TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Talyn Mirzakhanian, City Manager
FROM:
Masa Alkire, AICP, Community Development Director
Erik Zandvliet, T.E., City Traffic Engineer
SUBJECT:Title
Conduct a Public Hearing for Consideration of:
a) A Resolution Approving a Coastal Development Permit to Install Pay Stations, Establish Paid Parking Zones and Set the Days, Hours and Time Limits of Paid Parking Enforcement for Paid Parking Zones on City-Owned or Controlled On- and Off-Street Parking Facilities in the City’s Coastal Zone; and
b) A Resolution Establishing Paid Parking Zones and Setting the Days, Hours, and Time Limits of Paid Parking Enforcement for Paid Parking Zones on City-Owned or Controlled On- and Off-Street Parking Facilities Outside the City’s Coastal Zone
(No Budget Impact) (Community Development Director Alkire).
(Estimated Time: 1 Hr.)
A) CONDUCT PUBLIC HEARING
B) ADOPT RESOLUTION NOS. 26-0114 AND 26-0115
Body
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RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council conduct a public hearing, discuss the proposed paid parking program, and adopt:
1) Resolution No. 26-0114, approving a Coastal Development Permit (CDP) to install pay stations, establish Paid Parking Zones and set the days, hours and time limits of paid parking enforcement for paid parking zones on City-owned or controlled on- and off-street parking facilities in the City’s Coastal Zone pursuant to Manhattan Beach Municipal Code Chapter 14.42 (Paid Parking Zones) and Manhattan Beach Local Coastal Program Chapter A.96 (Coastal Development Permit Procedures); and
2) Resolution 26-0115, establishing paid parking zones and setting the days, hours, and time limits of paid parking enforcement for paid parking zones on City-owned or controlled on- and off-street parking facilities outside the City’s Coastal Zone pursuant to Manhattan Beach Municipal Code Chapter 14.42 (Paid Parking Zones).
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no fiscal implications associated with the recommended action. The installation of pay stations and the related mobile parking payment system is funded through a separately approved City project. No changes to parking meter rates or the days or hours of paid parking enforcement are proposed in this recommendation.
BACKGROUND:
The City currently operates over 1,275 single-space parking meters and 12 older model pay stations. These systems are nearing the end of their useful life, costly to maintain, and prone to technical issues.
On April 15, 2025, the City Council discussed the Parking Technology Roadmap (Roadmap) prepared as part of a City Council Work Plan item, and directed staff to move forward with the Plan’s recommendations. The Roadmap provides the City with guidance on building a cohesive, effective parking technology ecosystem to improve efficiency and future-proof the City’s paid parking program. This Roadmap specifically focuses on replacing outdated parking payment technologies and assessing supporting solutions, including transitioning from existing single-space parking meters to pay stations and a mobile payment program using pay-by-plate technology, as well as mobile parking enforcement cameras (see attachment).
On November 4, 2025, the City Council approved the City Parking Management Strategies and Toolkit, which outlined a comprehensive framework to enhance parking operations and implement new technology solutions within the City. Among the strategies identified was the transition to modern pay-by-plate pay stations and mobile payment platforms as part of a broader effort to streamline enforcement, improve customer convenience, and better manage parking demand. On April 7, 2026, the City Council approved the Study and directed staff to pursue implementation of the parking strategies in the Study as part of the City’s Parking Management Program. (See attachment).
On February 17, 2026, the City Council approved a three-year agreement with ParkMobile, LLC, for the purchase, installation, and operation of parking pay stations and mobile parking payment system services. The pay stations and mobile payment system are scheduled to replace the current individual parking meter system in November 2026.
On May 19, 2026, the City Council approved an agreement with EyeP Solutions for the purchase, implementation, and operation of a mobile parking enforcement cameras system for parking enforcement. The system will assist the Police Department in enforcing parking violations under the new paid parking system, which will use mobile parking enforcement cameras to monitor time-limit and paid parking regulations, instead of the current manual method of chalking tires. Manual enforcement is still authorized and can be used in the absence of license plate readers.
Although the Roadmap did not specifically address the City’s metered (paid) parking regulations, staff determined that amendments to the Municipal Code were necessary to update the City’s regulatory framework related to metered parking. On August 20, 2026, the Parking and Public Improvements Commission (PPIC) discussed the proposed code amendment and recommended (5-0) that the City Council adopt an ordinance amending Chapter 3.24 of Title 3 related to parking meters and Chapter 14.01 of Title 14 related to parking meter definitions and adding a new Chapter 14.42 of Title 14 related to paid parking zones.
