After watching neighborhoods to the north and to the south adopt new parking-permit programs over the past year, the residents of Southgate are preparing for their turn.

The neighborhood, which is located near Palo Alto High School, has been serving for years as an unofficial parking lot for Paly students. On Wednesday night, the Planning and Transportation Commission gave its stamp of approval to a parking program designed to relieve the congestion along the curbs.

The new Residential Preferential Program is modeled in many ways on the recent programs in downtown and Evergreen Park, which is near the California Avenue business district. Much like in the Evergreen Park program, every resident in the new parking district would be eligible for one free parking permit and the option of buying up to three more for $50 each.

Unlike the other two programs, which were driven in large part by employees parking on residential streets and which allocated a share of permits for workers, the Southgate program is geared primarily toward residents. The district only has two businesses, both medical clinics, within its boundaries and the program allocates 10 permits in total for their potential parking needs. These six-month permits would cost $74.50 each; low-income workers would be charged $25 each.

Parking convenience isn't the only reason why Southgate residents petitioned for the new program. Jim McFall, who serves on the neighborhood's parking committee, said improving safety is a key goal. One of the defining characteristics of the neighborhood, he told the commission, is the narrowness of its streets, many of which are 24 feet or less. With cars parked along both curbs, the streets effectively become one way.

"That exacerbates congestion and traffic," McFall said. “And we also have the Castilleja Bike Boulevard going through the neighborhood. It raises significant safety concerns.

"The neighborhood wasn't designed in the '20s for anything close to double-loaded or double-parked streets."

The commission voted 6-1, with Susan Monk dissenting, to grant the neighborhood its request. A parking-occupancy survey last year found that 89 percent of the the neighborhood's spaces got filled up around lunchtime, up from 71 percent in the morning and from 54 percent in the evening.

"This clearly shows the impact of Palo Alto High School and PAUSD students, employees and visitors on the neighborhood parking supply," a report from planning staff stated. "With a mid-day occupancy rate of over 85 percent, many blocks do not have any available on-street spaces during the lunch-time hour."

The city and the district had already taken some actions to address the parking crunch. Last year, the district revised its permit system so that students who live near Paly will not get priority for parking passes – a changed designed to encourage them to walk or bike. And the city was able to free up some spaces by restriping several portion of El Camino Real.

Even with these changes, many residents have continued to call for the permit program. Last March, the city mailed out surveys to the 232 properties in the district, which is bounded by Churchill Avenue, the Caltrain tracks, Sequoia Avenue and El Camino Real. Of the 128 that responded, 95 supported moving ahead with the program and 33 opposed it.

Much like in Evergreen Park, the new program was approved for one year, with expectations that the city will revise it based on results and feedback. Most commissioners lauded staff's work on the new program, which residents have been requesting for more than a year.

Given how long it has taken the city to establish the downtown and Evergreen Park programs, Commissioner Asher Waldfogel called the Southgate effort "fast paced" by city standards. Commissioner Doria Summa concurred.

"I'm very happy and pleased for the neighborhood because they really want it," Summa said.

Even Monk, who voted against the motion, said she agreed that the neighborhood can use a program. She noted, however, that the city's occupancy surveys were conducted before Paly changed its permit system and before the new spaces were freed up on El Camino. The commission, she said, does not have the needed data to see what effect these changes had.

"It's important to have a program,” Monk said. "I don't know if this is the answer to those problems."

If the City Council approves the program, as is widely expected, the new restrictions are scheduled to roll out this fall, with enforcement starting in October.