Residents press Santa Clara for parking fixes at Keifer Apartments; council refers issue to city manager

Several tenants and residents urged the City Council to help address chronic parking shortages at Keifer Apartments, a supportive-housing property in District 1, and the council agreed to refer the matter to the city manager for further work.

Resident Brian Doyle told the council the building lacks sufficient on-site spaces and that tenants are being forced into ad hoc and unsafe alternatives. "We never got full disclosure that there was not enough parking," Doyle said; he asked the council to continue a separate agenda item (the FIFA assignment) until documents were provided in full. Doyle described a building with 80 units and only 23 garage spaces.

Another resident, who identified himself as Jerry and said he moved into Keifer under the Office of Supportive Housing program, said he had been allocated a studio and told staff at move-in there was a parking shortage. "If additional parking could be found for the daytime apartment employees, then the garage parking could be reassigned to the tenants," he said.

Council members and staff said they were familiar with the problem and that the city manager’s office would work with property management and neighborhood stakeholders. With council consensus the matter was referred to the city manager for follow-up; staff said it will return with potential operational solutions and next steps.