On a typical weekend, dozens of vehicles for sale line the
thoroughfare
Gilroy – Weekend shoppers leaving Safeway will no longer need to play a game of cat and mouse with First Street motorists if the city pushes through a proposed ban on parking along the thoroughfare. City Council members gave staff the go ahead Tuesday night to begin formulating a ban between the intersections of Miller Avenue and Santa Teresa Boulevard. It would likely exempt a few businesses and an apartment complex.
“We’ve had comments from different citizens as to how our First Street has ended up like a used car lot,” Mayor Al Pinheiro said. “There are cars with ‘For Sale’ signs on them… It doesn’t look good [and] sometimes people pull over and double park to look at these cars.”
On a typical weekend, dozens of vehicles with “For Sale” signs line the northern stretch of First Street in front of Safeway.
Across the way in front of Gavilan Hills Memorial Park, truckers park their big rigs over night.
A preliminary “windshield analysis” by city staff led to a proposal that would ban, parking along most of the street, according to Community Development Director Wendie Rooney.
The ordinance will likely allow for 15-minute parking in front of Washington Mutual Bank and by a dry cleaner in the Contempo shopping plaza, as well as two-hour parking by a local mortgage company.
Existing street parking will remain in effect in front of Mission Park Apartments on the south side of First Street.
“Before we thought about excluding parking, we made sure the businesses have parking already,” Rooney said. The city plans to consult neighborhood businesses in coming weeks to ask for input on the restrictions.
Violators of the new parking restrictions will face a $30 ticket.
