Millbrae's Parking Plan Reaches Well Past Broadway

"People don't want to be in a position where they feel like they're being ripped off," Mayor Reuben Holober said this spring, as the City Council worked through its first paid parking program, according to the San Mateo Daily Journal. Most of the public talk has been about that question, the hourly rate on Broadway.

City documents show a second change that will reach more people. Millbrae's residential parking permits are being rebuilt around license plates, and the proposed permit area would grow by more than half. For anyone who lives within a few blocks of downtown, the permit is the part of this program that will matter every day. A meter matters only when you stop for dinner.

Your permit becomes your plate

Millbrae has never run a paid parking program. The city said so in plain terms in its answers to prospective vendors. When the city put the work out to bid in August 2025, parking on public streets and in city lots downtown and around the station was free but time-limited, and residential permits covered longer stays.

The vendor Q&A shows what replaces that system. Every permit will be tied to a license plate and enforced with license plate reader technology. Brian Shaw of Kimley-Horn, the consultant on the program, described the practical effect to the council, the Daily Journal reported. Officers would no longer chalk tires or check dashboards for permits. They would run plates through an automated reader. Shaw named Hemlock Avenue, Willow Avenue and Poplar Avenue among the streets in the current permit program.

The size of the permit area is the bigger news. These are the city's own figures for fiscal year 2025-26:

The city counted 878 active residential permits across Zones A, B and A/C in the same fiscal year. It does not offer visitor or temporary permits today. Most of the proposed expansion, 428 of the 533 added units, sits in large multifamily complexes. That fits the program's logic. Meters push long-stay parkers off Broadway, and the permit zone has to grow to cover the streets they would move to.

Councilmember Anders Fung set the priority for those streets. "We give maximum advantage to those who already live on the block and have an opportunity to park in front of their house," he said, according to the Daily Journal's account. Former Mayor Ann Schneider lives on Palm Avenue. At the same meeting she said her street had not been included in the potential impact study and asked consultants to talk with residents. The streets that end up inside the expanded zone, and the ones left just outside it, will decide who notices this program most.

Where the meters start

Meters come in two phases. Paid parking would begin on downtown Broadway and the streets right next to it. After that, the city would work with Caltrans and the state to add meters along El Camino Real at the edge of downtown, as the Daily Journal described the consultants' proposal. In February, the city invited downtown businesses to an open house about changes "along Broadway, Park Place, and Park Blvd."

The city has also listed the off-street lots in scope:

• La Cruz Avenue at Magnolia Avenue Lot, 320 Magnolia Ave.
• Farmers Market Lot, 238 Broadway, which runs from Broadway to the El Camino Real frontage road
• US Bank Lot, also listed at 238 Broadway, with the same Broadway-to-frontage-road footprint
• Park Place Lot, 129 Park Pl.
• El Camino Lot, 1761 El Camino Real

The study area holds an estimated 300 to 400 businesses along Broadway, El Camino Real, Park Place and Park Boulevard. In fiscal 2025-26 the city had 269 active commercial permits in Zones A/C and C. Employee parking is one reason the plate-based system exists. People who work downtown need somewhere to park all day, and that somewhere should not be the residential blocks.

The rate is still open. The payment method is not.

No hourly rate has been adopted. In its vendor answers, the city said rates "have not yet been finalized and are subject to change pending completion of the financial analysis and final City Council action." It expects them to "generally align with neighboring jurisdictions." The Daily Journal reported that a base rate of $1.25 an hour had been considered earlier. Shaw told the council the city still needed a cost model showing what the program must charge to break even. Holober framed the goal as turnover and business access, with revenue as a side effect. "We want to be breaking even," he said.

The way you will pay is far more settled than the price. The city requires the system to work with ParkMobile, PayByPhone or both, to stay consistent with nearby cities. The city has also said that credit card processing fees and convenience or transaction fees "will be passed on to the users." App providers may charge their transaction fees directly to the person parking. So the cost of a short stop on Broadway will be the hourly rate plus whatever the payment method adds.

The money has a home already. On July 14, 2026, the council passed Ordinance 824, which created a dedicated Parking Enterprise Fund for parking revenue and expenses. That covers meters and apps, city lots, permits, enforcement, equipment, and capital costs that include possible garage expansions. The ordinance does not set any rate. A garage is still an idea. Fung described a possible structure on one of three city-owned downtown lots, used for employee and longer-term parking. "All we have right now is surface parking, which is extremely precious," he told the council, according to the Daily Journal.

Saturday morning on Broadway

Saturday is when this program and the busiest downtown habit overlap. The Millbrae Farmers' Market runs Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the city lot on Broadway between La Cruz and Victoria. The Chamber's calendar lists market dates on October 31, every Saturday in November and December, and into January 2027. The Farmers Market Lot is one of the five lots in the city's paid parking scope. The city has not yet said how paid parking will apply on market mornings. Consultants did take the outreach to the market itself, with a farmers' market open house planned for April 10.

Restaurant patios are the other street-level change. Since the pandemic, some Broadway restaurants have used parklets in parking spaces for outdoor seating. When Millbrae set its parklet guidelines, the Daily Journal listed The Noodle House, La Collina Restaurant, Fiddlers Green, Sugandh Indian Restaurant & Bar and wonderful among the restaurants with parklets at the time. Holober said this spring that if spaces become paid, the city would likely need to reevaluate what parklets cost. That is a likely future discussion. No fee has been adopted.

The calendar between now and the first meter

The city's target start for the program is Q1 2027. The work so far has followed this sequence:

1. July 2024. The city completed its Parking Management Plan for downtown and the station area.
2. August 22, 2025. The city issued its request for proposals to set up and run the program.
3. February 23, 2026. A business open house at Millbrae Library started phase one of outreach. Residents were promised their full say in phase two.
4. July 14, 2026. Ordinance 824 created the Parking Enterprise Fund.
5. October 22, 2026. The city scheduled a resident open house at 450 Poplar Ave. where people could test pay stations, meters, mobile payment apps and online resident permits at two vendor stations, one in the David J. Chetcuti Room and one at the library. The city said no real payments would be made, and it planned to collect feedback through an on-site survey.
6. Still ahead. The financial analysis, council action on rates, and the El Camino Real phase with Caltrans.

Downtown's fall and holiday events fall before that target. The city's Día de los Muertos Celebration is Friday, October 30, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Recreation Center, 477 Lincoln Circle. Its community ofrenda accepts photos and mementos through November 7. The 34th Annual Holiday Tree Lighting Celebration is December 5 from 5 to 7 p.m. at City Hall Plaza, 621 Magnolia Ave. With the program aimed at early 2027, this holiday season should still run on free, time-limited parking downtown.

If your block is near the edge of the proposed permit area, the city's Downtown Parking Management Program page and the parking team at [email protected] are the official places to follow the plan and send questions. This post is general information, not legal or financial advice. For permit eligibility or rules at a specific address, confirm with the city.

Parking rules near downtown are a practical part of owning or renting on these blocks, and they come up more often once a permit zone expands. If you'd like to talk through how Millbrae's plan affects a home you own or are considering near Broadway, Sharlyne Murphy is glad to help you sort out the details and keep track of the council's decisions as they come.