Parking at Plaza BART

This slide by the city's consultant was presented at an online community meeting held Aug. 27.

At an online meeting on Aug. 27, city staff and consultants outlined two ideas about how to change the rules for street parking near the El Cerrito Plaza BART station.

Survey is Open Until Oct. 3

They asked residents to take an online survey about the two options at parking.elcerrito.gov no later than Oct. 3. The survey includes a chance to make comments at the end.

The city will prepare and present a draft action parking management plan in early 2027, according to Will Provost, assistant to the city manager

Provost said nothing about the parking plan has been decided and the city wants to get as much input as possible.

Consultant’s Existing Conditions Report

Also recently, consultant Dixon Resources Unlimited released an “existing conditions report” which stated that 3,000 parking spaces are available within 10 minutes of the BART station. It did not provide counts of the spaces on any specific streets, instead using percentages to describe the availability of parking. It said peak occupancy of spaces near Plaza BART is 61%.

“There are plenty of parking spaces if they are managed properly,” consultant Julie Dixon said at the online meeting.

Report Says Current Revenues Don’t Cover Costs

Dixon’s report also said that revenues from El Cerrito’s existing parking permit and enforcement program are not even close to paying its costs. In 2025-26, according to the Dixon report, the city received only $88,000 in parking revenue while spending close to $500,000 on parking-related expenses by five city departments. This estimate did not include consultant fees.

In the online public meeting, program costs were discussed in general rather than specific terms.

New Program Will be “Cost-Neutral”

“Any residential parking program has to be designed to be what I call cost-neutral,” consultant Dixon said at the meeting. “You’ve got to be able to pay for the program itself – that includes enforcement, signs, the implementation of the program. But the reality is it cannot be a revenue generator for the city.”

First Information for the Public

The recent meeting was the first public discussion of work performed for the city by Dixon. The council voted in November 2024 to pay the consulting firm up to $220,000 to develop and promote a plan to “modernize the city’s on-street parking program” in preparation for the planned development at El Cerrito Plaza BART station and in support of the San Pablo Avenue specific plan area. It was stated that the consultant’s work would be grant-funded. Data on parking occupancy was to be collected in February 2025.

This photo of the first building in the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) was taken in June 2026.

The TOD is the Driver

At the Aug. 27 meeting, Dixon said the Plaza BART TOD (transit-oriented development) is “the driver” of the parking plan.

The approved TOD would eliminate all 740 spaces in BART parking lots and add 743 new apartments in six buildings where parking used to be. A 145-space garage for BART users is planned for a late phase of the project, which means a loss of about 600 BART rider parking spaces. Also, the developer will ultimately provide about one parking space for every three new apartments.

Dixon said it’s important to “recognize that BART riders and new residents will park on city streets and that building additional parking infrastructure is not an option at this point in time.”

In Effect 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Weekdays

The new parking regulations, once chosen, would be in effect from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m., according to current thinking by the city.

Also, time-limited parking would generally be reduced from four hours to two hours.

The 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. hours are to try to deter tenants in the new buildings from parking on neighborhood streets, the city presenters said. Provost emphasized that TOD tenants will not be eligible for residential parking permits. However, Dixon said, tenants may own cars and may look for places to park them.

A Question of Timing

One six-story building is now under construction at the corner of Richmond Street and Central Avenue in the smaller BART parking lot, but the other five buildings are not yet fully funded.

Resident Pearson Miller raised the question of whether the city needs to push forward so soon with a comprehensive new parking plan.

“I know that the next phase (for the TOD) is seeking funding,” Miller said. “That could take six months or it could be six years. I don’t want to see the city roll this out before it’s actually needed.”

Agreement on Parking During Construction

Jarrett Mullen, the city’s Sustainable Transportation Manager, said funds to start building on the larger BART lot are being “actively pursued.” Mullen said that BART’s agreement for preserving parking during construction only requires the developer to maintain 145 parking spaces.

“So we really wanted to get ahead of any construction activity on that western parking lot. We really wanted to try and get this program up and running before that happens,” Mullen said.

Mullen said after the Aug. 27 meeting that Sept. 3 was his last day of work with the city of El Cerrito. He resigned to take another position elsewhere in the Bay Area.

Slide by Dixon Resources

Current Four-Hour Limits and Resident Permits

Currently, many streets around the El Cerrito Plaza BART station have four-hour parking but residents can buy residential parking permits (RPPs) for $72 a year that exempt them from time limits on their streets. On some streets one side has time limits while the other side is unregulated.

Prior to the pandemic, many residents say, their neighborhoods requested the RPP restrictions to keep BART users from parking for free on their streets. But since the pandemic, BART ridership has been lower and several residents said the city has seldom enforced time limits in recent years.

That must change because the TOD is coming, city presenters said.

Provost said doing nothing is not an option and allowing short-term parking throughout the area was also ruled out. He said the two ideas presented on Aug. 27 are “middle ground.”

