News

Real Estate Professionals Rethink Parking in San Diego

February 15, 2008

San Diego, CA — On Tuesday, February 12, the Urban Land Institute San Diego/Tijuana District Council held its monthly breakfast meeting entitled "Rethinking Parking."

Speakers included Patrick Siegman, principal with Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates and Bill Anderson, executive director of city planning and development for the City of San Diego. The event was moderated by Russ Haley, vice president and chief financial officer of CityMark Development.

At the sold out event, the panelists discussed parking requirements and their impact on housing affordability, density, design and impacts on project cost and residual value.

Haley, who has more than 17 years of residential real estate experience, including managing the development of more than 40 communities, said San Diego needs to look at how to become more efficient with parking.

"San Diego is very confused when it comes to parking," he said. "We are doing a better job in this city of housing our cars than our people."

As a developer, Haley noted that parking requirements in San Diego have led to costly delays in both commercial and residential development projects.

Siegman, whose firm is devoted specifically to creating "livable communities" and has conducted parking studies for numerous cities throughout the state of California, noted that San Diego, like many cities, has numerous parking problems.

He noted that a big part of the problem is that while San Diego has many parking lots, drivers choose to park in metered parking, which results in them circling the neighborhood, adding to traffic congestion and harming the air quality.

"If it is free to park on the street and expensive to park off the street, you will circle to find the free spot," Siegman said.

He suggested charging fair market price for curb parking to alleviate this problem.

Anderson, who currently serves as vice-chair of the American Planning Association's Economic Development Division, noted that the City of San Diego is aware of the parking problems in the city and its effect on the residents.

"Parking is one of those details that has a disproportionate effect on what kind of city we are going to be," Anderson said. "It is something that we need to look at as part of the neighborhood infrastructure."

About ULI
The Urban Land Institute develops leaders in the responsible use of land and promotes creation of sustainable, thriving communities worldwide. ULI has 39,000 members internationally and 850 in the San Diego region. The ULI San Diego/Tijuana District Council (www.sandiego.uli.org) facilitates local discussion of public policy issues and best practices related to real estate development, city building and land use.

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