County Supervisors Unanimously restrict Parking on narrow highway shoulders at Point Lobos; Senator Laird passes law Requiring agencies to find Solutions to Point Lobos safety challenges

The Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously yesterday to eliminate some parking on Highway 1 south of Point Lobos. This follows concerted public outcry over the dangerous parking conditions near Point Lobos State Natural Reserve (including advocacy by the folks behind this website).

The measure, proposed by Supervisor Kate Daniels (thank you!), directs county staff to apply for an emergency coastal development permit that implement ‘no parking’ restrictions at spots so narrow that pedestrians are forced to walk in the lane of traffic on their way to and from Point Lobos.

The approved measure also directs the county to work with Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol to increase fines for parking illegally in the vicinity of the Reserve. And it directed county staff to work with Caltrans and State Parks to restore and improve the pedestrian path to the west of the highway to provide visitors a safe walking path to Point Lobos.

In another very positive development, State Senator John Laird authored a bill (SB 178) that legislators passed and the governor approved last week, directing California State Parks and multiple other agencies to prepare a comprehensive report addressing traffic congestion, public safety, and public access at Point Lobos.

The report must analyze unsafe parking zones, promote traffic calming strategies and identify methods to disperse visitors in the daytime to improve safety and access.

These measures echo the proposals suggested by this website. (See here and here.) A big thank you to Supervisor Daniels and Senator Laird for championing these solutions to the urgent need to improve safety for visitors to Point Lobos!