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Published on 09/11/1995 All articles from this issue

City OKs land purchase for parking

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

During the holidays this year finding a parking space in Los Altos village should be a little bit easier to find.

The Los Altos City Council at its Sept. 5 meeting voted to buy the property at 230 First St. for $1.4 million to add 42 downtown parking spaces. Escrow should close by Oct. 31. In November, the city will spend $25,000 to patch, resurface and re-stripe the paved area.

"This is advantageous to the entire community," said bookstore owner Conrad Heintzelman at the council meeting. He spoke representing the Los Altos Village Association.

Mel Kahn, chairman of the Parking 2000 Committee, also "enthusiastically" endorsed the purchase.

Currently, there are 1,100 parking places downtown. The 42 new places will increase parking by 4 percent, said Bruce Bane, Los Altos director of public works.

Councilmember Marge Bruno said she was very much in favor of the purchase.

"The price is reasonable, and I'm glad this happened while I was on the council so I could vote for it. The parking need downtown is well documented," she said.

In 1990, downtown parking places experienced 87.7 percent occupancy. By 1995 occupancy was up to 92.5 percent, said Ron Gruenwald, a civil engineer with the city of Los Altos. All day employee parking spots are up to 96 percent occupancy.

The City Council voted to pay for the land with a combination of $700,000 of city funds and $700,000 from certificates of participation which are similar to municipal bonds.

The city will spend $628,000 from a reserve fund earmarked for traffic and miscellaneous community improvements. The remaining $72,000 will come from rental payments and reserve funds designated for parking, said Sherry Lambach, Los Altos finance director.

"I'm not concerned about depleting the reserves," said councilmember Dave Reeder. "We have nearly $3 million in the bank. It was never my intention it should just sit there. It's just for opportunities like this."

Lambach estimates the interest on the $700,000 financed will be between 6 and 6.5 percent and cost the city $76,500 per year.

Revenue from current leases could finance this interest, Lambach said. Kentucky Fried Chicken leases 10 parking places and Nielsen's Dry Cleaning leases another 20 stalls. Together the leases generate annual revenue of $126,000, $49,500 more than the estimated interest expense.

City staff may recommend that this $49,500 could be used to replenish the community improvement reserve fund, Lambach said.

Councilmember Ted Laliotis said he sees the parking purchase as a long term investment for the city.

"There are opportunities from owning that parcel," he said. "It will create a better entrance to the south end of the city."