Proposed Residential Permit Parking Program: Bret Harte Neighborhood Update
February 6, 2025
Bret Harte will not be included in the Residential Parking Permit (RPP) program currently under development by the City. Over the past two weeks, the City has received significant feedback from Bret Harte residents regarding their concerns about being included in the proposed RPP. After review of this feedback and the fact that parking issues in Bret Harte are comparatively less severe than in other neighborhoods under consideration in the program, the City has decided not to proceed with including it in the program under development.
Should the program be approved by the City Council for other neighborhoods in East San Rafael, Bret Harte (or its subzones) will have the opportunity to join in the future should overflow parking become a concern and residents approach the City about joining the program. Such a process would involve extensive community engagement to make sure the community input is heard and considered.
The City Council’s 2023-2025 Goals and Objectives included a specific objective related to the parking program, “assess the feasibility and revise the City’s current residential parking permit program to address overcrowding of neighborhood parking in a cost-neutral and equitable manner.”
During the development of the proposed RPP program, the City’s consultants, parking staff, and some Bret Harte neighborhood residents identified Bret Harte as an area for consideration. This decision was based on several factors, including the need to mitigate potential spillover impacts from other proposed RPP zones, a rise in parking complaints from the Bret Harte area reported to Parking Services, and observed parking congestion during peak times, as evidenced by drive-through assessments and parking utilization data analysis conducted by the City’s consultant, Dixon Resources Unlimited.
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