Napa’s Downtown Parking Crunch
- CRAIKER
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
How Napa is Trying to Catch-up with its Parking Shortage
Chris d Craiker ALA/NCARB
If you’ve driven around downtown Napa recently, you've probably been looking for a parking space. Get ready to drive around for a long, long time. Spaces can be as rare as hen’s teeth, as the old saying goes. And, if you can find one, it's probably too small for today’s hunky SUVs. The new First Street Downtown project isn't helping the shortage: It's intensifying the crisis by removing existing public parking lots.
This is not just Napa’s problem but is considered a National crisis across the Country with two distinct severe issues. There's a dangerous shortage of commercial urban parking spaces that hamper housing and environmental goals, namely of less car spaces available. And interestingly, there’s a critically dangerous shortage of commercial truck parking. Trucks are delivering our goods increasingly, even more since the Pandemic, and they often park in the middle of the street, blocking driveways, and creating havoc in our communities.
And the biggest problem for us private citizens and visitors is the growing shortage of public parking spaces in our urban/downtown area. Sacramento, in its infinite wisdom, does not require additional parking for ADU's or JADU’s, as long as they are near a public transit pickup, including Uber stops.
California is anxious to build more housing and has lowered its parking requirements for new construction and personal ADUs- Ancillary Dwelling Units. Unfortunately, providing more parking within new construction projects significantly adds cost to any housing proposal. The higher the density, the more expensive the parking requirements.
Today urban planners argue that providing more parking in downtown urban areas encourages more cars when other forms of transportation such as buses, trains, or ridesharing services can move more people. If Uber can find your address, you’re good.
Napa has plunged headfirst into rebuilding its downtown area. Known as the First Street Phase II Project, it has removed many parking facilities, and the city is just now starting to deal with replacement parking. On Tuesday night, the Napa City Council unanimously agreed to hire a consultant to study the potential development of potentially two new parking structures at the Cinedome lot on Pearl St. This was authorized in late 2024, but the City is just now getting around to resolving the issue.
The City In the same evening unanimously approved continuing discussions with Napa Sanitation to buy their 1.25 acre Pump Station site at West and Pearl Streets. This is not new: the discussions have been going on for a few years. While the property is designated as Downtown Mixed-Use for a variety of residential, commercial and other compatible uses, there's a strong desire to recycle the site for parking and other essential uses for the downtown area.
How much will this cost? Time and negotiations will tell, but we can be assured that there'll be heavy emphasis initially on hazardous material remediation, starting with a Phase 1 Investigation, proceeding to Phase 2 for further testing and beyond. Napa city doesn't like to take chances with what's underneath properties they are considering acquiring. When my investor group sold the city the current fire station #5 site at the corner of Laurel St. and Browns Valley Road, it had been cleaned up by Standard Oil years before. Nonetheless, Napa city proceeded to remediation the site for another $250,000.
The purchase of the Napa Sanitation site and the planning for the Cinedome site is overdue and should have been completed some time ago. The current city plan has not been updated since 1954. Napa has implemented a new paid parking program to improve access, but it’s still a long way from resolving its parking crunch.
A big question is how all this will be financed. Parking garages are expensive. Encouraging and enticing developers to build structured parking will be essential. Expect more hotels, luxury condominiums and retail spaces.
Are parking meters in our future? Probably not- well not, soon. While studies show that parking meters provide more visitors and residence parking opportunities, in 2023 the Napa City Council turned down a plan to implement a parking meter program. Current plans have shifted toward enhancing existing parking conditions, increasing enforcement, and initiating studies to manage employees and encouraging visitors to use remote parking areas.
Keeping up with Napa’s parking crunch is way overdue. Rising demand, reduced opportunities and increased truck/SUV parking issues are going from crunch to crisis. The Napa City Fathers are hoping the First Street Phase II massive project will propel the local commercial economy out of the Wine Country doldrums. Time will tell.
Chris d Craiker ALA/NCARB has been a practicing architect in Napa for 30 years, 55 years in the Bay Area. He can be reached at 707.224.5060, or chris@craiker.com, www.craiker.com
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