San Bruno council orders holiday fix, debates Sundays and kiosk fixes in paid‑parking update

San Bruno city staff presented an update on the downtown paid‑parking program and asked the council to adopt a resolution that formally recognizes city holidays as free days within the paid‑parking system.

Police Chief Ryan Johansen, who has overseen the program since launch, told the council the program’s policy is guided by a target occupancy rate of 85 percent — a benchmark staff uses to set rates and evaluate whether the program is meeting its objective of improving parking availability. Johansen said the kiosks’ uptime has improved but that significant operational issues remain, including user friction with the current mobile web interface, kiosk battery/sleep‑mode behavior and some coin‑mechanical failures. He emphasized the program lacks a dedicated non‑police staff resource to manage day‑to‑day operations, data analysis and communications and said staff will quantify those needs for the next budget cycle.

Many downtown merchants and residents urged faster fixes. A San Bruno Merchants Association representative said small businesses are losing customers and employees because of transactional friction and confusing signage. Public commenters described problems entering license plates into the system, QR‑code steps that take too long for short errands, and perceived overzealous enforcement by the contracted parking vendor (LAZ). Several speakers asked the city to consider pilot short‑term spaces (20‑ to 30‑minute options) in parking lots or to revert to coin‑based short‑stay kiosks for quick errands.

On policy options, staff presented tradeoffs: • Shorter lot intervals or dedicated short‑term spaces are operationally possible but raise transaction‑fee and kiosk‑configuration issues; staff said a pilot would be analyzed first. • Exempting Sundays from paid parking would reduce revenue and, according to preliminary finance checks presented at the meeting, could add roughly $80,000 per month to the program deficit if extrapolated from December data; staff cautioned Sundays are one of the highest‑occupancy days and that removing Sunday charges could reintroduce the parking congestion the program was meant to address. • Improving wayfinding and signage, and pushing holiday‑free messaging forward on kiosk screens and receipts, are lower‑cost outreach steps staff recommended pursuing sooner.

Council members debated options at length. Several members said they were sympathetic to merchants and asked staff to pursue targeted pilots (short‑term lot spaces, better kiosk messaging and improved signage) and to return with fiscal and operational analyses. Others said policy changes such as making Sundays free would risk the program’s fiscal sustainability and the gains achieved in peak‑day turnover.

Action: Council voted unanimously (5–0) to adopt a resolution to amend the paid‑parking holiday list so the ordinance matches current practice (city‑recognized holidays will be exempt from paid parking). Council also approved a separate personnel resolution later in the meeting to appoint Susan Manheimer as interim police chief, 5–0.

Johansen and staff pledged to return with targeted cost estimates and a recommendation on options for short‑term spaces, potential transaction‑fee pass‑throughs for card payments, a staffing needs analysis, and proposals for improved signage and app options.

The council asked staff to prioritize clearer kiosk messaging about free holidays and to compile the data needed to evaluate Sundays, shorter intervals and staffing options before the next budget cycle.