Developers would pay just 40 percent of cost to replace lost parking spots 

The developers planning to build projects on top of SLO City-owned downtown surface parking lots would have to pay more, but still nowhere near the cost of replacing the spots in parking structures, under a plan the SLO City Council is due to consider on Feb. 19.

Two major downtown projects, the Chinatown project and the Garden Street Terraces project, are slated to be built over city-owned surface lots. The Copeland-family controlled Chinatown project alone would see the loss of 143 public surface spots.

The estimated cost of replacing the spots in parking structures would be $40,900 each, according to city officials, but current policy would only require the developers to pay $12,767 per spot. Under the new plan, designed to make the builders pay 40 percent of the costs, they would have to pay $16,400 per spot. A staff report calls the figure "a reasonable and appropriate balance."

In Pismo Beach, according to the report, the city requires builders to pay 100 percent of the replacement cost of lost spots. But some other cities require as little as 25 percent.

The council's agenda is available on the city's website