Shoppers and moviegoers visiting Pasadena’s iconic Playhouse District will soon have access to more metered street parking.
The Pasadena City Council voted on Monday, May 21, to expand the boundaries of the Playhouse District parking meter zone, implement an escalated parking meter rate — meaning people pay a base rate plus additional charges for each extra hour— and establish a Playhouse Parking Meter Zone Parking Advisory Commission.
Property owners and the business community in the district, located in the heart of Pasadena and centered around the historic Pasadena Playhouse, largely support the proposed changes. They believe it will provide better parking management and help alleviate traffic congestion in the area.
“While we accept that the transition to paid street parking may create short-term impacts, we feel it will create unique opportunities for expanded public and employee parking, management of valuable curb space, increased revenue for Playhouse Village initiatives, and greater utilization of our numerous off-street private parking facilities,” Brian Wallace, president and CEO of Playhouse Village Association, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting the district, wrote in a letter submitted to the city prior to the meeting.
The City Council was also overall supportive of the change. In the beginning, Councilmember Gene Masuda raised concerns about the potential impact of paid street parking on local businesses.
“I’m really leery about this, because this is a business killer, I don’t know how it even got this far,” Masuda said. “I will listen to my colleagues, but this is something that concerns me, especially when I hear people go to other places like Arcadia, where they get free parking and they don’t have to deal with our parking meters.”
But Councilmember Jason Lyon, who represents District 7, an area that encompasses the Pasadena Playhouse, said there is actually “broad support” for the initiative in his neighborhood.
“There’s a feeling that we need turnover of parking to actually support the businesses, that people are coming and staying too long,” Lyon said, “and so it’s a business killer to have parking the way it is now.”
Masuda said he is “satisfied” after listening to Lyon’s response and staff’s suggestion, The ordinance was therefore adopted by the panel unanimously.
The current Playhouse Parking Meter Zone is bounded by Union Street to the north, Los Robles Avenue to the west, El Dorado Street to the south, and Oakland Avenue to the east. Paid parking is currently available on Los Rabies Avenue from Green Street to Union Street, the staff report said.
The proposed expansion would extend the zone boundaries to the east. The new boundaries would be Union Street to the north, Los Robles Avenue to the west, El Dorado Street to the south along Oakland Avenue, then Green Street to the south along Hudson Avenue, Colorado Boulevard to the south, and Catalina Avenue to the east, until reaching Union Street.
There are currently six paid parking spaces and one meter in the Playhouse District, according to Pasadena’s Parking Manager Jon Hamblen.
It’s not yet clear how many parking stations will be added, as the procurement of the pay stations is a separate agenda item from this report, according to the staff report.
The ordinance will authorize the city’s transportation director to set the base rate between $1 and $5 per hour, as allowed under posted parking regulations. The director can also set higher rates —up to double the base rate — for any parking beyond the initial period.
The rates will be based on parking demand, aiming to keep 70% to 90% of parking meter spaces occupied during paid hours. Rate changes will only happen once every six months.
The new rates are expected to begin on July 1, 2025, and will be adjusted annually on July 1 thereafter. Increases will be tied to change in the consumer price index and rounded down to the nearest quarter of a dollar.
In addition to the proposed rate changes, the paid parking hours will be expanded from Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., to Monday to Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The Playhouse Parking Meter Zone Parking Advisory Commission, also approved on Monday, will be made up of seven members: three property owners, three renters or lessees, and one “at large” representative of either group. Commissioners will be nominated by the mayor from recommendations by other council members and confirmed by the City Council.
The commission will be tasked with helping to decide how to spend revenues collected from parking meters and to assist with overseeing the meter program.