LETTER: Downtown Campbell Parking Lot Owner Pleads with City to Reopen Lot

The sudden closure of a in downtown Campbell spurred debate over the way the process was handled.

The owner of the parking lot in question, located next to is Xavier Sanchez. His real estate broker Rene Duenas sent this letter to Campbell Patch after Sanchez had sent it to the Campbell City Council:

The recent closing of the central 2-hour parking lot has unleashed a flood of discontent among both customers and merchants in downtown Campbell. After some inquiry, it does not appear that closing the lot was either prudent or fiscally necessary.

In June 2011, Redevelopment Director Kirk Heinrichs, informed me the City could no longer afford the $2,250.00 per month, $75.00 per day, $27,000.00 per year rent fee for the 30 space 2 hour parking lot at Campbell and Central. One year ago, I voluntarily lowered the rent 10% to $2,250.00 per month.

The “commercial ground zero” parking lot was popular with visitors, customers and merchants. As parking was limited to two hours, meter police issued a daily average of 5 to 10 overstayed $40.00 tickets per day.

How could the City “not afford” to collect $200.00 per day (average) when it was only paying $75.00 per day for rent? Simple math indicates a $125.00 daily surplus, $3,750 monthly and $45,000 yearly surplus in parking ticket revenue… that should be an adequate amount for miscellaneous expenditures.

In retrospect, the decision to close the parking lot was based on incomplete profit/loss cost analysis. Not one of the affected merchants was contacted.

The recent elimination of 24 parking spaces at the Oddfellows project will force 24 more cars to street/curbside parking. A total of 50 plus cars are being forced to street parking… an already limited resource.

If the figures are revisited and if they indicate zero cost to the City, there can be no logical reason not to reopen the much utilized/needed parking lot. Customers and merchants could once again enjoy easy access to Campbell’s core commercial area at zero cost to the citizens and the City.

City leaders have an obligation to correct decisions that may have been based on incomplete information.

Sincerely,
J. Xavier Sanchez

CC: Jason Baker, Michael Kotowski, Evan Low, Jeffrey Cristina, Rich Waterman