Slide by Dixon Resources

The First Idea

One proposal, called Idea 1, is to allow people with residential parking permits (RPPs) to park on one side of a street while allowing paid parking on the other side. The time limit for those without permits would be shortened from four to two hours on the RPP side.

Several residents objected to having a plan that would only allow residents to park on one side of their own streets.

A resident named Emily said, “I want things the same on both sides of the street. I’m happy about the TOD. But to never again be able to park in front of my own house during the 5-to-11 hours without paying twice would be very divisive between me and my neighbors across the street who I love. There would be constant competition for the parking on their side of the street.”

Parking kiosk photo from city presentation

Another concern was construction of parking kiosks in the neighborhoods.

Charles Taylor said, “Putting those into neighborhoods is atrocious. It totally destroys the neighborhood. It makes it feel like it’s a shopping center.”

Provost replied that the city plans to minimize the number of kiosks and prefers mobile payments. However, Provost said, if there is paid parking there must be a way for all users to pay.

Slide by Dixon Resources

The Second Idea

The other proposal, Idea 2, would have the city “control the block faces” by selling commuter permits to BART users as well as selling resident permits and some type of guest permits.

Dixon said selling commuter passes could provide an opportunity for revenue generation.

Dan Cloak, who said he lives near BART and campaigned for years to get the TOD approved, objects to selling BART commuter permits because that creates a “sunk cost” for BART riders and encourages them to drive to BART more often and use the permit.

‘Inadequate’ Parking Hurts Neighborhood Quality

Several residents objected to taking parking away from neighborhood residents to provide parking spaces for a TOD on BART parking lots.

Resident Maureen Dixon said, “One of the things that many of us who’ve lived in El Cerrito for a while treasure is the neighborhood quality and the communities that we build within our neighborhoods. Looking backwards, I want to ask, ‘Why is it that developers and BART get away with building unlimited huge developments without providing near adequate parking and it falls on the neighborhoods and communities to absorb this?’”

Provost replied, “It’s state law.” One law, AB 2079, prohibits cities from requiring a minimum number of parking spaces for most development projects located within a half-mile of a major transit stop. The bill was co-authored by Buffy Wicks, El Cerrito’s representative in the Assembly.

Dixon said it looks to her like similar pressure will fall on other city neighborhoods where housing is developed with little or no parking.

“Looking forward as San Pablo Avenue continues to develop out, I’m not hearing any plans to provide additional parking for that…so more neighborhoods will be affected just as these neighborhoods are now.”

The city’s Mullen said, “It comes back to the statewide housing crisis and the cost of building parking. A lot of state policy has essentially removed the ability of cities like El Cerrito to mandate parking construction.”

Worried About Cost

B.J. Thorsness said she lives near BART and in the past had a residential parking permit. The cost has gone up despite city promises to keep it low, she said. She recently received a $100 parking ticket when the city apparently resumed enforcement in her neighborhood.

“I’m suspicious of City Hall,” she said. “It’s one more way to bring in more income…This is a neighborhood, not where you run in and get a quick haircut or buy a donut. I love my little old house and I don’t want to leave El Cerrito. But part of me is starting to want to…along with some friends of mine.”

Revenue Needed to Recover Costs and Price Parking

Julie Dixon replied, “The proposals now and even the current fees are not meant to be revenue generating. They’re meant to recover costs…to administer the program and…as a management tool to price parking so that you have enough free spaces.”

Thorsness said, “I get that’s considered a management tool but guess who pays for the management? It’s not you guys…How come BART gets to make money and I have to pay for their parking? I don’t get that.”

Pearson Miller said he was not reassured by statements that any program would be revenue-neutral.

“Revenue-neutral (means) you can spend as much money as you want and just cover it all with the price of the permits,” Miller said.

He said he’d like fees for commuter permits to subsidize resident permits.

What Percentage for Residents vs. Non-Residents?

A resident named Catherine asked what percentage of street spaces would be allocated for residents versus non-residents in each concept.

Dixon said with Idea 1, the allocation of spaces would be about 50-50. For Idea 2, the permit selling approach, Dixon said she would come back to a future meeting with that information.

Other residents asked about congestion and safety, traffic on Central Avenue and whether a bike lane is planned there, whether the city is working with the owner of the El Cerrito Plaza shopping center, and whether the city has looked at data from the TOD development at MacArthur station.

Austin Chin asked, “Has the math been done to determine that with either Idea 1 or Idea 2 you’re going to have enough room for the resident parking people, the permit holders, and the people who live up in the El Cerrito hills and drive down and park…near the station in order to take BART?”

Easy, Intuitive, and Convenient

When introducing the parking redesign ideas, Dixon said, “We want to make sure that parking is easy. We wanted to make sure that it’s intuitive and convenient. We want to make sure that it’s accessible. We want to be sure that parking balances access to the variety of residents, employees, customers, and BART riders. And we want to make sure we’re addressing viability. We want to make sure that we can maintain financial self-sufficiency and adapt to the evolving needs of El Cerrito.”

Where to View Recording

A recording of the meeting is available on the city’s parking website, parking.elcerrito.gov. The site also provides a link to the existing conditions report.