Rules Committee Approves Proposal for Free Parking at San Diego Beaches and Mission Bay

City News Service – CBS8 / August 26, 2026

The San Diego City Council’s Rules Committee unanimously approved an ordinance Wednesday, Aug. 26, that would maintain free parking at local beaches and Mission Bay “in perpetuity.”
The ordinance must go before the full council before it becomes law.

Committee members Council President Joe LaCava and Councilman Raul Campillo authored the ordinance, while the full committee restricted it to city residents only and removed a 10-year sunset clause.

“Councilmember Campillo’s initial proposal aligned with my held belief that beaches and Mission Bay should be accessible and free to San Diegans,” LaCava said. “By repositioning this from a ballot measure to an ordinance, I saw the opportunity to save taxpayers nearly $1 million through council action and not a public vote. Advancing this proposal ensures that these prized public parking spaces will be available at no cost to San Diegans.”

San Diego does not charge for city-owned beach and bay parking lots. Wednesday’s proposal is intended to ensure that they remain free of charge for San Diego residents.

“Together, the council president and I brought this item forward to make sure the city learns from the lessons that the parking fees at Balboa Park pointed out,” Campillo said. “This ordinance is about ensuring that access to our most treasured public spaces remains clear and protected for the people of San Diego — and it’s just one part of a larger series of transparency and accountability initiatives I will be bringing forward in an effort to build trust and clean up City Hall to ensure we have the right protocols in place moving forward.”

According to Campillo, the ordinance would not apply to existing parking meters, and would not inhibit the city’s ability to cite parking violations nor prevent it from regulating commercial activity or permitted events.

“Mission Bay Park is a regional park that serves residents from across the entire city of San Diego, not only those who live in Pacific Beach,” said Marcella Bothwell, chair of the Pacific Beach Planning Group. “Free, accessible parking on city-owned lots is essential to equitable public access for San Diegans citywide including families, workers, seniors and visitors from every neighborhood who rely on these coastal resources for recreation, health, and community life.

“Codifying free beach and bay parking in the municipal code will provide needed certainty, protect equitable coastal access for residents throughout the city, and avoid the kind of public-trust erosion seen in recent paid-parking experiments elsewhere in San Diego,” Bothwell added.

A deeply unpopular rollout of paid parking in Balboa Park began in January, with Mayor Todd Gloria almost immediately backing off some of the fees — which were approved by the City Council — then approving a residents-only free parking pass. In June, during the city’s budget process, the council voted to end all paid parking in Balboa Park by the end of 2026.
According to a coalition of the museums and cultural centers in the park, the paid parking led directly to attendance plummeting by a third.

However, the removal of paid Balboa Park parking — and a reduction in single family trash fees — left the cash-strapped city in a bind, as the budget had been balanced on these projected revenues.

Libraries were the first target, but half of all Mission Bay bathrooms were also shuttered to save money. Public outcry and $50,000 in discretionary council district spending each from LaCava and Councilwoman Jen Campbell reopened those through the end of the year.

If the proposed ordinance were to pass, no parking revenues could be collected from San Diego residents for future budget-balancing processes.