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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParking Advisory Board - Minutes - 09/12/2016MINUTES of the CITY OF FORT COLLINS PARKING ADVISORY BOARD September 12, 2016 5:30 p.m. 215 North Mason – Community Room Fort Collins, CO 80524 FOR REFERENCE: Chair: Susan Kirkpatrick Vice Chair: Holly Wright Staff Liaison: Kurt Ravenschlag 221-6386 Administrative Support: Melissa Brooks 224-6161 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: CITY STAFF PRESENT: Susan Kirkpatrick, Chair Kurt Ravenschlag, Transfort/Parking General Manager Holly Wright, Vice Chair Annabelle Phillips, Transfort Administrative Clerk Nora Hill Bob Criswell Carey Hewitt George Newman Michael Short ABSENT: OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE Steve Schroyer Craig Dubin, Transfort Communications & Admin Manager Stephanie Napoleon Seth Lorson, Comm. Development and Neighborhood Svcs Councilmember Kristen Stephens 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Kirkpatrick called the meeting to order at 5:30pm. 2. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS 3. AGENDA REVIEW No changes. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Hewitt moves to accept August meeting minutes and Wright seconds. Discussion: Correction is needed to the spelling of Mr. Zibell’s name in the previous month’s minutes. Meeting Minutes September 12, 2016 Page | 2 There are several areas where corrections to spelling and grammar are needed. Mr. Hewitt asked that Mr. Zibell’s letter be attached, or noted in some way as well. 5. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT None 6. PUBLIC COMMENT None 7. DISCUSSION ITEMS A. Parking Enforcement Recommendations Ravenschlag: I gave a presentation last month on some of the enforcement items that were brought forward, either through the work of the downtown plan or ideas that came out of the parking strategic plan, I wanted to make sure tonight I captured the ones you all would like to see us spending more time on, as well as a public comment from our City Council. Council wants to make sure that the public comments pertaining to parking in the downtown area were being presented to the PAB. The following are areas that we are looking at for some changes in our enforcement: extending the downtown enforcement from 6pm to 7pm Monday through Friday; a two hour parking “zone” (received unfavorable feedback from the board); weekend enforcement (positive responses from the board), especially Sundays and continuing year round through the winter months; transitioning from walking to driving routes and experimenting with pairing up officers both for efficiency and safety; extending two hour parking by application, and escalating fines in RP3 zones. The one we are going to continue evaluating is evening enforcement, which is also an item brought forth in the public comment at City Council. We are looking at the ability to take the technology that we are building into the new garage and apply that to on street parking. In the new garage, people will park then use a kiosk or an app on their phone to put in their license plate and how much time they expect to be in the garage. Once a person is gone, if they decide they would like more time, they would be able to use the application on their phone to add time. This could also be applied to on street parking in that people would be able to add time in the restricted parking zones beyond the posted time limit. This would allow for people to extend their time without returning to their vehicle. A downside is that we may start reducing turnover. We have hired consultants to advise us on this technology and applying it in different ways. Craig has an update on that. Dubin: We recently met with the consultants to discuss these technologies and it sounds like it should not be too much of a stretch to add that particular functionality to on street parking. Hewitt: If someone wants to extend their time beyond the posted limit, would there be a cost? Ravenschlag: Yes. Adding time would be at a price and the price would have to be at a point to where it would not incentivize someone to park there all day, only adding an hour or maybe two hours. We are not sure what that price would be at this point. The way it would work is through License Plate Recognition (LPR)—when our car goes by and reads a license plate on street, that is the first “chalk” of that vehicle, so if that vehicle is parked in, say a two hour parking space, that is when the clock starts for two hours. The next time that enforcement vehicle comes by, say if now it has been two and a half hours, if that person has added time to that spot, it would show up in their computers that time has been added and they would not be in violation. Wright: Is there a limit to the amount of time that can be added? Meeting Minutes September 12, 2016 Page | 3 Ravenschlag: We can create this however we want, so we can put a limit. Any feedback is welcome. Hewitt: If it was $2.00/hour, and you want to stay an extra hour, it is kind of an even trade with the parking garages. But if you stay an extra two hours, you should have parked in the garage, the pricing will be key. Criswell: The pricing could be graduated as well. How