County turns to summer parking management in Kings Beach after winter programs reduce congestion

Published July 3, 2024

Placer County will step up efforts in Kings Beach this summer to address parking concerns, including a pilot program for paid parking at the county's Christmas Tree parking lot.

The Placer County Board of Supervisors provided direction to county staff at its June 25 meeting to begin implementation of the county's North Lake Tahoe Parking Management Program in Kings Beach, starting with improved enforcement of parking rules. The board also called for continued input and feedback from interested key stakeholders as the temporary paid parking demonstration progresses and directed staff to form a community advisory group to help guide the program long-term.

One goal of the North Lake Tahoe Parking Management Program is to better manage existing parking supply for the Kings Beach commercial core and some residential grid streets that experience high volumes of summer visitor parking.

"Our businesses feel the pressure each summer when visitors flock to Kings Beach to enjoy the beauty of Lake Tahoe," said Rebecca Taber, Placer's deputy director of the Department of Public Works. "As part of our extensive community outreach process, numerous local business owners shared that while they rely on summer tourism to survive, too many unmanaged cars results in beachgoers taking up the most convenient parking spaces for most of the day. One of the key goals of the program is increasing parking turnover next to businesses in the commercial core to help boost the local economy."

The county's Christmas Tree lot, located at 8676 North Lake Blvd. in Kings Beach, is the first test lot to temporarily implement paid parking in the county and is part of the initial phase of the county's Kings Beach parking management plan, as recommended in theResort Triangle Transportation Planand adopted by the board in 2020. The pilot program will run this summer beginning as soon as Monday, July 15, and conclude by Monday, Sept. 30.

"By implementing improved parking enforcement, introducing paid parking at beach and recreational parking lots, as well as making premium paid parking spaces available along commercial core roads in the future, we can improve utilization of existing parking spaces to encourage parking availability and turnover that benefits our local businesses and enhances the use of transit regionally," said Taber. "This is an effective approach already in use within the Lake Tahoe region today. Testing the paid parking experience in a recreational parking lot this summer is our first step."

The board also approved a county agreement with Data Ticket, Inc. for parking citation processing services. The approved contract for these services is not to exceed $50,000 annually.

Revenue generated from the parking program will first be used to fund parking equipment costs and enforcement operations, while surplus proceeds will be spent locally on Kings Beach's mobility and transportation infrastructure, such as new bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and expansion of transit services. To ensure funds are used for local transportation related enhancements, the board approved formation of a new interest-earning enterprise fund and cost center. This separates road maintenance funding from any generated paid parking revenue. The board also supported future formation of a parking benefits district following solicitation from the community to establish rules for transportation-related spending.

Planned future efforts will include the addition of residential parking permits and voluntary shared parking management agreements for inclusion in the county's paid parking program, with county provided enforcement.

The county continues to work with its regional partners on other parking management programs in North Lake Tahoe. Last year, Northstar California Resort and Palisades Tahoe implemented winter parking reservation systems at their ski resorts for weekends and holidays. These programs collaborated with the county to ensure proper enforcement and each was designed to mitigate traffic congestion along state Routes 267 and 89, respectively, while encouraging guests to use alternative transportation.

At the June 25 board meeting, representatives from Palisades Tahoe reported a 130% increase in park-and-ride usage last year and reduced traffic commutes from three hours to approximately 35 minutes on average last year. Northstar reported that 60% of their parking reservations last year were carpool (four or more people) reservations while noting they saw an 81% reduction in arrival delays. View a recording of their presentationby clicking here.

Placer County strongly encourages residents and visitors in North Lake Tahoe to take advantage of numerous and free public transportation options, which include TART bus service and TART Connect, an on-demand micro-transit service. The region also has a variety of park-and-ride options. Learn more about regional transit byclicking here.

Placer County is committed to working with the Kings Beach community and surrounding areas to ensure that the new parking management initiatives are successful. An email has been established for North Tahoe parking enforcement comments and concerns: [email protected].

For more information about the North Lake Tahoe Parking Management Program, visitplacer.ca.gov/8857/Parking-Management-Program.

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