"One of the greatest challenges in downtown to the businesses is folks who want to come in. They circle around 10 minutes, they can't find parking and then they leave."
Vice Mayor Anders Fung said that to the San Mateo Daily Journal when the City Council took up paid parking in June. If you have circled the Broadway blocks looking for a space on a Saturday morning, you know what he means. A lot has happened since that meeting. Paid parking in downtown Millbrae has moved from discussion to law. On July 14, 2026, the Council voted 4-0 to adopt Ordinance 825, which adds a paid parking chapter to the municipal code, and it adopted Ordinance 824, which sets up a dedicated parking enterprise fund.
The decisions a driver will actually feel have not been made yet. That is what makes this fall worth paying attention to.
The law came first, and the numbers come later
This has been building for a while. The city's Downtown and Station Area Parking Management Plan dates to July 2024. In August 2025 the city issued a request for proposals to turn that plan into a working paid parking program. In February 2026 the city invited businesses to an open house about proposed on-street changes along Broadway, Park Place and Park Boulevard. The Council heard an informational update on May 12, 2026, with no decision. On June 23 it introduced both ordinances and separately adopted a privacy policy for automated license plate readers as Resolution 26-41. The July vote finished the legal groundwork.
Ordinance 825 is mostly a framework. It says the Council will set parking meter areas by resolution "from time to time." The same goes for rates, enforcement days and hours, and time limits. As of early October 2026, no such resolution appears in the city's public records. The September 8 Council agenda had a parking item, but it was a status update on parking garage feasibility studies, not a vote on rates or a launch.
Here is where things stand.
| Question | Status as of October 4, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Is paid parking authorized? | Yes. Ordinance 825 adopted July 14, 2026 |
| Where does the money go? | A parking enterprise fund under Ordinance 824, restricted to parking needs |
| Which streets and lots get meters? | Not set by resolution |
| Hourly rate | Not set. $1.25 was considered earlier but never adopted |
| Enforcement days and hours | Not set |
| Time limits | Not set |
| Free first period | None proposed in public records |
| Payment equipment and vendor | Two providers are demonstrating. No selection announced |
| Start date | Not announced |
What the ordinance already settles
The open questions get the attention, but Ordinance 825 also contains several rules that will apply whatever rate the Council picks.
- Meters only count once they are installed. The ordinance says paid parking takes effect "upon the installation of paid parking devices, as designated by the city manager." The start date will show up at the curb, so a curb with no meter on it is still governed by today's rules.
- Staff can adjust rates without a new Council vote. Once the Council sets a rate range, the city "may administratively adjust the parking rates upwards or downwards by a maximum of $0.50 to better manage parking demand." Whatever opening rate is adopted can later move by up to fifty cents in either direction based on demand.
- Overstaying moves you off the block. A car that stays past the posted limit in a paid space may not park on the same block for two hours. Each extra hour past an expired session can draw its own citation. Feeding the meter will not stretch a stay on one block indefinitely.
- You start the session when you park. Drivers have to start a paid session through a designated device or app "upon entering" the space.
The ordinance's own findings explain the reasoning. Free curb spaces "do not generate adequate space turnover," and employees or visitors who stay all day create ongoing obstacles for downtown merchants. The policy is meant to make spaces turn over, not to raise money. In the Daily Journal's spring report, Mayor Reuben Holober described the goal as breaking even without people feeling "ripped off."
The proposed map reaches past Broadway
The only public outline of a meter zone so far comes from the city's consultant, Brian Shaw of Kimley-Horn, as reported by the Daily Journal this spring. Phase 1 would cover downtown Broadway and the streets immediately next to it. Phase 2 would extend meters onto El Camino Real at the edge of downtown, which would require work with Caltrans and the state. The same report says a parking garage on one of three city-owned downtown lots is still under consideration. For scale, an earlier Council discussion put the possible managed supply at about 1,094 hourly spaces and 59 long-term spaces. Those were consultant figures, not an adopted map.
The part with the widest reach is the blocks next to the meter zone. When the Council discussed the program in June, Mayor Stephen Rainaldi said some drivers will want "to park further away so they can get free parking," and residents raised the same worry during public comment. Millbrae already runs a residential permit program on nearby streets, including Hemlock Avenue, Willow Avenue and Poplar Avenue. Shaw has recommended moving it to a digital system, where enforcement officers would check plates with license plate readers instead of chalking tires or looking for dashboard permits. The city's fee schedule effective July 1, 2026 still lists residential permit fees of $29.90 for specified categories. Any digital change for the new program is still ahead.
Not every nearby street was studied. Former mayor Ann Schneider, who lives on Palm Avenue, told the Council her street was left out of the potential impact study and asked consultants to talk with the residents who will be affected.
Parklets are also on the list. Several downtown restaurants have used curbside parklets for outdoor seating since the pandemic. In the spring Holober said that if those spaces become paid, the parklets "would probably have to pay a lot more to justify the cost of taking a couple of spaces out." No decision on parklets has been made.
October 22 is the first hands-on step
All of this has been paperwork until now. The city's Millbrae Parking Meter Open House runs Thursday, October 22, 2026, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Two unnamed providers will demonstrate pay stations, parking meters, mobile payment apps and online resident permits. Provider A will be in the David J. Chetcuti Room, and Provider B will be across the Civic Plaza at the Library, 450 Poplar Avenue. No real payments are taken, city staff will answer questions, and there is a survey on site. RSVPs are encouraged but not required.
The city doesn't describe the evening as a vendor selection. Still, the survey is collected before any equipment is chosen, and the equipment shapes the daily experience as much as the rate does. Ease of use has come up more than once. At the June meeting, resident Ken Smith asked for a subcommittee of seniors, middle-aged residents and young people to test the user experience, because these systems often depend on smartphones. Fung answered that making payment as easy as possible, by meter or by app, is in the city's own interest. The online resident permit demo matters most to anyone living on a permit street. The kiosk demo matters most to anyone who would rather not download an app to pick up dinner.
The same corner, before any meters
The intersection at the center of the meter proposal is also where downtown Millbrae gathers this month, and parking there is still free.
- October 9, 6:30 p.m. Millbrae Goes to the Movies shows the Super Mario Galaxy Movie at the Millbrae Recreation Center, 477 Lincoln Circle.
- October 10, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Central County Fire Department holds an open house at Fire Station 37, 511 Magnolia Avenue. The Council approved a street closure for it in July.
- October 15, 6 p.m. Beats, Brews & Vines closes its downtown run with As Is Band at Broadway and Hillcrest. This free series ran on the third Thursday of August, September and October this year, with Pride & Joy and The Cheeseballs on the earlier dates. The Fourth of July edition in Central Park, held with the City of San Bruno, drew more than 2,000 people.
- October 30, 6 to 8 p.m. The Día de los Muertos Celebration is at the Millbrae Recreation Center. The community ofrenda accepts photos and mementos from October 15 through November 7.
The October 15 concert and the October 22 demo fall a week apart. The first sends people to Broadway and Hillcrest. The second asks how they should pay to park there in the future. Once the Council adopts a resolution with a map and a rate, the meters arrive when the devices go in, and the city manager decides when that happens.
If you own near downtown and wonder how a metered Broadway might affect your block, or you plan to sell in the next year or two and want to know how buyers may react to parking changes, I'm glad to talk it through using what the city has actually adopted. You can reach me at Carmen Miranda. Let's Connect.