would people know they can purchase additional time, especially tourists? Ravenschlag: The only way to add the time would be to use the application which would have any restrictions built in. With regards to letting people know about this, we will have to work on a communication plan. We do not like the idea of putting a bunch of signs around downtown, but there may be some limited signage; and there would probably be work with the DBA and DDA of working with the businesses to help communicate with their customers. Dubin: An idea that came up as a service area request was to place limited signage around town with QR codes that people could scan and find information about available parking, rates, etc. Ravenschlag: We would have to have a good communication strategy to roll it out so people understood, and even if you do not know it exists, you would still have the two hour parking available to you. Criswell: There is a trade-off depending on what type of business you own. For example, restaurants likely want people to be able to park longer. As a retailer, I like the turnover. I am also always looking for ways to get people who are parking downtown all day into the garage, so I believe the pricing needs to be set at a rate that encourages people who will be parked longer to park in the garages. I worry about two things: communicating this option to out of towners, and also having to enter a license plate into an app/kiosk, because I never remember mine. Hill: As a merchant I am very concerned about the two hour time limit. Currently, people do not stay in downtown as long as they would, or go to as many retail stores, because they are worried about the time limit. They feel like they need to get back to their cars before their two hour time limit is up. Also, I was thinking why would we discriminate against people who do not have cell phones or do not feel comfortable using apps? There are plenty of people who do not feel comfortable with it; however, after further contemplation I thought this could be an interesting pilot, and could catch on in popularity. Kirkpatrick: And if you do not have a phone you could still park for two hours, or in the garage. Hewitt: It is also better than a lot of kiosks, because they get unattractive. Lorsen: Someone had earlier mentioned a workaround for the council’s direction. This actually is one of the more explicit policies in the parking plan, to create an extension of the two hour time limit with a “pay-by-cell” option. Kirkpatrick: This seems like it is less about revenue but feels much more like parking management. Hewitt: What is the timeline of evaluating all these proposals? Meeting Minutes September 12, 2016 Page | 4 Ravenschlag: In terms of the timeline that is what we are working on this fall and throughout the rest of the year. We have also been asked to put together a parking management plan for the neighborhoods around the new stadium on campus. We are envisioning is a stadium event permit for neighborhoods who want to participate in that program and limiting permits to two for residents and two guest permits. Currently under the RP3 program we allow for unlimited guest permits; in this situation though, that would not work because the additional guest permits could be sold. Some of these neighborhoods are not currently RP3 neighborhoods, and even the ones that are we would have special signage at the entrance to the neighborhood and block face signage within those neighborhoods. We are also looking at requesting from council an ordinance change, a new fine for stadium event parking, around $200, because the current fine, at $25, is pretty cheap event parking. We have identified neighborhoods that we feel would potentially be impacted by an event on campus though we would like the neighborhoods themselves to vote, like we do with the RP3 program, and determine whether they want to participate. This is what I consider to be the most restrictive management plan for the neighborhoods. We are also putting together a less restrictive plan which would just be enforcement for red curb parking, blocked driveway, fire hydrant, etc, the restricted parking we do currently for events in the downtown. A middle option would be to extend what we do in the RP3 neighborhoods and allow two hour parking. Then after that, it would be permit only, but the fine would be $25. These are the discussions we are having now and are seeking guidance from our council to see what they think would be the most appropriate plan moving forward. Wright: I thought I heard if you buy a ticket to a football game, you get an option for a space to a parking lot, and would be directed to certain lots around town and there might even be a shuttle? Ravenschlag: My understanding is the season pass holders will have assigned lots to park in. I do not believe every ticket holder gets an assigned location. We are planning a significant level of increased special event transit service. There will be many options, via transit, to get to the stadium. Our Max service will be doubled, Centre Avenue, south of campus, will be one of the primary corridors for parking. We will have shuttle service running from the tennis court parking lots to the campus every two minutes. There will also be