Laguna Hills is one of the latest Orange County cities to roll out neighborhood parking permits to curb overcrowded streets.

It’s an issue that’s befuddled a host of cities in the region – especially in neighborhoods featuring multiple apartment complexes that offer little parking, forcing residents to curbside for parking. 

[Read: Struggling to Get Home: Another OC City Grapples With Parking Woes]

Now, several streets around Beckenham Park in Laguna Hills will now enforce parking permits in an effort to regulate high demand parking on residential streets. 

During the Sept. 8 city council meeting, Councilmember Dave Wheeler said implementing parking permits in neighborhoods is like a game of Whac-A-Mole.

“What always happens is you do one neighborhood that’s near the problem and then you’re Whac-a-mole,” Wheeler said, adding, “how many more neighborhoods are vulnerable for the next round?”

However, this does not include all streets near the park, only specific areas. 

Parking permits will be enforced on the south side of Wilkes Place, Luton Street, Via Balboa and Calle Carmel. Additionally, parking permits will be implemented in specific areas of Costeau Street, Camberwell Street, Avenida Avalon and Hendon Street. 

According to Laguna Hills municipal code, at least 67% of homeowners must sign a city-created petition in support to establish a permit parking area. 

Assistant City Manager Joe Ames said the city is able to implement parking permits within the boundaries because some streets with high approval rates can be combined with continuous streets that had lower approval to bring the overall approval rate to the required 67% threshold. 

Parking permits cost residents $25 per year. 

There will also be a one-time cost of $10,000 to install street signs and send letters notifying residents of parking permits coming to the area. 

Wheeler said the problem is that not enough parking is built in high density housing areas, like apartments.

“The problem is we have these high density housing areas that don’t build enough parking and so what they do is they bleed out into the surrounding neighborhoods, and it just keeps growing and growing. The problem is these places should be responsible for their own parking,” Wheeler said. 

Wheeler also mentioned debates over implementing a citywide parking permit to address high density housing areas that create parking issues. 

While city officials approved the Beckenham Park permit area, they also voted 3-1 to keep moving forward in plans to provide approximately 46 unrestricted parking spots on the north side of Laguna Hills Drive. 

Wheeler abstained from the vote, and Councilmember Erica Pezold voted against it. 

Pezold voted against lifting parking restrictions due to concerns of potential issues with crime – raising concerns that the patrons of the nearby marijuana dispensary and homeless people would find out about the unrestricted parking. 

Additionally, Pezold said the council needs to protect their youth. She cited concerns with the close proximity of the potential unrestricted parking area being close to Laguna Hills High School. 

“We talked about broken condoms, drugs, all these things that we’re trying to pull out of the neighborhoods, [and] we’re putting [this unrestricted parking area] right next to a high school without monitoring it,” Pezold said. “That creates problems.”

Pezold suggested that permit parking might be better, so they can monitor who parks on the north side of Laguna Hills Drive. 

“If we can’t control who parks there, we can’t control what’s happening,” Pezold said. 

Councilmember Joshua Sweeney said that an unrestricted parking area is better on a public street than a neighborhood. 

“I can’t say that there will be or won’t be [an increase of crime on Laguna Hills Drive], but it’s much better to have parking out on a main thoroughfare in a street versus in our residential neighborhood, and that’s the whole point of this. [It] is to solve that problem and provide more parking,” Sweeney said. 

Councilmember Jared Mathis also said that having unrestricted parking on a public street is a better alternative to in neighborhoods where the youth live. Ames also said it’s better than having overflow parking in an adjoining residential neighborhood.

The city council will return on Sept. 22 to decide if they should implement the unrestricted parking area. 

City officials will also return at a later date to discuss if the city should add an additional street sweeper only for areas in the vicinity of Beckenham Park, which would cost about $32,240 a year. They will also revisit deciding if they should waive permit parking fees at a later date. 

Pezold said she thinks the city can come up with a solution for street sweeping that isn’t costly to taxpayers. 

“I think that alternating the streets isn’t productive as well there’s certain times where you want to get both sides of the street at the same time—you’ll just have a lot more dirt being pushed around so I’m not supportive of that element,” Pezold said. 

Councilmember Sweeney said it is important to monitor the program to ensure parking permits help rather than displace vehicles into other neighborhoods. 

“I do not view the permit parking as a universal cure because parking restrictions can displace vehicles instead of solving the underlying shortage—that is precisely why this must be implemented as a monitored program with clear boundaries, resident education, a warning period and a public review.” 

Lauren Contreras is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. You can reach her at laurencontreras615@gmail.com.