At the direction of the City Council, the City has embarked on a comprehensive parking strategy/management plan for Downtown Sonoma. The goals of the Downtown Parking Management Plan (Plan) are to: identify parking issues, concerns, and needs – both current, and to the extent possible, future – and to identify management strategies and infrastructure improvements to address the stated issues, concerns and needs.
To accomplish this, the City contracted with W-Trans, a local traffic engineering firm, to create a Plan that outlines a strategy to address parking challenges in Downtown Sonoma. Their plan was presented to City Council at their August 3, 2022, meeting. Watch a recording of the presentation on our CivicWeb portal (item 3.3).
The City’s planning department has now released a Draft Downtown Parking Management Plan for public review and comment. The City invites the community to review the draft and provide written comments to City staff by 5:00 pm on November 16, 2022. The plan can be viewed and/or downloaded on the City’s website at www.sonomacity.org/downtown-parking-plan/.
PLAN SUMMARY
The Plan summarizes the most recent parking inventory, supply, and demand study, including counts of the public on- and off-street parking supply. The Plan identifies specific parking strategies, which represent a toolbox of measures available to the City. To prioritize their application, they are broken into two phases: Phase 1 measures are anticipated to be implemented in FY 2023 – 2024. Phase 2 measures represent a suite of options for later consideration on an as-needed basis.
PHASE 1 – The strategies in the first phase are recommended because of their relative ease of implementation. These strategies require comparatively little management and may by themselves result in an acceptable parking system for the City. However, the first phase strategies are somewhat limited in their effectiveness to manage parking demand and if the City finds they do not create a satisfactory parking environment, Phase 2 strategies are available. Phase 1 strategies include:
- Parking Enforcement
- Parking Wayfinding
- Passenger Loading Zones
- Casa Grande Lot improvements in coordination with State Parks
- Shared Parking Agreements with private property owners
- On-Street Time Restrictions
- Additional Bicycle Parking locations
- Special Event Bicycle Valet Parking
- Establishment of a Parking Benefit District
PHASE 2 – Phase 2 strategies as described in the Plan, will be considered on an as-needed basis in the future.
SUBMIT A COMMENT
Written comments may be submitted during the Public Comment Period ending at 5:00 pm on November 16, 2022, at the address indicated below:
City of Sonoma
No. 1 The Plaza
Sonoma, CA 95476
Or emailed to: publiccomment@sonomacity.org
NEXT STEPS
The Planning Commission will discuss the draft Plan following the public comment period at their meeting on Thursday, November 17, 2022.
Staff will then take the plan with any revisions and/or recommendations from the Planning Commission to the City Council for consideration in early 2023, (date to be determined.)
For questions contact the Planning staff at (707) 933-2204 or email planning@sonomacity.org.
Learn more about the City’s Downtown Parking Plan, view the plan document, find Frequently Asked Questions, and sign up for email updates on the City’s website at www.sonomacity.org/downtown-parking-plan/.