New parking regulations to be implemented along Dana Street in SLO

Changes to the parking restrictions along Dana Street in San Luis Obispo are in the works, and some residents and business owners are happy about it.

"We have a lot of open spaces that aren't used," said Connie McNoble, a resident on Dana Street. "There's hardly anybody on the street."

While it may look like there are a lot of parking spots, the reality is that many of the people living on Dana Street have not been eligible for the permit required to park there.

"We were told we were not going to have access to any of the permits on the street," said Matt Mortenson, the property manager for the 421 Dana Street Apartment Complex.

Since the complex is a multi-unit property with a parking lot, he says the property had to make changes to accommodate the lack of access to street parking.

But even then, it didn't solve all of the problems.

"We had to renovate the parking lot. We spent nearly $20,000 to do so to provide one parking stall for every bedroom in the apartment complex, which was good for our tenants, but it also made it difficult because then they didn't have any guest or visitor parking," Mortenson said.

He says he has lost out on tenants as a result

During the July 16 city council meeting, changes to parking on Dana Street were approved.

"There will be less restrictions because it will allow two permits for every residential unit," said Donna King, Parking Program Manager for the City of San Luis Obispo. "So it increases that number that wasn't being offered to the multifamily units and then also will be increasing that number to our commercial units on the street as well."

"We get a couple of permits," said Ray Shearer, the owner of Anderson Barber Shop. "So I'm able to give my client a permit and they can park on the street."

"I think it's a great idea," McNoble added.

The motivation behind changing the restrictions now is the construction of the Cultural Arts District Parking Structure, which the city says has temporarily reduced public parking in that part of downtown.

Construction on the structure is expected to be completed in 2026.

King says the changes being made to parking on Dana Street are temporary.

"The council did adopt that any of these changes are temporary until the completion of the Cultural Arts District Parking Structure," King said. "That doesn't mean that will necessarily remove them. We'll just review again the usage of the neighborhood and see what works best."

She says the new parking permits will go into effect on September 15 at the start of the permit year.