(The Center Square) — San Diego City Council President Joe LaCava is warning the city could pay the price if parking fees for Balboa Park are lowered for San Diego residents.
At the request of San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and the city council, the San Diego Parks and Recreation Department presented a plan for a paid parking program in Balboa Park and on nearby streets during Monday’s council meeting.
Parking is currently free at the 1,000-acre+ park, which features 15 museums, gardens and the San Diego Zoo. Under the plan, daily rates would range from $6 to $12 for nonresidents and a flat fee of $6 for residents, with some exceptions. But LaCava warned against proposals to add deeper discounts on parking for city residents, claiming the money lost would cause the city to miss its target revenue.
“I love your ideas. I think they are great ideas; there is a lot of rationale behind it,” LaCava told his fellow council members. “But this is a fiscal decision, and if we implement those [ideas] because we think it is the right thing for us to do, we are making a fiscal decision, and we need to send a message to these good hard-working people [the San Diego Parks and Recreation Department] to not only polish it up with the recommendations that have come from my colleagues, that you heard from the public, and then also the budget cuts, so we can balance our budget.”
The decision to charge people to park at Balboa Park came after the city council and the mayor found the city in a $350 million deficit in the spring.
To find ways to increase city revenue for the fiscal year 2026, Gloria proposed implementing parking fees in Balboa Park in his Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2026. The city council kept his idea when finalizing the city’s budget for fiscal 2026, including more than $10 million in parking revenue from Balboa Park.
Council members gave positive reviews to several aspects of the plan such as giving residents discounts, letting park volunteers park for free, and providing two hours of free parking at Inspiration Point – a small parking lot located near the old Naval Hospital administration building off Taylor Street.
Members, however, also requested changes be made to the plan.
Council members mentioned giving residents deeper discounts by increasing rates for nonresidents, expanding the two-hour free parking time, and changing when parking enforcement ends from 8 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Councilmember Raul Campillo, one of the biggest critics of the plan, said at worst, a four-hour free block is necessary. Campillo added a longer free time block gives people enough time to visit the park’s attractions without feeling rushed.
Some council members also lobbied to change the cost of parking at Level 1 lots – the park’s busiest park lots – from $12 to $10. This would make the 50% percent discount for residents cost $5.
Residents receive a discount only at Level 1 lots. Prices for Level 2 lots cost $6 for everyone, and Level 3 lots allow for two hours of free parking before charging the same price as Level 2 lots.
During the meeting, council members accused the San Diego Parks and Recreation Department of thinking about money rather than the community when making the plan. LeCava said that was a fact.
“That was the decision that was made during the budget cycle,” LeCava said.
LeCava also said he thought his colleagues were approaching the problem like it was a policy issue, which was wrong. “This is not a policy issue. I’s a fiscal issue.”
LaCava said if the city loses revenue from changes made to the plan, the city council will have to discuss budget cuts in September.
