San Diego approves parking fees for Balboa Park, but delays start date several months

The San Diego City Council voted 6-2 Monday to begin charging parking fees in Balboa Park for the first time, but council members delayed the start date by several months and granted many park users some major concessions.

The concessions and the delayed start — from Oct. 6 to sometime in early 2026 — will cost the city several million dollars that officials had been counting on to balance their budget and avoid emergency cuts.

The concessions include allowing San Diego High School students to park for free, and making quarterly and annual passes available for frequent park users who play bridge, lawn bowl or participate in other activities.

Monday’s compromise, which was approved after a contentious public hearing that lasted more than four hours, calls for significantly higher fees for people living outside the city of San Diego than previous proposals.

People living outside the city will pay $16 a day to park in lots closest to the park’s center and $10 a day to park in lots a bit farther out. Those are up from $12 a day and $6 a day proposed by Mayor Todd Gloria.

City residents will pay $8 a day to park in the most convenient lots, but will also get the option of paying only $5 if they park there for less than four hours. And city residents will pay $5 a day to park in lots a farther out.

All park users will be allowed to park for free for three hours at Inspiration Point, an overflow lot at the park’s southern edge where trams take people to the park’s more popular destinations.

After three hours, residents will have to pay $5 a day to park at Inspiration Point and non-residents will have to pay $10 a day.

Giving residents a better deal was another motive for the delay. The mayor’s proposal would have started parking fees on Oct. 6, but resident discounts would have been delayed until an address verification portal is ready in January.

Under the compromise approved Monday, no fees will be charged in Balboa Park until three things happen: the resident portal is ready, the passes for frequent users are available and a parking deal is worked out with the high school.

The city’s delay will likely mean a delay in when the San Diego Zoo begins charging for parking for the first time. Zoo officials said last week that they plan to start charging in lockstep with the city.

Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera said it was a crucial move for San Diego to start charging for parking at Balboa Park — and to charge non-residents significantly more than residents.

“The current model of people coming to this city, using its resources and not paying a fair share is unsustainable,” he said. “It simply will not work— it has not worked.”

Elo-Rivera was joined in support by Councilmembers Kent Lee, Joe LaCava, Jennifer Campbell, Marni von Wilpert and Henry Foster.

Von Wilpert said she struggled with the vote.

“This is not a generalized tax that will apply to everyone,” she said. “This is a fee that will apply to folks who have relied on this portion of the city of San Diego for years and decades.”

Councilmembers Vivian Moreno and Stephen Whitburn cast the “no” votes. Councilmember Raul Campillo was absent.

“Right now the park is incredibly accessible to residents that are economically challenged,” Moreno said. “Charging for parking will change that.”

Whitburn said the fees would change the vibe of the park.

“I want everybody to enjoy the crown jewel of our city without worrying about the cost of parking,” he said. “I want people to have fun in Balboa Park, not be concerned about getting a parking ticket.”

Peter Comiskey, who leads a group of 23 park organizations calls the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, said research shows the city is making the wrong move.

“Research confirms what many of us know: introducing or increasing paid parking creates barriers to access and reduces visitation at cultural institutions and parks,” he said.

San Diego’s budget for the ongoing fiscal year includes $15.5 million in projected revenue from parking in Balboa Park — $3 million from the zoo and $12.5 million from the rest of the park.

The concessions and the delay are expected to shrink that amount significantly. Jillian Andolina, an analyst for the city’s independent budget analyst, estimated the cost Monday night as “several million dollars.”

The lost revenue could prompt emergency mid-year cuts, possibly to libraries and recreation centers. Those are the exact cuts the council tried to avoid in June when they approved a budget with ambitious parking revenue projections.

Foster said he will not accept cuts to libraries and recreation centers as a way to close the new budget hole created by Monday’s concessions.

The new fees won’t affect the park’s 180 accessible parking spots, which will remain free to cars with placards. The fees also won’t apply on major holidays.

Those include New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

The parking kiosks the city plans to use will take credit cards and coins, but no paper money. The apps will allow users who park at Inspiration Point to pay a daily fee from their phone if it becomes clear they will exceed the three-hour maximum for free parking.

These are the lots with the highest pricing: Organ Pavilion, 352 spots; Alcazar Garden, 120; Pan American Plaza, 150; Fleet Science Center North, 154; Natural History Museum, 102; and North of Village Place, 226.

These lots have lower rates: Fleet Science Center South, 120 spots; Starlight Bowl, 509; Casa de Balboa, 82, Marston Point, 70; Upper Inspiration Point, 406.

Lower Inspiration Point, which has 924 slots, is where people can park for three hours for free.

Hundreds of residents and park users spoke against the proposed fees Monday, with many calling them rushed and poorly planned.

Others said the fees will hit senior citizens on fixed incomes particularly hard. They make up a large share of the frequent users in the park’s bridge clubs, chess clubs and lawn bowling groups.

That was the council’s primary motivation in agreeing to create a program with quarterly and annual passes. It hasn’t been decided how much such passes will cost.

The annual December Nights event will be exempt from the new fees. That event will keep all parking revenue generated that night.