On Tuesday, October 26th, Burbank City Council held a regularly scheduled meeting.
One of the topics reported on by city staff to the council was on the possibility of making 16 electric vehicle (EV) parking spaces in the Community Services Building parking lot available to all shoppers at Burbank’s Farmers Market. The Farmers Market takes place every Saturday from 7 A.M. to 1 P.M. in a parking lot along Olive Avenue between Glenoaks Blvd and 3rd Street.
Due to the large crowds that often flock to the market on Saturday, parking space is limited in the area.
At a prior meeting, the city council directed the Community Development Department to investigate what could be done with these parking spaces reserved for electric vehicles.

David Kriske, Assistant Community Development Director, presented a Powerpoint to the council on the feasibility of making these parking spots available to all during the allotted time.
Kriske informed the council that state law governs EV parking spaces and that they would have to amend Burbank’s municipal code in order to remove the EV designation for these parking spaces. However, he did not recommend taking this step due to several negative ramifications, including the loss of grant money and a possible backpedal from previous city policies that sought to encourage the use of electric vehicles.
Instead of altering the EV designation of these 16 parking spots, Kriske recommended that the city convert several unrestricted parking spots in the same parking lot to become 30-minute, temporary parking spaces. Kriske additionally suggested that wayfinding signage be added around the area it order to direct market shoppers to find available parking a few blocks away.
Following Kriske’s presentation, the council deliberated on the matter.
Speaking on behalf of Farmers Market management, Councilmember Sharon Springer said, “they don’t want to move forward with this ordinance.”
“[Farmers Market management] doesn’t want a 30-minute restriction on the non-EV parking, but they do appreciate the parking wayfinding signs” said Springer.
The rest of the council was largely in agreement with Director Kriske and Councilmember Springer’s opinion on the matter. “I’m going to have to go with staff’s direction,” said Vice Mayor Jess Talamantes.
After deliberating, the council decided to note and file the matter.
There are a plethora of private companies that are building charging stations at homes and in apartment complexes and offices.
The city should stop building charging stations which will eventually become derelict as people prefer to charge at home. Ask them…why would someone pay to charge at a station when they have a home charger? That is the future and you can review YouTube videos by electric vehicle owners to see their habits. Most of the stations are empty, most of the time.
And electric isn’t the only zero emissions technology, fuel cells are taking hold and will also occupy the zero emissions vehicle space. Just let everyone park anywhere and let people figure our their charging at home, their office or their apartment complex. We do not need the City get into the “filling station” business at the taxpayer expense.
Comments are closed.