Paid parking to be added to Bellamy Court near Stateline

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The City Council decided today by a vote of 5-0 to have City staff to start the design process that will allow up to 47 new parking spaces along Bellamy Court in the Heavenly Village area in South Lake Tahoe.

The existing pavement on the east side of Bellamy Court would be widened to create new angled and parallel parking spaces and unused City parking kiosks would be installed in this area. The kiosks have been in storage since voters approved the elimination of paid parking in most areas of the City through Measure P. Bellamy Court was an area that was still allowed to have paid parking and there are a few exiting spaces already there.

Work will start this summer and be completed by the fall of 2019 or spring 2020.

Parking fees will be charged all day and night and will fall into the current City policy to have increased rates (surge pricing) during peak times such as the 4th of July.

At this time there are no plans to limit the hours of operation.

Once the parking kiosks are installed, signs will be placed in the area to inform users of a still-to-be-decided parking during snow condition policy. Public Works will work on a snow management program for where removed snow will go.

The total estimated cost of this project is approximately $200,000 and will be temporarily funded by the available fund balance. The City expects to generate approximately $85,000 annually in parking revenues from the new spaces and expects to recoup this initial investment within the next three years.

Costs will be almost $14,000 per year for the online connection for credit card charges and maintenance of the parking stripes and kiosks.

Once initial costs are recovered, funds will go to a restricted fund in case there is a shortfall on debt payment on the garage. Once that is paid, about 2023, those funds can go to the General Fund, transportation, or needs to be determined at that time.

The City's Parking Enforcement team will be in charge of parking rules and issuing parking tickets.

During the meeting, Gavin Feiger of the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition thanked the City for eliminating the ten proposed Heavenly Village Way parking spots as they'd remove established bike lanes and perhaps add to other transportation problem in the area.

This first parking plan will be part of the bigger parking plan for the City of South Lake Tahoe.

"This is the low hanging fruit," City Manager Frank Rush said of their being able to address this one area right away.