San Juan Capistrano council directs staff to develop near‑term plan after Downtown Parking presentation

San Juan Capistrano — The City Council voted unanimously on June 2 to ask staff to work with consultant Dixon Resources Unlimited to develop a near‑term implementation plan for downtown parking, after a lengthy presentation that outlined data collection, occupancy findings and phased recommendations.

Julie Dixon, lead consultant, told the council the team used a three‑tiered data collection approach — license‑plate recognition, drone imagery and manual counts — and sampled downtown activity at peak times across 13 summer days and a targeted overnight sampling. "In the parking industry, 85% is recognized as the key number of when you're near or at capacity," Dixon said, arguing that the downtown core exceeded that threshold at midday and early evening.

The report inventoried roughly 1,300 public and 1,700 private parking spaces within the study area and recommended a staged strategy designed to create turnover and prioritize short‑term customer access. Near‑term measures included shortening on‑street time limits (currently five hours) to two to three hours in the core, hiring dedicated enforcement personnel or "parking ambassadors," and adopting plate‑based permit and pay‑by‑plate systems that can be enforced with LPR (license plate recognition) technology.

"Parking really does touch everything," Dixon said, describing the consultant team's outreach (more than 1,200 survey responses) and the aims of an education‑first enforcement ramp. She emphasized that any LPR deployment should be governed by a data‑privacy policy ("that is a mandate by California statute," she said) and that the data used for occupancy counts would be anonymized.

Councilmembers pressed on trade‑offs between enforcement, resident impacts and adding supply. Several residents urged protections for 217 on‑street spaces that are routinely used overnight by residents and late‑shift workers, asking that any new time limits be scoped to business hours so overnight access for residents is preserved. "Please ensure that any new restrictions are scoped to business hours only," said Heather Chapman of Unidos South OC.

City staff and the consultant described options for shared parking agreements with private owners, merchant validation programs and a shopper's permit as mid‑ to long‑term steps. The consultant also proposed modest increases in the employee permit fee (from $8 to $15 annually in the report) to sustain an automated permit management system and suggested piloting measures seasonally and adjusting with data.

After discussing budget and staffing implications, councilmembers moved to direct the city manager to work with Dixon to prepare a more detailed implementation plan with costs, timing and staffing options, and to return with that plan later this summer. The council also authorized staff to pursue a contract amendment with Dixon (staff noted the original task is complete and an amendment would be required to continue consulting services).

Votes at a glance: - Motion to direct staff to develop a near‑term Downtown Parking implementation plan and authorize a consultant contract amendment — Passed unanimously. - (Consent) Resolution accepting public improvements and filing notice of completion for Track 19063, "The Farm" (E11) — Passed (consent calendar). - (Consent) Approval for Premier Equisports to use 2.4 acres adjacent to Riata Park for intermittent empty horse trailer storage (max 48 days at $116/day) (E12) — Passed (consent calendar).

What happens next: Staff will return later this summer with a detailed implementation plan that includes estimated costs, staffing models (in‑house vs. contracted enforcement), timing and recommended contract amendments for consultant support. The council emphasized an education‑first launch and the use of data to guide any further paid‑parking expansions or resident benefit programs.

Sources: Presentation and Q&A during the San Juan Capistrano City Council meeting, June 2, 2026. Direct quotes are from Julie Dixon and public commenters during the meeting.