The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety and Santa Clara Police Department met just a week after Levi’s Stadium hosted its very first sporting event to discuss the thing on everyone’s mind: traffic.
While Santa Clara PD had the brunt of the work controlling traffic from the 48,000 Earthquakes-Sounders fans drawn to the stadium–about two-thirds of what an NFL game is expected to bring–Sunnyvale DPS carried its fair share of the workload, enforcing traffic laws and doling out dozens of parking tickets on Aug. 2.
Despite several new regulations–including one-hour parking signs on Reamwood Avenue, Birchwood Drive, Hammerwood Avenue and Elko Drive east of Reamwood Avenue in Sunnyvale, off of Tasman Drive–several violations occurred.
“The first event went OK, but traffic got a little munged up,” Sunnyvale DPS Capt. Jeff Hunter said. “But the big thing we want to let residents know is don’t let friends park on your street because our department will be out to enforce.”
Santa Clara PD will be in charge of setting up temporary signs on game days near neighborhoods around the stadium, restricting the area to resident-only parking.
While there is no parking permit program in place for residents, as both city and police departments want to wait to see if any issues unfold, residents do have the option of pursuing one by approaching the city.
The best way is to contact the city’s transportation division, specifically Jack Whitthaus or Carla Ochoa at 408.730.7330, according to community development director Hanson Hom.
“We are waiting to see what kind of parking problems might result in overflow from the stadium,” Hom said. “We didn’t want to do overkill on regulations unless it is determined that there are problems.”
The city did, however, create a permit system for private property owners to permit on-site parking on game days, but Hom said no businesses in Sunnyvale have come forward yet to acquire one.
“I think they are waiting and seeing if it would be worth it and if they would make money off it,” Hom said. “I think once the football games begin, that will be really telling.”
City staff came up with a permitting system that would designate certain lots as official off-site stadium parking to help the city keep track of which parking lots would be in use during stadium events and help Sunnyvale DPS monitor activity within the business parks.
Parking lot owners would be able to charge for parking and would determine the fee.
