10/23/2026
Downtown Parking Management Plan: Myth vs. Fact
We’ve seen a lot of questions about the Downtown Parking Management Plan. Here are five things we keep hearing, and what’s actually true.
MYTH: Millbrae will have the same problems San Bruno has.
FACT: Millbrae is learning lessons from San Bruno’s challenges, including kiosk issues, a one-hour minimum charge, 8 AM to 8 PM enforcement seven days a week, and meters on low-demand blocks. Millbrae hasn’t set rates, hours, zones, or equipment yet, so it can address each of these.
MYTH: The City is installing meters just to make money.
FACT: The goal is a parking program that pays for itself. By ordinance, all parking revenue goes into a Parking Enterprise Fund that can only be used for parking, not the General Fund.
MYTH: Paid parking will push all the cars into residential neighborhoods.
FACT: Spillover is a risk the plan prepares for, not a proven outcome. The plan proposes expanding residential permits to blocks within a quarter mile of paid parking. Boundaries, fees, and monitoring haven’t been decided yet.
MYTH: Millbrae has already approved a six-story parking garage at Magnolia.
FACT: No City-owned garage has been approved anywhere. On Sept. 8, staff shared eight early concepts for three City lots. No site has been picked, and nothing is designed, funded, or authorized. No project moves forward without community review and input.
MYTH: Everyone will have to use a parking app.
FACT: An app will be one option, not the only one. The consultant recommended pay stations that take coins and cards, plus an app. Final equipment hasn’t been chosen yet.
Drop in TONIGHT OCT 22 anytime from 5:30 to 8:30 PM. One provider will be in the Chetcuti Room and the other in the Library, and you can visit both throughout the evening.
Read the full FAQs & Learn more: https://www.ci.millbrae.ca.us/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=179