Opinion: With the Village Entrance Plan, More Parking = More Traffic

Editor:

Say no on paying $35 to $50 million of taxpayer's money to gain an extra 200 parking spaces.

This is in response to Laguna Beach Council Member Elizabeth Pearson's current drive to convert our existing parking lot on the northeast corner of Forest Avenue and Laguna Canyon Road into a park and stacked parking lot.

The city’s current plan promises that if the city builds this stacked parking lot up against the hill behind the farmer's market, there will be less auto congestion in the downtown, and the Pageant of the Masters, 7 Degrees, Sawdust and Art-a-Fair will make more money. There is no data or best practices information to support either promise.

In an interview with parking guru Donald Shoup, a 75-year-old professor of urban planning at UCLA and author of the landmark book The High Cost of Free Parking? -- click here to listen to the free podcast -- Professor Shoup states clearly that more parking in a downtown area will generate more auto trips and congestion.

I invite us to learn from best practices before we invest in a parking structure.

-- Michael Hoag