The City Council approved a new parking plan for the city’s civic center on Monday night that will change the traffic flow in and around Havens Elementary School and surrounding streets starting later this year.
The most notable parts of the plan include changing Bonita Avenue between Vista and Oakland Avenues to one-way traffic and adding diagonal parking spaces on the school side of the street, and expanding the pick-up and drop-off zones in front of Havens Elementary School to encompass both sides of Highland Avenue.
Peak traffic and congestion for the city’s downtown area is between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m. when students are looking for parking and parents are dropping off students at Havens, PMS, and PHS/MHS.
Over the course of three hours, councilmembers also discussed and determined the quantity and placement of time-limited parking (two-hour and 30-minute), and general employee parking areas on Bonita and Hillside. The current 120 parking spaces in the city allocated to city and PUSD employees will remain unchanged, but the spots will be redistributed. For example, some current PUSD employee parking spaces on Bonita will be converted to 2-hour spaces to accommodate visitors to the pool and other facilities, and those employee-designated parking spaces will be moved to Hillside Avenue.
From the city’s memo:
Highland Avenue (between Sierra Avenue and Sheridan Avenue)
The plan includes the permanent installation of 16 diagonal and parallel parking spaces along the Highland/Sheridan strip.
Bonita Avenue (between Vista Avenue and Oakland Avenue)
The proposed plan limits one-way vehicular traffic to the northbound direction on the referenced roadway segment, eliminating the pick-up/ drop-off zone, reorienting from parallel to diagonal parking on the east side of Bonita Avenue to gain 17 additional parking spaces, 2 of which are ADA compliant.ADA Compliant Parking Spaces
The city is required to provision a percentage of available parking as designated ADA compliant spaces. Staff have reviewed available on-street parking and have identified 13 compliant on-street ADA spaces which are presented in the parking plan.Time Limited (2-hour and 30-minute) Parking
This proposed plan includes an increase in the number of time-limited parking spaces. As requested, the locations of time-limited parking spaces have been prioritized in the vicinity of the commercial buildings, the tennis courts, 801 Magnolia Avenue, Piedmont Park, and the Community Pool.(The Council approved the conversion of one city employee parking space on Vista Avenue near Mulberry’s Market to 30-minute parking as a measure to ease parking issues in the business lot.)
Expanded Pick-up/Drop-off Zones on Highland Avenue
The proposed plan includes expanded pick-up and drop-off zones in both the northbound and southbound directions of Highland Avenue in the immediate vicinity of Havens Elementary School. Based on feedback from PUSD staff, and validated by traffic counts, city staff recommend a new pick-up/drop-off option on the northbound side of Highland Ave., directly across the street from Havens Elementary School. A significant number of vehicles attempt to use Craig Avenue to access the existing pick-up/drop-off zone and bypass the congestion on Vista Ave. and Bonita Ave. These vehicle turning movements could be eliminated with the appropriately located pick-up/drop-off zone that is proposed.Community Pool Pick-up/Drop-off Zone
The proposed plan includes a 2-space pick-up and drop-off zone immediately in front of the community pool.Maximizing School Pick-up/Drop-off
Allow 2-hour parking in the various PUSD pick-up and drop-off zones, with parking prohibited within ½ hour (before and after) of scheduled student release. Release times vary in each zone and signage will be tailored to specific locations.(Council agreed to keep the Magnolia Avenue pick-up and drop-off area unchanged.)
The re-imagining of the city’s limited and existing parking spaces was undertaken in anticipation of the end to pool construction sometime later this summer and the need to undertake any street restriping or redesign before the start of school this fall.
Parking distribution in the Civic Center area was disrupted beginning with the construction of the new STEAM building and theater on the PHS campus, when restrictions were added to existing parking spaces along Magnolia. An additional 57 spaces were lost in 2023 when construction began on the new community pool. Further spaces were removed or redesignated in summer 2024 to accommodate construction on the Police Department’s new 9-1-1 dispatch center.
The city developed the plan over time this spring. Through survey results and discussions with first responders, feedback from residents in the city’s center, city and school employees, local business owners, and visitors (including future pool users), staff created a plan that tried to maximize parking spaces throughout the city’s dense core. Police Chief Jeremy Bowers, Fire Chief Dave Brannigan, and PUSD Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Hawn and Facilities Director Pete Palmer were in City Hall chambers during the discussion to answer councilmember questions about the plan’s impact on public safety and the schools.
Both city staff and councilmembers agreed to revisit the parking plan in a year to assess its effectiveness.