increased service on West Elizabeth and Prospect bringing people into the stadium. Right now we are planning just for home football games, but the IGA states other events over a certain number would trigger some of these services to be provided. Wright: I think it should be an option when you buy a ticket to a game that you receive information about where to park. That way we can educate people about where to park, costs, etc. Ravenschlag: We just met with CSU this afternoon on this topic and it was suggested that when people buy tickets they should also receive information about parking. There are going to be many options for parking, both provided by CSU and also provided by private landowners. It was recommended that a partnership needs to be established between private business and the university, whether it is formal or just informational. Criswell: I have a couple questions. Are people who live near the stadium allowed to rent spaces to people to park on the lawn? Also, why do they get guest permits? Ravenschlag: They have to park on an impervious surface, so concrete or gravel. We allow guest permits because there are people who may care less about the game going on. We are trying to accommodate for people who want to have visitors during that time, but restricting it, so it is not Meeting Minutes September 12, 2016 Page | 5 abused. Criswell: But there is nothing stopping so people from getting their guest permits and selling them, or selling spaces in their driveway? Ravenschlag: No. Hewitt: Can you approach CSU about subsidizing this service? Ravenschlag: Yes, CSU is paying for all the increased transit service as well as any expenses for parking management, per the IGA. Short: Have you explored the idea of a downtown parking app to show availability of spaces? Ravenschlag: Yes, that is part of the sensors we are putting in. The app would be able to show people where open spaces are. Kirkpatrick: I like this idea of the most restrictive parking enforcement framework, but I think it would be important to have neighborhood meetings. I think it would be interesting if we as a board knew about those in case we want to observe and listen. I would be happy to listen in to what the neighborhoods are saying. I think that would go a long way to helping people prepare. Ravenschlag: Those meetings will likely happen in November, the neighborhood meetings. CSU will be coordinating those, and then City staff will be attending to discuss items that pertain to us, like parking and neighborhood code enforcement. Those will be a series of open houses. We will communicate that information to the board when we know when those meetings are scheduled. We had heard from a few downtown business owners about concerns of extended parking either in disabled spaces or people with disabled placards, people parking periods beyond 48 hours, sometimes weeks and months at a time. We identified a handful of vehicles that fit that description. There are a number of other vehicles that park daily, individuals with disabilities who work downtown who may park every day beyond the two hour limit, but leave when their work day ends. We brought this issue initially to you all, and then brought it to the Commission on Disabilities, who recommended a 48 hour restricted time limit. That would not allow for the abuse of weeks and months on end, but would allow people with disabilities who work downtown to come and park for the day while they are at their job, which is also consistent with the current abandoned vehicle ordinance. This would require a change in the traffic code to allow enforcement of this. The state allows restricted parking on disabled spaces up to four hours. We asked the commission about this and they recommended 48 hours. They thought it would be more appropriate Wright: I think it is an improvement over the situation we have now. It is worth a try. Ravenschlag: It was brought to our attention that a lot of this issue was coming from residents of the Northern Hotel. We are working with the property managers of the Northern on a solution where residents would receive passes to the parking garage as an alternative to parking their vehicles in the street. Regarding the public comment that I mentioned that was brought to the Council at the August 16 meeting, a resident; I believe of the Northern Hotel, brought forward the following suggestions: they recommended downtown parking enforcement be extended to 8pm instead of 7pm. The board Meeting Minutes September 12, 2016 Page | 6 discussed, and thought 7pm would be adequate in addressing the shift change that happens around 4 or 5pm. The Northern residents also want to be informed about special event parking restrictions. During New West Fest, certain streets were closed off for the events and vehicles were notified for those closures. If those vehicles were not moved, they were towed. I think that this resident had his vehicle towed, so he suggested that their vehicles have stickers so people know they are Northern residents and can be called to move their vehicles. He also recommended that residents of the Northern are included in downtown surveys. I think this was in regards to planning efforts. He would like that complex to be included as a target audience. This