San Rafael residents can weigh in on how a new citywide parking permit program should work at a Thursday, Aug. 6 meeting, including how many permits each household can hold and which hours parking should be restricted.
The San Rafael Parking Office is hosting its first in-person community input session on the program at 7 p.m. at the Albert J. Boro Community Center, 50 Canal St. The Federation of San Rafael Neighborhoods organized the meeting and circulated the Parking Office's questions to members in an Aug. 5 newsletter.
What the city wants to know
The Parking Office is asking residents to answer four questions:
- Which time periods cause the worst parking problems in their neighborhood, covering weekday and weekend hours between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
- How many vehicles are associated with their household
- How many household members drive
- Whether there should be a cap on annual permits per household regardless of how many drivers live there, and if so, what limit: 1–2, 2–3, 3–4 or more than 4
"They request our input regarding the implementation of a parking permit program," Amy Likover, the Federation of San Rafael Neighborhoods organizer, wrote in the Aug. 5 newsletter. "Please consider these questions before attending tomorrow's meeting."
Background: a second try
The city tried this before. In August 2025, San Rafael shelved a pilot residential parking permit program for East San Rafael after residents pushed back. Neighbors raised concerns about no guarantee of receiving a permit, added costs for something that had always been free, difficulty registering visitor permits and insufficient flexibility for families with multiple households at one address.
The city released a final evaluation report in April 2026 formally closing out that effort.
Now the city is taking a broader, citywide approach. The San Rafael City Council adopted Ordinance 2067 on Monday, July 20, updating Title 5 of the Municipal Code to modernize parking regulations, traffic administration and enforcement provisions. That ordinance provides the legal framework for the new permit program.
Developing a citywide residential parking permit program was part of the City Council's 2023–2025 Goals and Objectives, which called for assessing feasibility and revising the city's permit system "to address overcrowding of neighborhood parking in a cost-neutral and equitable manner."
What's next
The city's parking permit program page shows community engagement started in July and runs through August 2026. No follow-up meeting date or City Council vote has been announced.
Parking Services Manager Jim Myhers can be reached at (415) 458-5333. Residents who cannot attend the Aug. 6 meeting can contact the Federation of San Rafael Neighborhoods at [email protected] or (415) 450-1520.
