City of Del Mar Parking Management Plan

As a prime destination for beach goers, the City engaged Walker to develop and implement a Parking Management Plan. The Del Mar downtown area contains approximately 1,700 parking spaces.

The On-street parking in the area is almost always fully occupied during peak hours throughout the year because of this visitors and employees often encroach upon the residential areas adjacent to downtown. Residents find it difficult for their guests and for themselves to park in front of their homes. The problem is one of turnover, as long-term parkers are exceeding the posted time limits without consequence.

Walker conducted field observations and inventories, including interviews with City staff, residents and business owners. The findings demonstrated that Del Mar Village and adjacent area do not suffer from a lack of parking spaces, but rather an imbalance of demand in which the most convenient spaces are occupied by long-term parkers. WALKER determined a need for redistribution of parking demand to make more spaces available in convenient locations while better utilizing the many unoccupied spaces that exist in the area.

A comprehensive analysis of the downtown parking system determined that although there was not a shortfall of parking spaces, parking was not being properly distributed to the various user groups. By identifying the unique parking needs of each user group, we were able to develop a plan that improved the parking gridlock.