{"id":196186,"date":"2026-02-27T07:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T07:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/196186\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T07:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T07:55:10","slug":"return-to-free-balboa-park-parking-to-begin-but-only-for-verified-city-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/196186\/","title":{"rendered":"Return to free Balboa Park parking to begin, but only for verified city residents"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a>A new parking sign off Balboa Drive at Quince Street in Balboa Park, with a kiosk seen in the background. (File photo by Times of San Diego staff)<\/p>\n

Limited free parking for city residents at Balboa Park<\/a> will begin Monday after widespread criticism of the attempt to raise much-needed city revenue.<\/p>\n

The move, promised by Mayor Todd Gloria almost three weeks ago, followed loud objections to new parking fees<\/a> at the popular attraction from across the spectrum. Council members called for the fees to be lifted for city residents or wiped away entirely and stewards of Balboa Park attractions said attendance was suffering. Political opponents, meanwhile, saw opportunity in the quagmire.<\/p>\n

Those who live in San Diego will be able to park for free in\u00a0seven lots, the city reiterated Thursday, provided that they register online:\u00a0Pepper Grove, Federal, Upper\u00a0Inspiration Point, Lower Inspiration Point, Marston Point, Palisades and Bea Evenson\u00a0lots. <\/p>\n

Though the city said free parking will be available Monday, enforcement won\u2019t begin until March 9, when warnings will be issued. After March 16, cars will start to be cited.<\/p>\n

Residents will continue to be charged to park in\u00a0premium lots such as\u00a0the\u00a0Space Theater, Casa de Balboa, Alcazar, Organ Pavilion and South Carousel\u00a0lots. The cost is\u00a0$5 for up to four hours\u00a0or\u00a0$8\u00a0for a\u00a0full day.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n

There continues to be no olive branch, however, for those who reside outside the city. The fees, which are higher for non-residents, will remain in effect for tourists and those who live in the rest of San Diego County, despite criticism from local mayors.<\/p>\n

There is one change that benefits everyone:\u00a0Parking enforcement\u00a0will end\u00a0at 6 p.m. rather than 8 p.m.\u00a0It starts at 8 a.m.<\/p>\n

In addition, drivers with a disabled license plate or placard may park for free all day at any available spot in the parking lots and on park roads, not\u202fjust those marked in blue for ADA parking.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>The Balboa Park map with the new parking lot zones shown by color. (Courtesy of the city of San Diego)<\/p>\n

To obtain free parking,\u202fcity of San Diego residents must\u202fplan ahead\u202fand\u202fregister their vehicle\u2019s license plate at the city\u2019s permit portal<\/a>. They cannot do so at the new parking kiosks in lots throughout Balboa Park.<\/p>\n

Everyone who uses the portal, residents\u202fand non-residents\u202falike, need to pay the one-time $5\u202fregistration\u202ffee to cover the vendor\u2019s\u202fcosts to process applications for free parking or create accounts for paid permits.\u202f<\/p>\n

To be verified as a\u202fcity of San Diego resident, applicants\u202fmust upload one document proving residency, such as a driver\u2019s license, utility bill, property tax\u202fbill\u202for rental agreement.\u202f<\/p>\n

Following registration city of San Diego residents will need to\u202fselect the\u202fGeneral,\u202fLevel 2 and Level 3 free parking pass. Once verified, the account and free pass are valid for\u202fthree\u202fyears.\u202f<\/p>\n

The City Council approved the mayor\u2019s parking fee plan last fall. Revenues generated from the move must be spent on maintenance and upkeep of Balboa Park, but leaders hoped that having a new funding source would free up money in the general fund for other needs.<\/p>\n

The city faced a deficit last year and, with some revenues falling short of projections, needs to balance the budget at mid-year ahead of another expected shortfall in the coming fiscal year.<\/p>\n

Though he relented on some Balboa Park parking fees, Gloria warned on Feb. 6 that there will be consequences. With reduced revenues, city leaders must \u201cidentify other service-level reductions\u00a0in order to keep the budget\u00a0balanced,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Balboa Park Cultural Partnership warned on Jan. 21<\/a> that the park\u2019s popular museums and other attractions had seen attendance drops, in some cases dramatically, since the fees took effect Jan. 5.<\/p>\n

Executive Director Peter Comiskey called the mayor\u2019s decision \u201cstart of movement in the right direction,\u201d but said they would like to see more done for regional residents because \u201caccess to the park is essential not only to city residents, but to people from throughout the county who have depended on and supported the park for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new parking sign off Balboa Drive at Quince Street in Balboa Park, with a kiosk seen in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[4549,63932,15743,74,76,75,3235],"class_list":{"0":"post-196186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-balboa-park","9":"tag-balboa-park-parking-fees","10":"tag-budget-cuts","11":"tag-san-diego","12":"tag-san-diego-headlines","13":"tag-san-diego-news","14":"tag-todd-gloria"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}