The Santa Barbara Waterfront Department wants to put a halt to vehicle squatting in its parking lots.
Employees estimate that between 75 and 125 vehicles are parked in waterfront lots — and never move.
“This problem has been a long-time brewing,” said Mick Kronman, who recently retired from his role as harbor master. “If there are weeds growing under it, that’s just a misuse of a public resource.
“That is an abuse of people’s ability to get to the harbor, the waterfront, shops.”
The city’s three-member ordinance committee discussed the topic at last Tuesday’s meeting, with the full City Council expected to take up the issue later this year. Councilman Randy Rowse recused himself from the committee proceedings because he owns a slip in the harbor.
The Waterfront Department offers two types of long-term parking permits. The general harbor parking permits are $125 per year, and boat slip permit parking fees are $95 per year.
The city is considering only allowing slip permit holders to park their vehicles in a lot for 30 consecutive days. After that, they would have to move their vehicles out of the lot for at least 72 hours before reparking it. Currently, they can park their vehicles for as long as they want.
General parking permit holders can park their vehicles for up to 72 hours, but can get extensions to that limit on a case-by-case basis from the waterfront staff. Under the proposed rules, only people needing an extension for maritime reasons would be eligible for one.
In another change, the department wants the watefront director to manage all uses of the parking lots and to be able to deny the issuance of a permit if it interferes with coastal access or public parking. Currently, anyone with the means can technically buy harbor parking permits.
“We’ve had requests from a lot of high-tech companies down in the Funk Zone where they would like to purchase 100 parking permits so their staff can park in our parking lots,” said Brian Bosse, waterfront business manager.
The department is concerned that the public is losing out on opportunities to park because many spaces are dominated by squatters or people using vehicles as storage.
“A family that lives in Des Moines and saves for a year to come to our lovely city, and wants to access the beaches and the waterfront, has as much right to those public parking spaces as anybody else,” Kronman said.
Bosse said the department also would like to eliminate annual parking permits for oversized vehicles that are longer than 22 feet, are wider than 82 inches and taller than 90 inches.
When the council’s ordinance committee discussed the matter last week, Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon, the chairwoman, said she would prefer to see a ban on vehicles taller than 96 inches, or 8 feet.
Slipholder Robert Claycomb said he supports the changes.
“I really dislike the fact that you can take a permit and abuse it so badly,” he said. “I am particularly disturbed at how many businesses are using the parking lot for long terms.”
Councilman Oscar Gutierrez said he feels “apprehension” over the proposed changes.
“What I see here are there are a few bad apples, but the entire community is going to be faulted for it,” he said.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
