City Council voted unanimously on Monday night to turn Guilford Road into a one-way road and to restrict parking to one side of the street to improve safety and ease congestion.
Piedmont’s Public Works Director Daniel Gonzalez said the changes were driven by residents in consultation with the city; and that all stakeholders — public works, solid waste, fire department — were in agreement that change was necessary. Parking on both sides of the road during school hours in particular had made it almost impossible to navigate. After a Piedmont Fire Department emergency vehicle was unable to access Guilford Road last spring, residents discussed the situation with the city and provided a signed petition requesting that the city consider parking restrictions to the “odd” side of the roadway to convert Guilford Road into a one-way street to facilitate improved accessibility. The petition was unanimously signed by all property owners on Guilford Road.
“In the last 15 years it’s become almost impossible to navigate,” said Elene Manolis, who has lived on the street for 55 years. She lauded city departments for working together to address this issue and thanked Gonzalez and Councilwoman Conna McCarthy for their assistance in navigating the process.
To mitigate the impacts of losing 20 parking curbside parking spaces, parking restrictions for nine diagonal and parallel, “2-hour” parking spaces that were temporarily designated in January will be removed and parking restrictions for the eight diagonal and parallel, “City Staff” parking spaces that were temporarily designated in January will also be removed.
Council found the project exempt under California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) Guideline Section 15301 (existing facilities).