Carmel City Council majority asks for committee to study paid parking.

At least three members of the Carmel City Council said they're ready to consider paid parking after hearing options and potential revenue from Police Chief Todd Trayer on Monday, June 1.

The three—Mayor Dale Byrne and councilmembers Bob Delves and Jeff Baron—directed staff to convene a group that includes residents to further study the issue. 

"I'm in favor of going down the path of seeing how we could do this," Byrne said. He noted that the parking situation had become "untenable" and said too many people are coming into Carmel and leaving in frustration because they can't find a place to park.

Councilmembers Alissandra Dramov and Hans Buder called adopting a paid parking program premature and said they didn't believe the community would support it. Buder pointed out there is a "graveyard of past efforts" to bring paid parking to the downtown village.

Trayer laid out two options using a program that utilizes an app and license plate recognition, similar to what cities like Monterey are already using. One option included 86 parking spaces in the commercial district and another with 701 spots. He suggested a nine-hour window of 10am-7pm at $1.50 an hour.

For the 86 spaces he made a conservative estimate of 65 percent occupancy, which he estimated would yield $754 a day and $271,760 a year, minus fees and costs. For 701 standard spots it could bring in $6,150 a day and over $2.2 million a year.

Trayer said representatives of companies who install parking systems came to Carmel to meet with him and number one, they couldn't find parking, and two, they estimated the city is in the high 80s of percentages for occupancy. 

He also brought up the potential of paid parking at the Del Mar parking lot, located at the end of Ocean Avenue at Carmel Beach. That could bring in more than $350,000 a year, but would need Coastal Commission approval.

In addition, he said that the city could issue passes to residents, either for free or at a reduced annual cost.

A managed parking program could improve turnover, Trayer said, as well as increase parking for residents, create a better visitor experience and generate revenue to increase the number of community service officers to assist with compliance, as well as for general purposes. He added that it would also increase safety by reducing the number of cars circling around streets looking for open spaces.

Some residents, as well as Dramov, favored increased enforcement, instead of paid parking, as a way to deal with the problem. Dramov also said the city needs to address the issue of delivery trucks. She also said the signage needed for a parking system would create visual clutter.

Trayer reported that kiosks—at least one is required by state law to give people the option to pay without a phone—would be small and could even be wrapped in designs fitting Carmel created by local artists.

In recent years the city has had limited officers to issue citations, but that will soon be changing, increasing from one community service officer position to 2.5 positions. All three officers will also be trained in animal control, Trayer said.

In 2025, officers issued 3,480 citations, bringing in $139,200 in revenue. That was down from 2023 when one to two officers issued 6,253 citations with $212,120 in revenue.