Parking, Traffic Discussed at Council Meeting, but Density Proves to Be Gorilla in the Room

New and reduced requirements for parking spaces in developments throughout the city left several residents upset and voicing their concerns at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

The council approved reduced parking requirements for various types of developments, including multi-family ones, in an effort to prepare for future density within the city.

Downtown residents expressed their concern about the potential overflow of traffic into their neighborhoods. Here what they had to say in the video attached to this story.

The City Council, however, pointed out that it already has about 70 percent of developments applying for, and receiving, parking adjustments, which is one of the reasons the city was prompted to revisit existing parking requirements.

"This means that there's definitely some problems," Campbell Councilman Jeff Cristina said.

Cristina lives on Harrison Avenue and said he walks his dog along Salmar Avenue.

"There's not the (traffic) impact that I initially thought there was," he said at the meeting.

Councilman Evan Low said he lives in a multi-family complex in Campbell, where he has two cars, two spaces and two bedrooms. He's in the market for a possible third car.

"I chose to live there," Low says. "So either I sell the car or park on the street."

He told the audience that if a developer is forced to add spaces, this would drive up the cost for the consumer.

"This is a compromise," Low said. "I feel fairly comfortable on this. We will still be able to look at (requests) on a case-by-case basis, and if it becomes an issue, we can revisit."

Campbell has one of the highest parking requirements in the county. Its neighbors of Los Gatos and Mountain View require only 1½-2 spaces for multi-family developments.

Number of Required Parking Spaces for Developments

Even with the recently approved reductions, Campbell's parking requirements are still at the high end compared with other nearby cities, said Kirk Heinrichs, Campbell Planning Department community development director.

Another part of this revisit of the parking requirements and ordinances will also bring on the elimination of compact parking spaces, making all just standard.

"We all know people park in the available spot, regardless of the size of their vehicle," said the council.

Councilman Mike Kotowski brought up the as an example of where the current parking requirements backfired.

"There were all kinds of problems, not enough parking, etc.," Kotowski said. "Now there's too much parking and there's an issue with homeless people there and big trucks parking overnight."

The is a good example of parking requirements and exemptions that work in favor of the city, he said.

"The reason they were able to do this is because they added other things to make this site," Kotowski said. "This is the first time in (our) history that a business decides to close down two other sites in order to drive business to this one."

At the end of the night, the planning commission reminded council and those present at the meeting that the gorilla in the room is density.

The state of California just passed SB375, which reduces greenhouse emissions through land use.

"We are going to use this as a tool to help shape development so that they fit Campbell," said Planning Commissioner Elizabeth Gibbons. "These are newly strengthened tools so that we don't have runaway parking developments."

Kotowski said some of these decisions will have to be fought for because of the state's involvement.

"They are trying to tell us in Campbell how we should run this city," he said. "Even though economics is a driving force here, it shouldn't be the only one. Quality of life should be."

The biggest concern, of course is the city's downtown and how its residents are affected by traffic and parking with the various yearly events, including last weekend's . Density, it seems, will only add to this.

"Maybe to help our folks in the downtown, we may want to explore turning our downtown into a historic zone," Kotowski said. "We need to have some sort of control, but traffic in Campbell is a sign of success."

Alice Avenue is the only historic zone in the city of Campbell.