Santa Clara could soon join the ranks of Silicon Valley cities that charge shoppers and diners visiting downtown for parking. But the proposal, which is still in its infancy, is already creating concern for small business owners who worry it will threaten their livelihoods.
City leaders have been mulling whether to charge for parking for several years now as a way to create an additional revenue stream for Santa Clara’s strained coffers. Last April, the City Council said it planned to implement paid parking in two areas: the Santa Clara Convention Center and Franklin Square.
Located just blocks away from Santa Clara University, Franklin Square is what’s left of the city’s downtown after it was razed to the ground in the 1960s in a failed attempt at urban renewal. It’s now more akin to a strip mall with mom and pop businesses, some which rely heavily on foot traffic.
The city is expected to put out a bid in the fall to hire a contractor who will install parking meters at the convention center, but a plan for paid parking at Franklin Square could take a bit longer.
Craig Mobeck, Santa Clara’s director of public works, told Bay Area News Group that following a meeting with Franklin Square property owners last week, the city has decided to hire a consultant this summer to study the issue further. Property owners had previously been told that the city was already in the process of hiring a vendor to install parking meters, according to an April 21 letter obtained by this news organization.
Johnny McGrew, the co-owner and general manager of Mio Vicino, was one of the many worried small business owners who attended the May 20 meeting. The Italian restaurant has been located on the corner of Benton and Monroe streets since 1992.
“For the bigger restaurants like (Mio Vicino) or Mountain Mike’s, it might make a difference, but if people really want to go to eat at our place, I don’t think that’s going to stop them,” McGrew said in an interview. “Places like the liquor store, the tattoo shop, the chiropractor, the dry cleaner — these are places you can go anywhere in the city and not have to pay for parking.”
It’s unclear how much visitors to either Franklin Square or the convention center will have to pay for parking. Mobeck said those details are still being worked out.
Nearby Westfield Valley Fair famously started charging shoppers for parking back in 2022 — a controversial decision made to limit the number of cars parked by people commuting to work or heading to the airport. But mall-goers looking to make a quick trip get the first two hours free. Santana Row implemented a similar paid parking structure last year, following an influx of shoppers who were trying to avoid paying for parking across the street.
Mobeck said that at Franklin Square, paid parking will be limited to the two city-owned lots, which are part of a parking maintenance district that was established in 1965. In 2002, the city and the property owners struck a deal where the property owners agreed to pay a fixed fee for improvements like resurfacing or restriping the parking lots. The city covers the remaining maintenance costs of Franklin Square
“Part of the reason the council expressed interest in (paid parking) is the city funds the bulk of the maintenance out at Franklin Square, and so we need to look at our costs annually and our potential costs that we could charge at Franklin,” Mobeck said. “Obviously we don’t want to be to the point where we’re discouraging parking, but trying to keep it at balance.”
Other nearby cities, like Sunnyvale, have routinely increased the fees paid by property owners in parking maintenance districts in order to keep parking free for visitors.
Councilmember Suds Jain, whose district encompasses Franklin Square, said he’s been “very concerned about bringing the city into financial stability.” Santa Clara has struggled to keep pace with its aging infrastructure that has lacked the necessary funding streams to maintain or replace. In 2024, the city estimated it had roughly $624 million in unfunded infrastructure needs. Santa Clara voters passed Measure I — a $400 million infrastructure bond — in November.
Jain said that Santa Clara should be one of the richest cities in the Bay Area, based on its high jobs to housing ratio and the revenues it gets from operating its own electricity provider, Silicon Valley Power.
“When I look at all of that, why should we be in trouble?” Jain said. “We’re having dilapidated parks and cracking street, and fundamentally it’s because we’ve been giving away things for free for years.”
Some concerns have been raised by residents living near Franklin Square — a neighborhood known as the Old Quad — and whether charging for parking in the two lots will create overflow onto the surrounding streets. Jonathon Evans, the president of the Old Quad Residents Association, said he’d like to see the city look at instituting permitted parking in the neighborhood to prevent people visiting Franklin Square from parking in front of the local residents’ homes.
“When Santana Row and Westfield Valley Fair started charging for parking, a bunch of people started parking in the neighborhoods around the mall,” he said. “Downtown and Franklin Square don’t have that level of draw, but certainly that’s something that’s on everyone’s mind.”
Other residents believe that the city shouldn’t even consider charging parking at Franklin Square until it fulfills its promise to revitalize what once was a bustling downtown.
Dan Ondrasek, one of the co-founders of Reclaiming Our Downtown, has spent years pushing the city to live up to its motto: “The Center of What’s Possible.”
He said that cities like Redwood City and Sunnyvale have been “walking the walk” with new housing, offices and restaurants that attract visitors to their downtowns.
“They’ve earned the right to put in parking meters to start recouping that investment,” Ondrasek said. “But Santa Clara does not have that right. They have not put a dime into that downtown — a shovel hasn’t hit the ground, a bench hasn’t been put in.”
Matt Hartenstein, the founder of Taplands, a local watering hole serving up craft brews, also thinks the proposal to charge for parking in Franklin Square is premature given the revitalization plans. Businesses like his have been hanging on by a thread since pandemic, and he worries about the impact paid parking will have.
“It definitely will affect my business,” Hartenstein said. “Will it be enough to tip us over? I think it could be, and I certainly think it could be for many of the businesses.”
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