UKIAH, CA., 5/23/26 — The Ukiah City Council unanimously adopted an ordinance to reform rules for off-street parking to limit “nuisance parking” associated with vacant storefronts.
The vote on Wednesday, setting rules that will go into effect as soon as possible, aim to streamline getting new businesses into old sites where empty parking lots accumulate trash and debris and attract nonpermitted activities.
“Over the past few months and years, we’ve begun to see that our vacant and underutilized parking lots have become increasingly attractive public nuisances.” said Jesse Davis, the city’s chief planning manager, who presented the plan to the council.
The ordinance will update and reconcile the city’s parking standards, address surfacing and lighting of parking lots, alter the dimensions of parking spaces to optimize lot arrangements, integrate standards for bicycle sections to encourage bike use and, ultimately, bring consistency.
Davis said that the new ordinance will ensure the parking code reflects the needs of modern Ukiah. The current code relies on a guide from the 1980s that allocates parking spaces by the type of business it serves. Davis said that code hasn’t kept pace with the evolution of modern activity.
“Most of our standards from for our off-street parking, much like the rest of the country, are based on suburban peak level demand, meaning that they are made generic, so that they can fit communities that are identical across the United States and not particular to what we see here in Ukiah,” he said.
Davis said the standards have been modernized for spaces where large groups of people gather, commercial spaces and professional offices.
The new ordinance will allow city staff to determine the effectiveness of a parking standard, he said. It will also allow the zoning administrator or planning commission to evaluate new construction projects, according to Davis.
The rules take into consideration factors that have environmental impacts like surfacing, encouraging permeable paving that will allow water to be absorbed where it makes sense and making sure lights are appropriate for their surroundings and following energy requirements.
The ordinance is part of the mobility element of the Ukiah’s 2040 general plan, which requires the city to promote a balance of different forms of transportation.
Yes.
That’s great but…maybe you should set up a few things a out our ” town”
Ukiah is not a city it is a town with nothing for any entertainment or diners other than another Mexican restaurant. How about Arby’s or Wendy’s or dairy queen or olive tree. Anything where our kids and families can have fun and enjoy some ti
E together. Nothing for our long time residents can enjoy
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So disappointed how our town has turned into a mesh hole. Come people open your eyes. We love our town and expected more than this and what it has become.
A cow lick ice cream is need3d mot really fan of corporate but also this area couldn’t support many places that offered kid activities places now highly doubt after pot money extinction… own countries numbers were 80 to 85% gdp was weed money with only 5% white market. All knew here once grew cant think any or couple still here. Worlds wealth and corporations have tight grasp on dollars, seemingly seeing they see able to hold all soon so money grabbing before 60-70% worlds unemployed. Yeah are pill swallowed but not seen single projection saying different future with amount of time is longer for ones who gain from collapse
There is so much space allocated to solely storing a car all over Ukiah. I would shrink the overall number of stalls throughout the city and plan on one or two strategically placed parking structures or condensed parking lots. Meter the stalls that are conveniently located near shops (like in downtown core). Remove parking requirements for development in and around the consolidated parking structures/lots. Maybe streamline the process of redeveloping old spaces into more efficient business units if businesses can’t utilize the original buildings. Some of the old buildings may be obsolete by design in 2026. A steak house like Mica would be better placed in a downtown environment (minus the parking lot) and a more casual eatery (or eateries) replace the current location on Airport Park Blvd not unlike how Panda Express, Applebee’s, and the Sourdough sandwich shop have done.
The irony is that many of these vacant commercial properties exist because regulatory burdens, economic contraction, inflation, permitting friction, and centralized planning already made small business occupancy harder in the first place.
The city’s solution is predictable… more rules, more staff discretion, more inspections, more planning reviews, more forced upgrades, more bureaucratic permission slips, and more ways to squeeze property owners while pretending it is about “streamlining business.”
Here is a more accurate description to go with the post:
The Ukiah City Council unanimously voted to turn vacant parking lots into another managed revenue category.
Under the new initiative, property owners and future small businesses will gain exciting new opportunities to pay additional fees, comply with expanding layers of administrative requirements, request permission from planning authorities for normal property use, and finance the continued growth of the regulatory apparatus responsible for making commercial occupancy increasingly unaffordable in the first place.
Ukiah has so many underutilized parking lots and useless parking lots. All of these lots cost money to maintain by businesses. Even the Taco Bell and KFC have these strange useless parking lots and they are siloed off from each other. Much of the commercial real estate is over 50 years old and has become out of place for a time long gone. Have you seen all of those little signs in the old downtown area saying these buildings are not earthquake compliant? One good earthquake and these current businesses will stop existing due to aged out infrastructure. Yes, the city has a incentive to keep infrastructure and regulation evolving because if it doesn’t the remaining parts of the functional areas of the city will turn into the Palace hotel. Pessimism aside, the city should consider removing parking requirements, which I believe they did for the downtown core area. Incentivising business along with reducing barriers to move into town along with bringing higher density housing into the city will create its own ecosystem. Ukiah has still yet to propagate a mixed development project.
I’m confused! The article states “…aim to streamline getting new businesses into old sites where empty parking lots accumulate trash…”.
How exactly does the City of Ukiah “plan” on getting new businesses into old sites?
The monthly rent for the former Mica location is (or was a few years ago) $25,000 and is currently listed for sale for $2.8 million.
If someone were to rent or purchase this specific location, now they have to spend more money to update the parking lot to meet ordinance/compliance?
The article doesn’t mention anything about what the city’s plans are on bringing in new or even more businesses to our area.
Technically this would be a lien on the current owner if they don’t clean up their property. It is no different than a neglected vacant house with a jungle growing out front. The owner may consider lowering the price and/or rent to get this building occupied instead of doing nothing.
Seems like whoever owns the real estate, regardless of what businesses lease space there, should be responsible for the upkeep. If the landlord wants new businesses, make the area more attractive. Not really the city’s responsibility, beyond code enforcement.