On September 15 and October 6, 2026, the City Council considered the PPIC recommendation and adopted Ordinance No. 26-0011 to amend the Manhattan Beach Municipal Code to update the City’s regulatory framework related to paid public parking. The amendments authorize new parking payment methods, allow for new enforcement technologies, and ensure consistency between the Municipal Code and the operational framework outlined in the Roadmap. For example, the public will be able to use a pay station or their mobile devices to pay for parking electronically and make additional payments to extend a parking session up to the maximum posted time limit. Additionally, the Police Department will be able to use time-stamped license plate images instead of marking tires. The code amendments also allow for more flexible parking options depending on the date, day of the week, season, or location. The Ordinance includes a requirement to establish parking zones and to set the days, hours and time limits by separate resolution. This staff report provides the background and supporting documentation in support of the City Council’s adoption of the appropriate resolutions to implement a paid parking zone program to replace the City’s existing pay-by-space parking meter system.
DISCUSSION:
The establishment of mobile payments and pay stations, removal of individual parking meters, and modification of off-street parking time limits were discussed in detail by the PPIC and the City Council during the 2025 and 2026 agenda items regarding the Parking Technology Roadmap and City Parking Management Plan update.
With the removal of individual parking meters, the public will no longer pay for parking at the parking meter in front of a particular space. Rather, drivers will pay to park in a particular area for a certain amount of time on their mobile phone, by text, or at a pay station (kiosk). Drivers will create a digital “parking session” to park in the identified area. It is expected that 85 to 90 percent of all parking sessions will be initiated via mobile phone. Approximately 110 pay stations will be installed throughout the paid parking zones to replace about 1,275 individual parking meters. The pay stations will accept coins, TAP (contactless), and most types of debit and credit card payments. They will not accept bills.
Street and Parking Lot Time Limits
In preparation for this meeting, staff held several meetings with the Downtown and North End Business and Professional Associations as well as the Chamber of Commerce. Business owners had differing opinions on whether to increase or decrease the maximum time limit for street parking, and many stakeholders were not represented at the meetings, most notably residents.
Consistent with the Paid Parking Zone regulations established in City Council Ordinance 26-0011, the attached City Council draft resolutions establish time limit ranges for parking on City-owned or controlled on- and off-street parking facilities during paid enforcement periods. The maximum time limit set in the draft resolution is up to three hours for on-street parking facilities and up to ten hours for off-street parking facilities. The resolution also delegates the setting of specific time limits within parking zones to the City Traffic Engineer as long as those specific time limits are consistent with the City Council’s set ranges.
Staff is not recommending any change to on-street parking time limits at this time in the pay parking zones. It is proposed that the City maintain all on-street parking time limits and durations in their current configuration, primarily two- to three-hour parking between 8 AM and 9 PM. Similarly, the maximum time limit for existing 24-minute short-term on-street parking spaces will not be changed at this time. However, it is proposed that certain off-street public parking lot time limits in the Downtown and North End be extended by one hour. The proposed extension to modify off-street parking in certain City public parking lots is made pursuant to Parking Strategy No. 2 included in the City’s Parking Management Program, which was previously approved by the City Council in April 2026. The recommended modification is to raise the maximum time limit in Parking Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and Civic Center Lot (lower level during unreserved parking periods) from two to three hours. The intent of Parking Strategy No. 2 is to differentiate on- and off- street parking to encourage those seeking longer-term parking to use off-street facilities. During the City’s recent outreach efforts to the business community regarding the parking zones, there appeared to be a consensus among participants that raising the maximum time limit in public parking lots would be beneficial for customers and clients who need more time to use longer-term services in the City’s business districts. Also, the City’s current parking rates would not be modified as part of this action.
Given the interest expressed by participants in the business community outreach sessions in evaluating and modifying on-street parking time limits, the City Council can direct the City Traffic Engineer to evaluate them. If directed, the City Traffic Engineer will bring on-street parking time limits as a future item to the Parking and Public Improvements Commission (PPIC). This will provide an opportunity for all stakeholders to testify regarding their parking needs and for the PPIC to provide recommendations to the City Traffic Engineer. Per the authority delegated to the City Traffic Engineer in the attached resolutions, the time limits in specific parking zones can then be adjusted to meet community needs.
Pay-by-Plate vs. Pay-by-Space
There are two primary payment models used when implementing a mobile payment system: pay-by-plate and pay-by-space. A comparison table is provided as an attachment to this report.
