The City of Santa Clara currently owns two parking lots at Franklin Square as part of Parking Maintenance District 122 (formed in 1965), which provides funding for public maintenance and operations of parking lots, fountains, sidewalks, landscaping, irrigation, lights, and utilities within Franklin Square.
On several occasions, Council discussed how the City currently funds the day-to-day maintenance costs for PMD 122. On April 19, 2022, Council discussed implementing paid parking at Franklin Square to generate revenue to offset the City’s costs for PMD 122. On June 21, 2022, staff provided an informational report with preliminary information on what the potential steps could be to implement paid parking. The concept of paid parking was included as a part of the City’s 2024 Priority Setting discussions and the April 3, 2024 Council Priority Setting Session, Council prioritized the implementation of paid parking at Franklin Square. During the City’s 2025 Priority Setting discussions, an update to this priority item was included in the staff report.
The City has held two outreach meetings. The first meeting on May 20, 2025 was targeted to the property owners of Franklin Square to inform them of the Council Priority project. The second meeting on July 14, 2025 was advertised to the wider community that could be affected by a potential paid parking project. Staff has collected the public input and comments to help guide the project.
