SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – San Diego continues to take steps towards paid parking at Balboa Park, which, for now, is free for all to park.
As we reported with the tiered Balboa Park parking lots, residents would get more free parking hours in addition to paid lots being priced as low as $5.
At level three lots, like the one at Inspiration Point, locals would get the first three hours free. At level two lots, like the ones for the Starlight Bowl and the Veterans Museum, they would pay $5 for all-day parking. And at level 1 lots -- like at the Organ Pavilion, it'll be $8 a day.
Those who don’t have an address in the city limits of San Diego will pay double.
So we looked into where San Diego compares to other cities in the country when it comes to parking fees.
The City of San Diego told ABC 10News that when it comes to the Balboa Park fee structure, it didn’t use one city in particular as a direct comparison. But the City looked at other local park rates in other areas, as well as other state and federal park rates.
ABC 10News researched information on similar cities in terms of size and location to San Diego. We compared the parking rate fees for Phoenix (1.6 million people), Houston (2.3 million people) and Los Angeles (3.88 million people).
Park Phoenix’s website shows that the roughly 2,000 meters are a dollar-50 an hour daily, except on holidays and weekends.
A Google search on Houston’s rate showed about $2.30 with varying rates but the City’s website didn’t have specifics.
LA’s meters, according to the City’s Department of Transportation, range from 50 cents to 6 bucks an hour.
ABC 10News also looked into areas in those cities that are similar to Balboa Park.
Houston’s Hermann Park Conservatory, which is an urban park like Balboa, shows there’s free parking near the zoo and other areas, with the option of reserved parking. It’s a flat rate of 10 dollars on the weekends if you want to purchase it.
Up north on I-5, parking at the Los Angeles Zoo is free. LA’s Griffith Observatory does have both free and paid parking areas. But the website for the park doesn’t specify how much the paid parking is for people.
A San Diego City spokesperson told ABC 10News it worked with stakeholders and the council’s desires to keep rates low for residents. It also said that the annual pass for residents to park at Balboa Park with the new fee structure is still being worked out.