In a pay-by-plate system, the driver enters their license plate number at the pay station or on their mobile app. The transaction is associated with the plate, not a specific space. Any space in the lot (or zone) is valid during the paid parking session. The driver can move to a different space within the same zone and remain compliant. It does require the driver to enter their license plate number when starting a parking session, but the mobile app will store all license plates for that user in advance. For enforcement, the officer reads the license plate via a mobile parking enforcement cameras either on their vehicle or handheld device to determine if the vehicle has a valid parking session. Most multi-space pay station deployments in the last 5-7 years use pay-by-plate systems, which are more compatible with mobile parking enforcement camera enforcement.
Creating a session tied to a license plate is often simpler and less error-prone for drivers. Mistyping a plate can typically be identified and corrected. Mistyping a space number, on the other hand, can be harder to detect and more difficult to resolve. From an enforcement standpoint, verifying a plate can provide clearer confirmation of compliance than marking tires. When citations are challenged, having a vehicle-level session history can also simplify adjudication. There is also a broader data advantage. Because sessions are tied to vehicles and often parker accounts, cities gain stronger visibility into trends, repeat usage, and overall program performance over time. Pay-by-plate is also compatible with newer automated parking garages and photo enforcement that validates vehicle presence at the plate level. These factors often make plate-based parking a stronger, more flexible operational choice for municipalities with diverse parking facilities.
Pay-by-plate parking systems have been implemented in communities and in Coastal zones throughout southern California, including: Beverly Hills, Burbank, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Irvine, Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Orange County, Pasadena, Redondo Beach, San Diego, Seal Beach and Ventura.
Conversely, in a pay-by space system, each parking space is identified with a unique number associated with it. When a driver parks, they enter their space number at the pay station or on their mobile app. The space number is the key identifier: the transaction is valid for that space, and any vehicle in that space during the paid parking session is considered compliant. It also requires the driver to look for and remember a different parking space number every time they park. This can be problematic if the parking space number is faded or obstructed by something. For enforcement, the officer references the space number against the real-time parking payment database to determine if the vehicle has a valid parking session. It should be noted that if a vehicle leaves before the paid time expires, there is no advantage to the public because the new driver is unaware of any unexpired time for that space. The overlapping parking session creates a phantom (double) payment. It also requires the enforcement officer to manually track the amount of time spent in the parking space for each vehicle, making mobile parking enforcement camera enforcement less effective. Where space-level occupancy data or enforcement is critical, space-based systems can offer clear visibility into stall-by-stall utilization.
Per City Council direction and as recommended in the Parking Technology Roadmap, all paid parking in the City will use the pay-by-plate model and a common payment platform to pay for parking.
Parking Zones
Both parking methods rely on parking zones, which is a defined area with the same time limits and parking rates in which the driver parks. Parking zones are typically comprised of the on-street parking within one street block, or a certain section of a parking lot with the same time restrictions. Zones are identified with zone numbers, which are posted on informational signs within the zone. The City Traffic Engineer has defined the proposed paid parking zones throughout the City, which are described in detail in the attachments.
“Feeding the Meter”
Mobile app and pay station technology have the ability to prevent drivers from “feeding the meter” beyond the maximum time limit, which is a practice often observed by beachgoers and employees in Downtown, North Manhattan Beach and beach lots. Feeding the meter reduces the availability of high-demand parking spaces in front of businesses. For those who do need long-term parking, one of the approved parking strategies is to lengthen the time limits in some of the City’s public parking lots to encourage long-term parking in off-street lots instead.
The new technology can impose a “time-out” period, requiring a driver to vacate the parking zone after the maximum parking time is reached until the “time-out” period ends. Typical “time-out” periods range from 10 minutes to two hours. This practice is similar to our existing parking regulations, which require a vehicle to vacate the parking space after the maximum time limit is reached.
The City’s existing parking meters allow for feeding the meter because there is no way of knowing if the payment made is for a currently parked vehicle or for a newly parked vehicle. As such, the only way to enforce the requirement for a vehicle to vacate a space after maximum time limit has elapsed is for a parking officer to manually track the parking duration of every vehicle. This results in an inefficient and inequitable method of enforcement because it is very labor intensive.
It should be noted that the enforcement of maximum time limits for either traditional parking meters or the proposed parking zones is not automatic - parking officers must verify the violation in person and write the citation. This also means that “feeding the meter” may still happen if there is no “time-out” period between ending one parking session and starting a new one. The driver would just start a new parking session after the maximum time limit is reached without moving their vehicle. Enforcement would still rely on monitoring parking duration, in this case with mobile parking enforcement camera technology. Staff recommends a short “time out” period to allow for stricter enforcement when recurrent maximum-time-limit parking violations occur.
