On a weekday morning, the city-owned Gazebo lot at 3429 Mt. Diablo Boulevard has 37 spaces under two sets of rules. One sign reads "Private Leased Parking – Violators Will Be Cited." The other reads "Public Parking – Evenings and Weekends." The lot is public property, yet 24 of its spaces are leased to three businesses on weekdays during the day, and the other 13 sit under the same warning sign even though no one has leased them.
Those two signs sum up the city's parking problem. The lot that looks closed has open spaces. Meanwhile the lot east of Ace Hardware, at 3299 Mt. Diablo Boulevard, had a weekday midday peak occupancy of 0% in the city's parking counts. Ordinance 704, which the City Council adopted on September 28, rewrites the rules for both lots and three nearby streets. The new meters don't add a single space. They're priced to move people who park all day away from the spaces you circle for at lunch.
A downtown that feels full and counts half-empty
The city hired Alta Planning + Design to count every space. The resulting Downtown Parking Management Study, dated April 2026, found 4,879 spaces downtown, including 3,388 in its study area. At the busiest hour, only about half of the study-area spaces were in use.
| Study area | Spaces | Weekday peak | Weekend peak |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downtown Core | 1,855 | 56% | 67% |
| Other Downtown | 1,123 | 49% | 38% |
| Neighborhoods | 410 | 47% | 45% |
| All areas | 3,388 | 52% | 55% |
The study measures against a common planning benchmark that treats 85% occupancy as effectively full. By that measure, downtown has 35% to 38% more parking than it needs, and more than 1,100 spaces sit empty even at the busiest hour.
The one number in the table that comes close to the shortage people complain about is the Downtown Core on weekends, at 67%. That's where Saturday errands and dinners concentrate, and it's the stretch where a full block makes the whole town feel parked out. The study names the reasons: public and private lots owned by different parties, inconsistent signs and time limits, poor wayfinding, unclear lines between public and private lots, and no single body managing any of it.
It also names a cause that has more to do with people than signs. Limited long-term parking for employees "pushes workers into short-term customer spaces, reducing turnover and straining businesses," the study says, and long parking durations in many private lots point to employees using them informally. A barista on an eight-hour shift who parks in a two-hour spot near the shop takes up the space a customer would have used four times.
The Gazebo lot rule that dates to 2014
The leases on the Gazebo lot weren't an accident, and ending them wasn't a new idea. On September 22, 2014, the City Council directed its Parking Ordinance Committee to develop a program to end private leases on public lots, the Gazebo lot included. On May 23, 2016, the Council approved terminating those leases unless parking had been required as a condition of a project's approval.
The August 10, 2026 staff report finally put a date on it. After a last six-month extension, the leases expire December 31, 2026. Then the lot moves from reserved parking for three businesses to paid public parking open to employees, customers and visitors. Staff wrote that it plans to run the lot for all-day stays, including employees on "typical 8- to 10-hour shifts." The report says the change makes employee parking "more equitable by making the parking lot available to all downtown businesses rather than reserving spaces for a limited number" of them.
The Ace lot is the opposite case. It's already public, with 16 metered spaces, but its three-hour limit makes it useless to anyone working a full shift, and the counts show almost no one using it at weekday midday.
The rate is built for long stays
Lamorinda Weekly reported the details of Ordinance 704 and its companion, Resolution 2026-51. One graduated rate applies at five locations: Happy Valley Road, Oak Hill Road, Dolores Drive, the Gazebo lot and the Ace lot.
| Time parked | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to 1 hour | $2.00 |
| Up to 2 hours | $4.00 |
| Up to 3 hours | $4.50 |
| 4 hours or more | $5.00 |
| Daily maximum | $5.00 |
The curve explains the policy. The second hour costs $2, the third and fourth cost 50 cents each, and every hour after that costs nothing. A quick errand pays close to full price. A full workday costs a flat $5. On the three streets, the all-day price isn't new. According to the September 14 council minutes, Dolores Drive, Happy Valley Road and Oak Hill Road already allowed $5 all-day parking, but the city had never marketed it that way.
Hours vary by location:
- Ace and Gazebo lots: metered Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and free on evenings and weekends.
- Dolores Drive, Happy Valley Road and Oak Hill Road: metered Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and free on evenings and Sundays.
- Oak Hill Road: the meter zone now covers both sides of the street between Mt. Diablo Boulevard and Deer Hill Road, not just the east side.
- Happy Valley Road: the existing unmetered two-hour spaces stay as they are.
- First Street: on-street parking between Mt. Diablo Boulevard and Deer Hill Road is removed because Caltrans required it, and the ordinance takes that segment out of the meter zones.
None of these spaces are reserved. Lamorinda Weekly notes that they stay open to employees, customers, visitors and anyone else, with no space set aside for one business or property.
Three lots, spread across downtown
The meters cover one part of the plan. The other part is giving all-day parkers somewhere to go on every side of downtown. Since the original staff report was written, BART has opened parking in the Lafayette Station South Lot to downtown visitors and employees while space remains. Employees can buy reserved parking before 10 a.m. or daily-fee parking after 10 a.m. through BART's existing program. BART says it will watch demand and give advance notice before returning the lot to commuters only.
That leaves a long-stay option on each side of downtown:
- West side: the Lafayette BART South Lot.
- Central downtown: the Gazebo lot, after the leases expire on December 31, 2026.
- East side: the Ace lot at 3299 Mt. Diablo Boulevard.
The staff report says the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce is telling downtown businesses about the BART option as part of its employee parking outreach. The Ace lot can switch to longer stays before the Gazebo lot does, once the meters are reprogrammed and new signs go up. The staff report expects Gazebo changes no earlier than January 2027.
What you'll see downtown this week
No date has been announced for the new meters and signs. Resolution 2026-51 lets the City Manager or a designee handle the meter, payment system and signage changes, and staff will track how full the lots and streets get once the changes take effect. The city's parking study page says phased work has started on monitoring, employee parking, regulations, signage, wayfinding and public information. For now, follow the signs posted on each lot. Parking rules change, so check them on site before you rely on any rate or hour listed here.
The first test is Friday. The Lafayette Chamber's free Trick or Treat Street runs October 30 from 4 to 6 p.m. along Mt. Diablo Boulevard, Lafayette Circle and La Fiesta Square. Until new signs go up, the posted ones govern. At the Gazebo lot, that means public parking in the evening.
Near BART, the parking lot is changing too. In its October 16 update, the city said crews were paving part of the lot and planned to deliver and begin installing the steel structure for the new bike station the week of October 19. The project includes a secure station for up to 82 bicycles and a new public plaza. The city's original estimate had it finished by the end of summer 2026.
Things like how easy it is to park downtown, and whether employees have somewhere to leave their cars, shape how a buyer sees a home within walking distance of Mt. Diablo Boulevard. If you're thinking about selling in Lafayette and want to talk through how downtown access affects your home's appeal, Julie Whitmer and her team are glad to help. Schedule a complimentary home strategy call.