fourth bullet I did not quite understand. He indicated that he wanted the 3am parking to be enforced, though I was not sure what he was asking and cannot really explain that one. He also requested that the two hour parking be extended two blocks south of the library between College and Riverside. In terms of extending two hour parking, what we typically do is work with the property owners to see if that is something that would work for all of the owners. We typically would not just take a suggestion from a citizen who does not live in that area and make it two hour parking. We have not heard from property owners in this particular area. The only thing close to that is a request for an RP3 zone, but that was actually east of the library where that was requested. Short: What about the block of Mountain, east of Matthews (300 block east). Why is that not two hour parking? Ravenschlag: That was just brought to my attention last week. We researched it because I was not sure why that was not two hour parking. We think it was because of New West Fest. There were light poles there that the signs were attached to, and the poles were taken down so the stage could be set up, and they were never put back in. We have been in touch with traffic to put signs back up, and we are working with them to figure out how to get those back in place. The feedback about including the Northern in downtown surveys is something we as a City could do. As far as how the notifications go out for special events, we will need to look at what the process is for notifying people of when there will be a street closure and that vehicles need to be moved. Wright: We get flyers at the store. Maybe we could just make sure they get a flyer and it gets posted on a bulletin board somewhere in a common area? Ravenschlag: We have a new event coordinator in the city, Jan Sawyer. I’ll be sure to let her know about this concern and she can let the organizers know about this. Wright: When do you present these recommendations to the City Council? Ravenschlag: Some of these do not need to be presented to the council, such as the vehicles and how we are doing the enforcement. Anything that would require an ordinance change or anything as big as extending the two hour parking with an app, we would want them to be aware of that because while it might not be something they would need to take action on, we would want their feedback. Craig, do you know the deployment of those technologies? Dubin: It is going to be on track with the deployment of the technology in the new structure, probably August 2017. Ravenschlag: We will likely bring it to the Council in spring of 2017. Wright: When will we know which BFO offers were funded? Meeting Minutes September 12, 2016 Page | 7 Ravenschlag: I can share with you what was in the City Manager’s recommended budget. Council will finalize that budget in November. For Parking, our core services were funded; they also funded the maintenance that was requested for the two garages. We were really happy about that because it is not a very exciting thing to fund, but is certainly needed. The other one was to fund the retrofit of the two existing garages to have the similar pay systems as the new garage, the self-pay kiosks where you can add time. Those are the recommendations for funding. Kirkpatrick: What about the increased transit service on Sundays? Ravenschlag: It was not recommended. It was the first not funded item in transportation. For Transfort, we did not receive any new services beyond what we currently provide. That was the City Manager’s recommended budget. The Council has the opportunity to review that and make its own recommendations, which is a possibility. All the recommendations are online at fcgov.com/budget. 8. ACTION ITEMS 9. REPORTS A. BOARD REPORT Kirkpatrick: I got a message from Christine Macrina the board’s commission coordinator, regarding the periodic board review. Every four years the City’s boards and commissions are reviewed to ensure that they are doing what they are meant to do. There had been work sessions for the periodic reviews but now it is being handled in a slightly different way. The PAB is scheduled to be part of the periodic review in 2017. Our opportunity to provide feedback will come, not through a work session necessarily, but through meeting with our council liaison that will compile feedback through a questionnaire and provide it to the council. This was a change in the format, but as this is the first one we will have, we will not notice the change. B. STAFF LIAISON REPORT Lorson: W pretty much have the bulk of our policies and action items complete for the downtown plan, we have done the vast majority of our outreach to get to that place. Right now what we are doing is taking that and turning it into a document including all the actual policies, statistics, pictures, infographics, etc. I would like to bring the policies that are parking-relevant policies to the board next month to review before we actually have a draft plan in hand, so you all can make a recommendation on those. 10. OTHER BUSINESS None 11. ADJOURN Newman motions to adjourn and Hill seconds. Meeting adjourned 6:36pm. Respectfully submitted, Annabelle Phillips Administrative Clerk II Transfort