Next to farming and wineries, tourism is the most important industry in Napa. I am no sure why the Board of Supervisors is looking at efforts to harm hotels, motels, tourist venues, vineyards with tasting rooms, restaurants and thousands of jobs. How are they going to restrict tourism—by restricting parking places for cars and start the process of ending cars in Napa, using San Fran as the model?
This is economic suicide. While it could take ten years before the collapse of the tourism industry in Napa, the Supervisors have made it clear, do not invest in tourist attractions or facilities.
“Napa County and its communities are tracking the situation. With the possibility that California might mandate less parking for some new apartments and businesses, local leaders are discussing the pros and cons.
“This is going to happen,” county Board of Supervisors Chairperson Alfredo Pedroza said. “There has already been (state) legislation introduced to reduce parking ratios.”
He compared the strategy to having express freeway lanes to discourage solo driving commutes.
Advice can be found in the new Parking Policy Playbook by the Association of Bay Area Governments. Traditional parking policies prioritize limited space for private vehicles, force sprawl development and raise development costs, it says.”
You can always visit the vineyards and tasting room of San Luis Obispo County—that County likes tourists.
Napa County leaders mull a future with less parking
Barry Eberling, Napa Valley Register, 1/1/22
An idea is being tossed around in car-centric California — reduce parking requirements for developments to free space for housing, promote mass transit and combat climate change.
Napa County and its communities are tracking the situation. With the possibility that California might mandate less parking for some new apartments and businesses, local leaders are discussing the pros and cons.
“This is going to happen,” county Board of Supervisors Chairperson Alfredo Pedroza said. “There has already been (state) legislation introduced to reduce parking ratios.”
He compared the strategy to having express freeway lanes to discourage solo driving commutes.
Advice can be found in the new Parking Policy Playbook by the Association of Bay Area Governments. Traditional parking policies prioritize limited space for private vehicles, force sprawl development and raise development costs, it says.
The Playbook lists ideas that are being tried by various, regional cities.
One is to eliminate minimum parking requirements and let developers decide how many parking stalls are needed by responding to market demand. The city of Sacramento is moving in this direction.
Another is to cap how many off-street parking spaces can be built for new housing developments. Berkeley allows no more than half-a-space per unit for apartments built in areas with lots of mass transit.
Another is to reduce parking requirements for affordable housing. Milpitas allows developers to provide 20% less parking for housing developments with more than 20% affordable units.
Still another is to have “unbundled” parking, which means separating the cost of housing and parking. Tenants who want a parking stall pay for it and those who don’t can save money.
“Parking is a potent tool for supporting climate, housing affordability and community design goals,” the Parking Policy Playbook said. “The stakes are high.”
Meanwhile, Napa County and its cities and town have their various parking policies. For example, the city of Napa requires one space for each 250 square feet of general retail and office development.
Local elected leaders on the Napa County Climate Action Committee on Dec. 17 discussed the new ideas that are emerging on parking.
American Canyon City Councilmember Mark Joseph said parking restrictions might sound good on one level to encourage bus riding. But in reality the move can cause neighborhood problems.
He mentioned an American Canyon apartment complex that has all of the required parking. Even so, there is parking spillover into the neighborhood.
“It’s entirely possible we have more people living per apartment than you would assume,” Joseph said.
“Part of that is the housing crisis we’re in,” county Supervisor Brad Wagenknecht said. “There can be three families in one house and each of them has a car or two.”
Napa City Councilmember Bernie Narvaez said having no parking would require having “complete neighborhoods” with enough services so people don’t need to drive. Then they could walk to the grocery store and medical offices. In some cities, it’s easier not to have a car.
“Having complete neighborhoods would make sense, but not everybody has that,” he said. “And it’s real hard to get people out of those cars if they’re local commuters.”
Yountville Town Councilmember Marita Dorenbecher suggested having small shuttles instead of big buses. They could run on regular basis and do such things as take people shopping.
“I honestly think people are ready for it, because people don’t want to deal with parking; they don’t want to deal with driving,” she said.
Calistoga City Councilmember Gary Kraus looked toward a future in which parking needs might be very different. Twenty or 30 years from now, people going shopping might phone for a self-driving car, he said.
“I guess I see a future where individual cars to take a person just about anywhere are practically unneeded,” he said.
Patrick Band of the Napa County Bicycle Coalition urged county leaders to think beyond vehicle parking. Some cities have secure, indoor bike parking at multifamily and commercial developments, he said.
“We’re really excited to have this conversation started,” Band said.
St. Helena City Councilmember Anna Chouteau had a similar view, mentioning such possible improvements in cities as having more electric vehicle infrastructure with parking and more places to lock bikes.
“If we want people to do the alternate modes, we have to think about how are we making it easy for that to happen,” she said.
The city of Napa has a downtown parking overlay district with the stated purpose of promoting a pedestrian-friendly downtown. The policy allows for onsite parking reductions.
Christina Benz of Napa Climate NOW! noted this policy. She stressed that reduced parking should come with pedestrian and bicycling improvements.
Yountville Mayor John Dunbar said Napa County is different than Berkeley and some cities that might not be so tourist-centric. He commented on the purpose of parking restrictions.
“I think we’re trying to reduce the number of vehicles period, whether they are EV or gas,” he said. “And by eliminating parking, are we eliminating vehicles? You can argue yes, you can argue no.”
Some housing advocates want zero parking required because parking uses up space for housing, Dunbar said.
“There is a reasonable perspective there. But then what happens to those folks who are still driving?” he said.
Pedroza said the county and its cities and town would have to work with developers, to see what developers might do to create more connectivity and transportation modes in return for reduced parking.
“The goal is not to reduce parking and create parking issues in surrounding neighborhoods,” he said. “That’s what we want to avoid.”
This particular Climate Action Committee discussion resulted in no action. It remained unclear what direction Napa County communities might take on parking requirements.
California in 2021 considered requiring cities to eliminate off-street parking requirements for new residential and commercial developments near mass transit corridors and stations. Assembly Bill 1401 garnered much publicity, but ended up stalling.
