Downtown Valet Parking on Hold a Month

San Juan Capistrano planning commissioners had too many questions about proposed downtown valet parking to approve it Tuesday.

The matter will come back to the panel in September.

The owners of the Franciscan Plaza want to offer the service during peak and weekend hours, allowing drop off along Camino Capistrano just south of Verdugo Street and then parking the cars on the basement level of the nearby structure they own near the railroad tracks.

Representing the owners, Robert Quest, president of Sundried Tomato Café, said if you look at popular commercial districts in other communities, such as the Spectrum in Irvine, the valet lot is always full.

“There’s a segment of the population that does spend their money in this fashion,” he said.

Sid Serafini, owner of Fiano’s (formerly Vito’s), said half of his business comes from Ladera Ranch, and he wants to keep them coming. Valet service will aid in that goal.

But commissioners had a number of questions they believed couldn’t yet be satisfactorily answered by staff. Among them:

• Tim Neely wanted to know if the city needed to have in place some sort of agreement for the shopping center to use the public curb and sidewalk to run a business.

• Neely also wanted to better understand a revenue sharing agreement that could have the city collect half of the planned $5 fee charged to use valet service.

• Sheldon Cohen was concerned with safety, saying valets tend drive faster than other motorists. He wondered if $2 million in liability insurance was enough.

• Evan Chaffee was concerned there wasn’t enough room to stack waiting cars on Camino Capistrano.