The Goleta City Council wanted to approve new parking restrictions near Armitos Park, but decided against making any changes out of fear that it would cause further problems.
Goleta has seen a lot of changes to parking in recent months. Hollister Avenue in Old Town was re-clogged earlier this summer to create more on-street parking and reduce car traffic from two lanes on each side to one. The project has drawn mixed reactions from the community.
The city also approved a 90-minute parking time limit on Carson Street between South Fairview Avenue and Orange Avenue.
The council considered parking for 90 minutes on Armitos Avenue east of South Kellogg Avenue to San Jose Creek.
JoAnne Plummer, the neighborhood services director, told the council that it had become increasingly difficult for park visitors to find parking in the area.
In May, a community garden with new playground equipment and an expanded bike path opened in the park, which led to more people flocking to the park.
The 90-minute parking time would have been valid from Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Mayor Paula Perotte said the council received several emails on the issue in which a resident suggested waiting before making any changes. The council agreed to the idea.
Mayor pro tempore Luz Reyes-Martín said she was not sure whether the proposed solution was sufficient to solve the parking problem in the area.
“The problem is much bigger than just people going to the community garden and maybe not finding a space,” said Reyes-Martín. “If you look at it more closely, parking in the old town and especially in this area is a much bigger challenge. I fear it will cause even more problems because these cars have to go somewhere and this will only shift the problems elsewhere.”
City Councillor James Kyriaco said it could be the right solution at the wrong time and approving the parking time restrictions could negatively impact residents who rely on on-street parking.
“A lot of people who live in this part of the old town don’t have a garage, maybe don’t have a driveway, maybe live in an apartment building where there’s very little off-street parking. Where are they going to go,” Kyriaco said.
The city council directed city staff to increase public awareness of the problem and investigate the possibility of angle parking in the area.
Perotte pointed out that the city will be introducing more time restrictions on parking in the future and that these will therefore need to be more strictly enforced.
“You can put up as many signs as you want saying ’90 minutes,’ and if that’s not enforced, people are going to park there and leave their cars there,” Perotte said. “We need to talk about enforcement and whether we need to increase our enforcement.”
