Overnight parking permits are a step closer for Balboa Village residents after Newport’s OK

The Newport Beach City Council gave its stamp of approval Tuesday night on a plan for overnight permit parking on some residential streets west of Balboa Village.

The council voted 6 to 0 to send the plan, which could eventually require anyone parking between Adams Street and Island Avenue from 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. daily to have a city issued permit, to the California Coastal Commission for consideration. Councilman Keith Curry was absent.

If approved by the coastal commission, the city plans to implement the program in two phases, first issuing permits between Adams Street and Medina Way and later, if necessary, between Medina Way and Island Avenue.

Under the proposal recommended by city staff, each household could receive up to four annual permits at a cost of $16 each, plus up to six daily guest permits at a cost of $1 each. However, after receiving complaints from residents, Mayor Pro Tem Diane Dixon recommended making the permits free.

“It’s been paralysis by analysis for years,” Dixon said of the program. “Let’s give it a chance to do what it’s meant to do in Balboa Village.”

The city began looking into the issue after homeowners near Balboa Village complained of parking shortages because of spillover from the commercial area. Early this year, the City Council approved permit parking for part of the commercial area, but voted to leave out residential permits because few property owners had participated in a survey intended to gauge support for the program, city staff said.

Since January, the city has held several meetings and sent an advisory ballot to 1,297 households, absentee property owners and mooring permit holders who would be affected by the change in parking regulations.

About 57% of the households that were mailed the survey responded. About 58% of the respondents expressed support for the program.

Jim Stratton, a resident and member of the Balboa Village Advisory Committee, said the program is an integral part of a larger parking master plan for the area, which was created to ease parking issues.

“If it’s not approved, it’s going to get crazy,” he said.

Originally, the city considered including the streets between Seventh Street and Adams Street, but based on the results of the survey, staff decided to reduce the area to streets between Island Avenue and Adams Street, according to the staff report.

While a few homeowners at the meeting voiced their support for permit parking, pointing to constant concern about the availability of parking, many residents just outside the boundaries of the permit area voiced concerns about more cars parking on their street to avoid the restricted area. Several residents at the meeting said they would prefer extending the permit program up to Seventh Street.

“I feel like Linus and the football,” said resident Howard Wills, whose home does not fall in the permit area. “I thought we had a football and the next thing you know we’ve lost the football.”