The Beverly Hills Traffic and Parking Commission on Dec. 7 unanimously recommended the establishment of a permit parking only zone on the 200 and 300 blocks of North Maple Drive, siding with residents of the area over the recommendation of city staff.
Existing parking regulations allow for two-hour parking between 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., except Sunday.
At the Dec. 7 meeting, the commission heard a presentation from Transportation Planning Analyst Christian Vasquez, public comment from two residents and an email from a third resident.
Vasquez reported that city staff conducted a parking occupancy study on Oct. 8 and 9 between the hours of 6 p.m. and 1 a.m. They found that the 200 block of North Maple Drive had an average parking occupancy of 17%, and the 300 block had an average parking occupancy of 23%. On Oct. 8, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., the 200 block had an average occupancy of 24% while the 300 block had an average occupancy of 27%. Parked vehicles were owned by a mix of residents and non-residents.
Based on those findings, city staff recommended the establishment of a preferential parking permit zone with two-hour parking between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. for non-residents, and permitted parking-only between the hours of 6 p.m. and 2:30 a.m.
In their comments, residents Sherman Gardner and Frank Heller stated that such regulations would not address their concerns or the concerns of their neighbors, which have as much to do with available parking as with safety and littering.
Citing recent robberies in the area, Gardner said that his family has been among those victimized.
“There have been many incidents in our area,” he told the commission. “At the corner of Elm and Dayton, there was a robbery at gunpoint where a man was held up in his driveway. Another incident was at Burton Way and Maple. And unfortunately, my family, our house was robbed. And I must tell you, it’s something that you just never forget.”
Heller added that the findings of city staff did not match his experience. Suggesting that the percentage of occupied parking spots found by city staff was lower than average, he noted that cars also tend to stay parked beyond the existing two-hour limit.
“Frequently, what we will have is any number of cars that are parked on the street for as long as you can possibly imagine, because no one comes around to ticket those vehicles, no one comes around to check if that vehicle has been there two minutes or 5 ½ hours,” he said. “There is no parking enforcement.”
In response, Commissioners Sharon Ignarro and Hadar Geller and Vice Chairperson Karen Afra-Maghen noted that the residents’ request for permit-only parking, which is also called no parking any time, seemed reasonable.
Afra-Maghen said she has seen some of the problems firsthand.
“It makes it difficult to be residents on a block that has a lot of commuter parking, and I understand,” she said. “It happens on my block too, and they leave a ton of rubbish. They just drop it on the ground right in front of my house, and I have to pick it up.”
Ignarro suggested increased parking enforcement in the area, as well as the implementation of permit-only parking.
“In the south side, in the streets that are adjacent to commercial, they’re mostly 24-hour restricted,” she said. “So, I don’t see a reason why [North Maple Drive] shouldn’t also have a 24-hour restriction.”
Residents’ petitions for updated regulations were received by the city in October, with the support of a majority of homes on both blocks.
The commission’s recommendation is expected to go before the City Council in January.
