San Carlos city staff and consultants laid out a draft transportation demand management ordinance and a package of parking reforms for the Planning and Transportation Commission on Nov. 2, outlining changes that could reshape how the city handles parking permits, bike racks and new development. The proposals, still in draft form, touch everything from unbundled parking for market-rate and multifamily housing to simplified parking districts and a new on-street parking protocol.
According to the San Mateo Daily Journal, the draft reforms also propose new bike parking standards and set eligibility rules for residential parking permit programs. The commission serves as the project's technical advisory committee, a role the City of San Carlos says was established when the citywide Transportation Demand Management and Parking Reform Project launched in summer 2024. The Daily Journal identified Phil Olmstead, a principal at Nelson/Nygaard, as a consultant on the project.
Why San Carlos Is Rethinking Its Rules Now
The push comes as San Carlos prepares for anticipated growth, with the city anticipating more than 8,000 new residential units and 18,000 new jobs by 2045, according to the general plan as cited in the Daily Journal's report. City staffer Rendell Bustos told the commission that roads cannot be added or easily widened, and that traffic signal optimization can only accomplish so much to ease future congestion, the paper reported. Bustos said establishing a robust TDM framework and updating the existing ordinance is essentially the only tool the city has left to manage traffic growth.
Transportation demand management itself is described in the Daily Journal's coverage as a set of policies and tools designed to maximize use of existing transportation networks and blunt the environmental impacts of growth by encouraging people to drive less. Under the proposed ordinance, developers would need to implement mitigation packages aimed at cutting vehicle trips by 25% to 40%, depending on a project's size, location and land-use category — a higher bar than the city's current ordinance requires, per the same report.
Parking Supply Seen As Key Lever
City officials have pointed to parking supply as one of the biggest determinants of traffic, according to the Daily Journal's account of the study session, which helps explain why the draft package goes well beyond trip-reduction mandates. An earlier city request for proposals called for an updated TDM program with policies stronger than existing local and regional minimums, tailored to the needs of specific neighborhoods and the city as a whole, according to city procurement documents. That same solicitation asked for a Shared Parking Strategy meant to create “park-once” districts throughout San Carlos, where visitors could park a single time and walk between multiple destinations.
San Carlos has also sought proposals to develop criteria for a new Transportation Management Association, with that work expected to factor in input gathered through City Council and Planning and Transportation Commission study sessions, according to the city's procurement record. The city has dipped into parking-management changes before: officials made a one-year residential parking permit pilot in the Greater East San Carlos neighborhood permanent after residents complained about visitor vehicles clogging their streets, the San Mateo Daily Journal reported in earlier coverage. Officials were also weighing whether to test similar permit pilots in other neighborhoods, though some residents said expansion might not be necessary.
A Regional Backdrop of Parking Changes
San Carlos is not alone in rethinking parking rules. Neighboring Redwood City has already codified its own TDM program through a municipal code amendment requiring new residential and commercial developments to include plans for reducing on-site parking needs and vehicle congestion, according to RWC Pulse. That city is aiming for more than half of all trips to be made by a mode other than driving by 2040, and a parking analysis there found centrally located on-street parking running around 70% occupancy on a typical weekday — about 10% below where it stood in 2017.
State law is also reshaping the landscape. California Assembly Bill 2097 bars public agencies from imposing or enforcing minimum parking requirements on residential, commercial or other development projects located within a half-mile of public transit, according to the bill text on file with California Legislative Information. RWC Pulse described the law as ending parking minimums near high-frequency transit starting Jan. 1.
What Happens Next
San Carlos planning commissioners gave feedback on the proposals at the Nov. 2 study session. The draft TDM and parking reform proposals will be presented to the San Carlos City Council for additional input in early 2027, per the Daily Journal's report, with a finalized report expected to return to both the Planning and Transportation Commission and the City Council for adoption in spring 2027.
The newspaper noted that the proposed programs and regulations may seem preemptive given current conditions, but city officials frame them as necessary preparation for the wave of residents and jobs expected over the next two decades. The commission's role, as described in the report, is to provide objective input through a comprehensive guidelines process even where residents disagree on specifics. Residents can visit the City of San Carlos website to review the proposed reforms in full as the process continues.
