Police, residents agree on parking limits for some streets near airport, new COD campus

Palm Springs police on Wednesday evening outlined proposed overnight and time-limited parking restrictions during a meeting with residents who live near Palm Springs International Airport and the College of the Desert campus under construction, as officials and neighbors discussed ways to address long-term parking, rental vehicles and congestion on nearby streets.

The meeting, held at the police department’s training center off South Civic Drive, focused on parking along Baristo Road between El Cielo Road and Farrell Drive, as well as Civic Drive between East Baristo Road and East Tahquitz Canyon Way. More than two dozen residents from multiple apartments and HOAs attended.

At issue, Lt. Mike Torres said, is the fact the area has faced several overlapping parking problems for years, including travelers avoiding airport parking fees, vehicles being stored on public streets for short-term rentals and people living in their cars.

“For a long time now, we’ve been having issues with people parking there for the airport long term,” Torres said. “They don’t want to pay for the $20 or whatever it is each day for parking. They figure they can use this street and then just walk from here to the airport.”

Torres said vehicle owners who use app-based rental companies — such as Turo — are also using the neighborhood’s streets as vehicle storage.

Resident John Berger said he initially reached out to City Hall to discuss street sweeping, but as the parking situation began escalating he sought solutions to that as well.

After reviewing a city staff report that outlined several possible approaches to addressing parking concerns throughout the city, one that included parking restrictions and time limits.

According to Berger, conditions have continued to worsen as airport parking prices have increased and as the nearby College of the Desert campus moves closer to opening in 2027.

“We have the airport parking. We have people living in their cars,” Berger said. “We’re also worried about the school starting and having [thousands of] students.”

Berger said overnight parking restrictions are necessary to keep long-term parking from overwhelming neighborhood streets.

“If you don’t do that, it’s going to be even harder for the people that want to park,” he said. “You’ll still have all these people from the airport parking.”

Under the proposal discussed at the meeting, police would move forward with installing signs to restrict overnight parking on portions of Baristo Road. On Civic Drive, officials discussed limiting overnight parking in some areas near the police department, while leaving other sections closer to residential buildings unchanged for now. Additional measures under consideration included time-limited daytime parking in certain areas.

“If people can’t stay there overnight, they’re not going to leave cars there for days on end,” Torres said.

Palm Springs Mayor Naomi Soto said broader policy changes related to commercial use of public streets are also being explored, but would require legal review. “We have to address that really carefully,” Soto said.

Torres agreed with one resident’s proposal to implement the changes as a trial and review them after six months. “We either leave it the way it is, or we can try to do something different,” Torres said. “We’re gonna learn.”

After the meeting, he said signage for the new parking restrictions could be installed within weeks. Enforcement would begin with citations, but vehicles that are not moved within 72 hours could be subject to towing.

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