Parking fees may increase in the City of Santa Barbara lots, with hourly rates rising from $2.50 to $3 and the initial free period dropping from 75 minutes to an hour. The Finance Committee discussed alterations to the scheme on May 9 after members of the disabled community protested the loss of a person who “popped out from the booth” to handle the discounted fees for disabled drivers; instead, staff suggested a 30 percent discount on a prepaid parking fee card as automation of the lots mean fewer kiosk attendants. Both were part of 184 pages of fee and permit increases across the city departments, with a new $2,972 airport activity permit raising dust from pilots at Tuesday’s meeting.
City Parking Manager Sarah Clark explained the division was in a $2.9 million hole, which city Finance Director Keith DiMartini said was due to fixed costs like labor, IT contracts, and insurance rising faster than parking rates — even after hourly parking increased from $1.50 to $2.50 last year. Also proposed are a daily maximum to be set at $33, or the equivalent of 12 hours in the lot, and increases of $5 for monthly passes at most lots. New programs were proposed for weekend permits of $100 for six months, special event or festival passes of $75, and cards with business logos on them for offers of subsidized or validated parking.
Clark proposed the discounted parking cards for disabled drivers to eliminate backups in the lines as they spoke with kiosk attendants in person or remotely. But members of the disabled community noted that the lots were not accessible to all, and that requiring a prepaid parking card would be a hardship on disabled visitors from out of town. A pilot, who was there for the airport issue but had worked for Intel, commented that a handicapped license plate should be no problem for an automated system to read. Committee Chair Eric Friedman asked Clark to bring a 50 percent discount to the council with a thought to having the Accessibility Advisory Committee weigh in after six months on whether it worked.