Manhattan Beach council adopts variable parking rates, raises parking fines to $65 typical

Manhattan Beach’s City Council voted unanimously on July 7 to adopt a new variable parking rate structure and to raise most parking citation penalties by $6, moves staff said are intended to build reserves for aging parking infrastructure and potential debt service for future parking projects.

The council’s approval sets on-street peak-season meter rates at $3.50 and off-peak at $3.00 citywide (the council directed parity between downtown and North Manhattan Beach) and raises the typical citation to about $65. Both the new meter schedule and the amended citation schedule are slated to take effect Aug. 1, 2026, to allow staff time to program the city’s payment system and to accommodate the 15-day appeal window for required coastal development permits.

The changes follow a multi-year parking management study conducted by Walker Consultants and subsequent staff analysis. Financial Services Manager Emmy Rosehanna told the council that variable, location- and season-based rates are meant to align revenue with rising operating costs and to help fund capital needs, including long-term work tied to Project Pulse and potential replacement of Lot 3. “The parking funds do not have sufficient capital to pay for it all upfront,” she said during the presentation, citing a hypothetical Lot 3 construction cost estimate ranging from about $10.2 million to $21 million and projected annual debt-service scenarios.

Staff presented revenue modeling showing the proposed variable rates could generate roughly $4.7 million across the city’s parking funds over five years under current assumptions. For parking citation changes, staff estimated about $290,000 additional general-fund revenue in the first fiscal year following the adjustment and roughly $180,000 in year-over-year growth thereafter, assuming about 60,000 citations annually and accounting for fixed remittances to the court system.

Traffic engineer Eric Zambleek described how variable pricing is intended to manage occupancy and turnover: “Variable parking rates can be different depending on location or by time … the higher parking rate on the street may mean maybe I only want to stay an hour on the street and not two hours,” he said, adding that the city’s forthcoming kiosk and mobile-app system will show live availability and rates to drivers.

Councilors pressed staff on several points before the votes, including the lack of current data that distinguishes resident from nonresident parkers, the timetable for kiosk installation (staff said kiosks are expected in the fall), signage and how the license-plate-recognition (LPR) system will affect enforcement. Staff said current systems do not reliably separate resident transactions from visitors but that the new platform will provide richer reporting and that kiosks will accept cash for users without smartphones.

During a separate portion of the hearing staff recommended an across-the-board $6 increase to citation fines and also proposed a five-year ramp with modest annual escalators. Councilors expressed concern about automatic escalators and potential economic impacts; the council voted to adopt the $6 increase while removing the staff-proposed automatic annual adjustment.

Members of the public raised questions about enforcement staffing and equity. Resident Lisa Middleman asked staff to analyze the costs of enforcement personnel and whether LPR technology would reduce staffing needs. “One of the things I wanted to question … is that we should look at the salary, benefits, and pension of all those ticketing officers,” she said. Staff responded that community service officers perform multiple functions beyond citation issuance and that LPR is expected to create operational efficiencies rather than immediate staffing reductions.

The citation resolution (amending citation amounts across categories by $6 and deleting the automatic escalator clause) passed 5-0. Later, council directed staff to adjust on-street peak and off-peak rates for downtown and North Manhattan Beach to $3.50 and $3.00, respectively, to preserve consistency, and approved the variable rate resolutions as amended 5-0.

The council’s action leaves several next steps: staff will finalize exhibits showing the new rates across different lot types, program the new pricing in the city payment system, implement signage and communications for the public, and continue to monitor monthly parking revenue to inform future council discussion. The council asked staff to return with more detailed resident-impact analysis and with updated structural assessments for Lots 2 and 4 to better prioritize long-term capital spending.

The City Council adjourned the July 7 meeting and said the new rates and fines would become effective Aug. 1, 2026; no further automatic increases are scheduled under the measures the council adopted.