Committee to Review Safe Parking Locations After Council Revives Proposal

Pasadena’s Housing, Homelessness and Planning Committee is scheduled to review alternative locations for safe parking, following a City Council vote this week to revive a previously stalled safe-parking proposal.

The review is listed as new business on the committee’s Jan. 30 agenda and calls for an examination of existing authorized locations and a discussion of possible alternatives. The item is informational and does not call for a vote.

The committee discussion follows action by the City Council on Monday to reopen consideration of a safe-parking proposal tied to All Saints Church.

The Council voted to place the item back on a future agenda and continue the public hearing after the proposal failed in November to secure enough votes to approve required environmental findings.

Councilmember Steve Madison requested the item’s return, noting that he was absent during the earlier vote, which ended 4–3—one vote short of the five needed to approve the California Environmental Quality Act findings required to move the project forward.

The proposal would allow a church parking lot to be used overnight by people living in their vehicles, a model used by cities across Southern California that often pairs parking access with case management and social services.

While Monday’s Council action focused on reviving the All Saints application, the discussion broadened to the overall structure and location of any future safe-parking program.

Mayor Victor Gordo urged the Council to avoid concentrating such a program in a single neighborhood and called for a wider review of potential sites, including City-owned properties.

“I would ask that if the Council does support the motion … that we have alternatives before us that don’t concentrate [the program] in one area,” Gordo said.

Gordo also requested that staff include data on calls for service in areas such as City Hall and the Central Library, citing 4,093 calls in the surrounding area, as part of future reports.

The Council subsequently directed staff to explore additional safe-parking locations throughout Pasadena and return with options for consideration.

That directive is expected to be taken up by the Housing, Homelessness and Planning Committee, which is chaired by Gordo.

The committee’s review comes as Pasadena continues to face rising homelessness and visible vehicle habitation.

Supporters of safe-parking programs argue they provide a monitored, safer alternative for people living in cars, while critics have raised concerns about neighborhood impacts, public safety and the concentration of services.