A Poll: On-Street Dining in San Carlos to Expand.
August 30, 2018
Parklets or Parking?
With the wonderful weather that we enjoy in San Carlos, it's a nice treat to be able to sit outside every so often while enjoying a meal or a glass wine downtown. While many restaurants on Laurel Street offer tables that are temporarily placed on the sidewalk, it's not really the same as a dedicated outdoor dining area, since the narrow sidewalks force foot traffic right next to your table. So much for an intimate meal, right? A few years ago, the City of San Carlos started a pilot program to allow certain restaurants to expand their outdoor dining footprint past the sidewalks and out into what was previously designated parking spots on Laurel. These are commonly referred to as “parklets”. While three restaurants originally applied for a parklet dining area, only Town Restaurant moved forward with the plan. You only have to drive down Laurel Street on any given night to see that this has been a smashing success for Town, as the outdoor tables seem to always be booked.
But outdoor dining parklets come at a cost — actually, several costs. First, they are expensive to create. According to this article in the San Mateo Daily Journal, Town Restaurant spent nearly $300,000 to create their outdoor space that is still there today. The other cost is the obviously the loss of precious parking spaces along Laurel Street. Because of the latter, the City Council decided last year to suspend the addition of any other parklets until they could better understand the true impact on parking, especially considering all of the construction that is going on downtown right now.
In its most recent Council meeting, the City of San Carlos effectively lifted the suspension on the development of new dining parklets and is taking steps to make these spaces permanent and allow more restaurants to apply for permits to create outdoor dining spaces. This makes sense, now that the Wheeler Plaza public parking garage is open, and it's evident that more and more diners are utilizing ride-sharing platforms such as Uber and Lyft to avoid having to park downtown.
Vote in the Poll.
So what do you think? Are you in favor of more outdoor dining areas along Laurel Street that are similar to what you see at Town Restaurant? Are you willing to lose a few parking spaces to be able to dine and gather outdoors? Personally, I think they are a great idea and a natural progression of pedestrian friendly dining districts like you already see in cities like Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Redwood City. But cast your vote in the poll below, and let's see what everyone thinks!
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As a Belmont resident we mostly drive to SC and occasionally bike. Parking is an issue but getting into restaurants during prime time is an even bigger issue. We’ll take parklets all day long esp as we continue to migrate to other forms of transport and cities like SC build alternate lots off Laurel.
If it was up to me…Laurel Street from San Carlos Avenue to Arroyo would be pedestrian access only….European Style.
The bigger problem with outside dining is it blocks the sidewalk.
Boba Guys line completely obstructs the sidewalk.
Cask has a table that has a road sign right next to it creating a tight constriction.
Blueline pizza has tables that regularly block the sidewalk as well.
Outdoor dining shouldn’t obstruct the sidewalk to the point strollers and pedestrians are forced into the street.
I’m usually pushing a stroller, and have trouble getting down both sides of the street due to tables, and lines, and chairs.
San Carlos (san Carstruction) has really gone downhill over the past few years. It is impossible to get around town, let alone park, between 3pm-7pm most weekdays. This is putting the cart before the horse and a formidably stupid idea. Currently I will not even go downtown because of the complete lack of parking and constant construction.
Speaking of which, there has been CONSTANT construction for the past few years. Right now El Camino is a parking lot due to construction, so what does San Carlos do, perform roadwork and other projects on Alemeda and San Carlos Ave. Over Labor Day weekend, the protected left turn lane from El Camino to San Carlos Ave was closed, with no signage, no warning, and obviously no reason, as San Carlos Ave was open. Not to mention the housing project being build violates the promise to residents that Caltrain and the City made with the construction of the elevated tracks which promised residents that the historic train station would be viewable from 3 sides, and only compromised from the track side. I have been a resident for almost 40 years and San Carlos needs to concentrate on getting back to being the City of Good Living instead of the City of CONSTANT CONSTRUCTION.
Crazy idea – but with the encroachment of these new dining areas on parking spots and driving down Laurel. Why not consider shutting Laurel street down all together and turn it into more of a “walking” plaza. Traffic would be routed more along El Camino (which is better suited for it anyway) and drop off points (for ridesharing) could be created as well. This way, it would make Laurel street, more of a “destination” spot that I think the mid-peninsula truly needs. With this, residents could walk or bike (more in another comment on why San Carlos should try to reopen its Postman’s Paths, especially the one at the end of Carmelita to make San Carlos a much more green and walkable city). Visitors could either rideshare and be dropped off at drop off/meet up locations or park in the larger parking structures and therefore increase foot traffic (and more likely consumers) for all the stores/restaurants on Laurel
Parking!