Thursday, February 8, 2018 5
Coastal View News • Tel: (805) 684-4428
Procore pledges proactivity in parking squeeze Company to launch new electric shuttle to bring employees to town
By Peter Dugré The eastern end of Carpinteria avenue is having an identity crisis. While excitement has built over the new land preserve, the persistent presence of cars lining the road has marred the natural environment intended for recreation and natural restoration. Those scores of cars belong to employees of Procore, the booming cloud-based software company that has aspirations to corner the global construction industry and that now employs an astounding 700 people in Carpinteria. The city is at a crossroads because the parking blight is obvious both on Carpinteria avenue and at the Viola Fields public lot, but Procore has become the largest employer and is still growing. The city and company have met and agree that the status quo can’t continue, so Procore has announced a series of actions it is taking to alleviate the parking crunch. “We’ve tried to attack (the parking issue) from all angles,” said Procore Facilities Director scott Moitoza. “The one thing we don’t have is a Procore ferry—yet.” The splashiest move that Procore is trumpeting is a new electric shuttle that will begin running downtown on Feb. 12. Procore is set to lease about 80 unused parking spots at GranVida senior living community and has purchased the 20seat fully electric shuttle to run employees up and down Carpinteria avenue. The shuttle will also bring employees into downtown Carpinteria to eat and run errands. Procore Communications Director Doug Madey said the custom ride was painted to incorporate the city’s beach vibe for maximum appeal. “I love Procore orange, but we wanted it to be less obtrusive and to better blend into the city,” Madey said. He also said look for plenty of Procore’s signature orange on the backpacks and T-shirts of employees patronizing shops and restaurants downtown.
So much growth, so few parking spots
Procore reached out to Coastal View News following a report that city leaders had discussed the ongoing issues on Carpinteria avenue and at Viola Fields. City Manager Dave Durflinger has met with Procore management, both to talk about parking and to tour the city’s largest employer. Durflinger, at the city’s Annual Work Meeting on Jan. 27, said that pressuring Procore is a bit of a tightrope
DuGré
Procore employees check out the new electric shuttle that will begin looping between Procore and granVida on Feb. 12. walk, because it’s in the city’s best interest to remain friendly to retain the growing company, which has established offices all over the country and internationally, including in austin, Texas and australia. If Carpinteria brings the hammer down too hard, it could rock the boat, but Durflinger said the grace period cannot go on forever and the two organizations have had productive talks. Procore wanted to talk. Madey said he abhors the parking situation, and the company has gone as far as issuing a video from its CEo to employees telling them to quit parking illegally. although there are only 300 spots available at the main campus overlooking the ocean, Procore has leased and remodeled property on the mountain side of the freeway. according to Moitoza, there are plenty of spots for overflow off of Cindy Lane, but the issue is getting people to park over there and ride the existing shuttle to work. Madey said they’ve tried everything,
but have been unable to force employees to buy into the shuttle that runs from Cindy lane over to the main Carpinteria avenue campus. The new electric shuttle running from GranVida should be more appealing he said, because the employees want to be able to access downtown. Currently, with limited spots on campus that are available through a permitting system and to carpoolers, people are reluctant to give up their spots to head downtown. If they’re parked at Viola Fields or up Carpinteria avenue or on Cindy lane, it’s time consuming to go get the car, head out to eat or run errands, return, park and scramble back to work. “If you’re one of the 400 people who don’t have a parking pass, you can imagine it’s hard getting downtown for lunch,” Madey said. other solutions that Procore has tried are a shuttle from santa Barbara to Carpinteria specifically for workers. They also plan to do a Ventura pick-up in the near future, and they encourage biking
Karlsson
With just 300 parking spaces for 700 employees, Procore has struggled to wean its staff off the next-easiest parking along Carpinteria Avenue.
and walking to work for those living closer. The numbers are staggering. Procore employs 700 in Carpinteria and roughly only 20 live here. That’s a massive influx of people to the city every day. The electric shuttle will run to GranVida and downtown between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., according to Madey, an active member of the Carpinteria Chamber of Commerce. He says the company will try to incentivize visits to downtown businesses and hopes to develop some partnerships. The city may begin to issue tickets if the issue doesn’t abate in the near future. Procore is still growing and has demonstrated an appetite to remain in Carpinteria for many years. Carl’s Jr. and Venoco both went away, but Procore has quickly taken over their office spaces (85,000-square-feet) in an ongoing and seemingly unending expansion. It has five warehouses on Cindy Lane and has converted some of that space to a learning center. Moitoza said he anticipates 1,000 employees in the coming years. “We want to be proactive, not reactive, to our growth,” he said, signaling the parking issues will be addressed before further spillover occurs. The offices were originally designed and developed for the old way of doing business, but Procore, like many tech companies, doesn’t adhere to the model of having one office per body. “We have a lot of huddle areas and breakout spaces,” Madey said. “But we’re not asking the buildings to do anything they can’t handle.”
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