestion to put in a trolley or bussing to tie in our different venues, such as recreational parks and beaches.”
Swartz said utilizing the existing parking around town is a large part of the solution to figuring out parking issues. He emphasized utilizing the trolley for issues that will help fund the operations of the trolley.
“If the trolley is set up right and promoted right, it will be a great success,” Swartz said. “I think promoting San Clemente as a destination place, a place where people should go, eat dinner here, shop here at our boutique shops, that’s a good idea.”
Chris Hamm
“The (outcome of the) Beach Parking Impact Fund … was one of the reasons why I voted to appeal the initial ruling. We polled 100 people on the street … and all of them said we need beach parking, and the biggest reason as to why I appealed those things was because we do need it. We’ve tripled our numbers in the last 15 years, and we haven’t done anything for beach parking. Here we had this fund that we’re trying to spend money on it, and we couldn’t do it. We definitely need more.”
Hamm said he doesn’t think La Pata will have an immediately visible effect on alleviating traffic in the area.
“La Pata isn’t going to help us with our traffic concerns, that’s for sure,” Hamm said. “So all the studies that came out for La Pata shows that we’re going to go to an F rating after that whole thing is built out with Rancho Mission Viejo, so there’s going to be significant traffic impacts with the extension of La Pata being completed. There will be a slight reduction on Calle Del Rio because there will be more people going to Calle De Los Mares than Avenida Vista Hermosa and Pico, but it’s still going to be a net-negative impact.”
Hamm said there are many complexities related to traffic in San Clemente. He said the two people in charge of heading the city’s staff regarding traffic and parking, public works director Tom Bonigut and traffic engineer Tom Frank, have helped guide the City Council through the intricacies of the thoroughfares and making them more accessible.
“Those guys are on the cutting edge of what makes sense,” Hamm said, adding some of the concepts presented to the city may seem questionable, but they’ve helped reduce speeds in residential neighborhoods. Making it easier for bicycling is also one of his priorities.
Pamela Joy Glass:
“Just make people read the signs,” Glass said. “If you don’t read the signs and you think you’re above the law, you’re going to get a ticket. And don’t think if you don’t pay that ticket that a warrant won’t be put out for your arrest.”
Glass said people may have to park farther away from the locations they’re trying to visit.
“We have the La Pata connection. It’s beautiful here,” Glass said. “I spin 360 degrees in all directions, and there is not one ounce of turf that’s not filled with peace and comfort and beauty from Las Palmas Elementary to this corner to Max Berg Plaza to the bike trail to the La Pata connection. If someone is handicapped, then call upon the Lord’s prayers. People here are really kind and all kind to one another. That’s why we have such a great village here. As Hillary Clinton said, ‘It takes a village,’ and this village is filling the gaps that only kindness fills.”
Robert “Bob” Baker
“Sometimes it is difficult to find a parking spot; however, it’s like building a church so that everybody gets a seat on Easter Sunday,” Baker said. “I don’t think most churches do that. Parking downtown, … most of the time you’re able to find a parking spot. You can’t find a space in front of the business or place you’re trying to go, but there are parking spaces in the area. So, you just drive down Del Mar, turn right or left on the next street … I mean, I’ve always found a parking space. We’ve heard concerns about parking since I was elected to City Council eight years ago, and we’ve done parking studies down there. The first thing any parking consultant will tell you is that we need parking meters. As a City Council, we’ve said, ‘no, we don’t.’ So we’ve accepted the fact that parking is difficult because we haven’t put in meters. If you put in meters, you force people to mind how long they stay, but then people say, ‘I got a parking ticket in San Clemente, and I’m never coming to our downtown again.’”
Baker said he doesn’t like the prospect of a parking structure downtown.
“If you do that, you increase traffic and bring more people and make the traffic worse and you exacerbate all the problems that you thought you were solving,” Baker said.
Baker said he is adamantly against any toll roads coming through San Clemente. On City Council, he has held his constituents to their opinion on any development of the tolls roads, whether connecting the 241 extension somewhere in town or other prospects.
Dan Bane
“In the last (City Council) debate, we got into it about the shared parking program in San Clemente,” Bane said. “There is one for the town center district, but that needs to be a citywide program. Shared parking permit programs could work with North Beach with the businesses there or in Rancho San Clemente, it could work all over town. A lot of cities have done that, ours is a volunteer program because you can’t really make property owners and businesses share their property, but I do think you can make other incentives for public benefit. We should, if not require, strongly encourage businesses in the area to participate.”
Bane said there should be an in-lieu parking fee program.
“A lot of cities around Orange County and L.A. have done this with town-center parking districts where there’s an in-lieu fee that’s paid by a developer or property owners or business owners who want to put in a restaurant (a very high-intensive parking property), and you pay into a fund that will pay for additional parking. We need a more robust program citywide.
“I would like to see a parking structure—behind the San Clemente Senior Center would be a good location. It wouldn’t bother residential areas, and you could do the alleyways and make a nice paseo for people to come down.”
Bane said the new trolley program will help with traffic issues, and he said there needs to be more opportunities for people who live inland to enjoy the public transportation that is planned.
“It needs to be multifaceted and work with all the tools the city has at its disposal,” Bane said, adding he’s not a fan of parking waivers, but would allow for them in certain circumstances.
“Waivers feel good and they do help in some circumstances,” he said. “I’m very leery of that parking solution. It doesn’t maximize the spaces that we have.
“We do need to look at La Pata, especially when Rancho Mission Viejo is built out. Once it’s done, I think the study showed that a lot of the signals are going to be at an F rating.”
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