Supervisors move towards banning some parking near Point Lobos State Park

There were no cars parked outside Point Lobos State Reserve, Tuesday. Rain washed out the normally large crowd of people hoping to enter the park.

Earlier, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors announced a February vote to block all parking on the eastern side of Highway 1, for 18-hundred feet North and South of the entrance.

The park is in Supervisor Mary Adams’ district, and she says a parking ban is a no brainer.

“(People) have picnic baskets. They have kids. Sometimes they aren’t even holding on to their kids and they are darting through traffic,” Adams tells KION.

The other Supervisors had questions during discussion at Tuesday’s Board meeting. Chris Lopez worried about limiting the already limited parking inside the park. There are only about 115 spaces available, already leading to a scramble for a spot outside.

Luis Alejo was asking about if this ban would lead to similar ones at other state parks, hurting tourism, if people can’t find places to part and enter.

Jane Parker suggested the County look at safe crossing areas, as well. A crosswalk across the highway will be discussed in future plans.

The few speakers during public comment all support the propose ordinance.

“Families and high speed traffic simply don’t mix,” said Rich Hamilton with the Big Sur Land Trust.

This is a concern, especially with out-of-town guests driving through who might not be aware of their surroundings.

A representative with the Point Lobos Foundation told the board that “families (and) small children run across the highway, with traffic going as much as 45 to 65 miles per hour, with people who are not aware this is a high pedestrian traffic area.”

Cal Fire was among the emergency agencies issuing their support for the parking ban. Adams says they told her stories about times the street side parking can be a threat to public safety.

“Cars were parked on both sides of the highway, and they were unable to get their emergency vehicles through the highway.”

There are no changes to parking on the near side of the highway.

The ordinance also includes parking restrictions on both sides of Rio Road, from Carmel Rancho Boulevard to where the road ends in unincorporated Monterey County.