Carmel City Council rejects the notion of valet parking downtown.

Pam Marino here, with an update to the Carmel parking conundrum story I reported on last month. It’s a topic many people seem to take an interest in, whether they live in Carmel or like to visit the town from time to time.

Last night, July 1, the Carmel City Council discussed ideas first brought forth by Mayor Dale Byrne and others, namely the possibility of a valet parking pilot program, as well as amending the city’s daylighting parking law, spurred by California Assembly Bill 413.

It did not go as well as the mayor had hoped.

Carmel’s vaunted “village character” torpedoed any chance at attempting a valet program and the four councilmembers seemed uninterested in pursuing changing the parking ordinance, which would require outlaying cash for a traffic engineering study.

The discussion started with a presentation by Assistant City Administrator Brandon Swanson, sharing research about other cities that use a valet parking program in their downtown areas to relieve traffic congestion.

The research focused on four cities: Palo Alto, Mountain View, San Juan Capistrano and Lockport, Illinois. Mountain View no longer uses it (the city added more parking spaces), but the other three cities still have some sort of valet program. Only San Juan Capistrano charges for the service, the rest have paid for it out of pocket. 

There was no major opposition to valet parking reported in those cities, but then again, they aren’t Carmel.

“Having valet parking doesn’t feel like Carmel. It feels like La Jolla or Palo Alto,” Councilmember Jeff Baron said.

He was joined by Councilmember Hans Buder who agreed it doesn’t fit the town’s character: “Valet parking is what I associate with flashier places like L.A. or Dallas. And Carmel is really about that understated elegance,” Buder said.

There were other concerns voiced by residents and councilmembers: That valet parking would create a chaotic situation; the use of Forest Theater; valet workers might resort to residential streets. Only Councilmember Bob Delves seemed interested in at least trying valet parking.

Byrne was visibly disappointed there wasn’t more support. 

“I don’t feel comfortable going forward with anything at this point, with the kind of reception we got tonight,” the mayor said. For him it wasn’t worth the time pursuing—he wanted to focus on long-term solutions instead.

There was universal support for the idea of an employee parking solution, perhaps a shuttle from an off-site lot to be determined. Byrne estimated that around 600 employees park in Carmel regularly. Moving them to a lot elsewhere, maybe the Barnyard or a similar commercial lot, is a possible solution. The city is already working with the Carmel Chamber of Commerce on ideas.

Byrne vowed to come back within 60 days with a long-term solution, so stay tuned.

By the way, I’ve used free valet parking at Carmel’s Sunset Center many times and I did not feel that flashy, just grateful I didn’t have to trudge over uneven pavement on yet another cold, foggy, dark night looking for my car. 

What do you think? Is Carmel’s elegance too understated for valet parking? Is a long-term employee parking solution plausible? I’m interested in your ideas.