Dear Mayor Rowse, City Council Members, Rebecca Bjork, and Ariel Calonne,
We, the undersigned, are writing in support of restoring equity to all businesses on Coast Village Road (CVR) and Coast Village Circle (CVC). The rationale for this is simple; the conditions that created parklets' temporary existence, namely, indoor dining restrictions haven’t been present since June 15, 2021, and thus are no longer required. Businesses on CVR and CVC do not have the benefit of public parking structures to support themselves as businesses downtown do, resulting in a pre-pandemic parking shortage. Businesses on CVR and CVC count on public street parking to support them, including restaurants that do not have parklets. Therefore, removing 20 percent of the available public street parking spaces on CVR, to build a handful of "temporary" outdoor parklets, was never sustainable for; most businesses in the area, has exacerbated the preexisting parking shortage, and compromises public safety.
The parking problem on CVR and CVC is compounded when you consider the impact of adding 253 restaurant parklet seats, many of which are in violation of the sizing guidelines posted on the city’s website. Using the city’s own municipal code requirement of one parking space per three restaurant seats, 84 parking spaces are required to support this added seating. Rather than adding 84 parking spaces, parklets have subtracted 28 parking spaces resulting in a net deficit of 112 parking spaces. To put these numbers in perspective, there are only a total of 117 parking spaces available on CVR today. The overall parking problem is further exacerbated with the reduction of parking on Coast Village Circle caused by the ongoing 101-freeway construction. Has the impact of the upcoming roundabout construction at Olive Mill Road and CVR been considered?