License Plate-Based Enforcement Policy
The City has entered into a contract with EyeP Solutions to provide mobile parking enforcement cameras and software to integrate said enforcement into the mobile and pay station paid parking platform. The mobile parking enforcement cameras will be installed on parking enforcement vehicles, with additional capability to record license plate information on handheld devices. The mobile parking enforcement cameras are part of a closed, encoded system that is exclusively managed by the Police Department and is subject to the City’s mobile parking enforcement camera regulations regarding storage and privacy protections.
Coastal Development Permit
On October 20, 2026, the City filed a CDP application to install pay stations, establish paid parking zones, and set the days, hours, and time limits of paid parking enforcement for paid parking zones on City-owned or controlled on- and off-street parking facilities in the City’s Coastal Zone.
The pay stations and parking zones are proposed Citywide, including in the Coastal Zone. For that reason, the proposed modifications to the parking controls are subject to the relevant provisions of the Manhattan Beach Local Coastal Program (LCP). CDPs are governed by Chapter A.96 of the LCP. LCP Sections A.96.040 and A.96.230 specify that, “A coastal development permit is required for any development, including gates, parking controls, new locations for parking areas, changes in fee structure, expansion of times and hours in which monthly permits may be offered, or other devices in the coastal zone that change the availability of long and short term public parking, including, but not limited to, changes in the operation of the City parking management program established in § A.64.230.” The subject request includes adjustments to the parking controls for the on-street parking, City-owned parking lots, and State Pier and County parking lots. Therefore, a CDP is required for these parking locations within the Coastal Zone (see attachment). Findings required for approval of the CDP are contained in Draft Resolution No. 26-0114.
Parking Zone Resolutions
As outlined in Ordinance No. 26-0011, adopted by the City Council on October 6, 2026, a separate resolution is required to establish the parking zones, time limits for those zones, and days and hours of paid parking enforcement. These actions are intended to be taken in conjunction with approval of the CDP for locations within the Coastal Zone, and as a separate action for other areas outside of the Coastal Zone. As such, separate resolutions have been prepared for the City Council’s consideration for areas within and outside the Coastal Zone. Findings required for approval of the CDP are included in draft Resolution No. 26-0114.
CONCLUSION
Pursuant to prior direction from City Council as supported by the Parking Technology Roadmap and City Parking Management Study, staff recommends that the City Council conduct a public hearing, as required by the City’s LCP. Staff further recommends that the City Council adopt two resolutions to install pay stations, establish paid parking zones, and set the days, hours, and time limits of paid parking enforcement for paid parking zones on City-owned or controlled on- and off-street parking facilities citywide. For areas within the Coastal Zone, the resolution would also approve the CDP.
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
A public notice for the November 3, 2026, public hearing was published in The Beach Reporter on October 22, 2026. Public notices were also mailed to both residents and property owners within 300 feet of the proposed parking zones and pay station locations in accordance with LCP noticing requirements.
In addition to the standard public noticing requirements through the City’s website and posted agendas at City Hall, the Manhattan Beach Public Library, and other City community centers, a courtesy email notification of tonight’s meeting has been provided to the Downtown Business and Professional Association, North Manhattan Beach Business and Professional Association and the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce to share with their members. Staff attended two meetings with the DBPA, NMBBPA and the Chamber of Commerce in September and October to discuss the proposed changes to the parking meter system and to answer questions from stakeholders as discussed earlier in this report.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
The City has reviewed the proposed project for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and has determined that it is exempt from further review pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301 (Existing Facilities) for the establishment of paid parking zones, and Sections 15301 and 15303 (New Construction or Conversion of Small Structures) for the replacement of individual parking meters with pay stations. The setting of days, hours, and time limits of paid parking enforcement is not a “Project” as defined under Section 15378 of the State CEQA Guidelines; therefore, pursuant to Section 15060(c)(3) of the State CEQA Guidelines, the activity is not subject to CEQA. As such, no further environmental review is necessary.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has reviewed this report and determined that no additional legal analysis is necessary. The City Attorney has approved the Resolutions as to form.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Resolution No. 26-0114 (Coastal Zone)
2. Resolution No. 26-0115 (Non-Coastal Zone)
3. Parking Technology Roadmap
4. City Parking Management Study Report Executive Summary
5. Pay-by-License vs. Pay-by-Space Comparison
6. Parking Zone Locations and Pay Station Maps
7. Coastal Development Permit Application
8. PowerPoint Presentation