Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutParking Advisory Board - Minutes - 09/14/2020 PARKING ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR Monday, September 14, 2020 5:30 PM Zoom meeting 09/14 /2020 – MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair, Hill, called the meeting to order at 5:32 pm. 2. ROLL CALL BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: CITY STAFF PRESENT Nora Hill, Chair Drew Brooks, Director of Transit Kayla Utter, Vice Chair Danna Varnell, Business Support Adam Eggleston Barbara Wilkins Dorothy Spivak Austin Hoenig BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: NONE PUBLIC PRESENT: NONE OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE: NONE a. APPROV AL OF MINUTES – Motion to approve minutes by Eggleston, second by Hoenig. The board unanimously approved minutes. 3. UNFINISHED BUSINESS - NONE 4. NEW BUSINESS – a. Paid on-street parking – Hill  The biggest project we wanted to get accomplished this year was to implement a paid pilot program for the downtown area. How can we move forward and get that accomplished? Eggleston – it may be a good time now to implement something because of less traff ic because of Covid19. We might want to begin with Linden Street as we reconfigure that street. It may put more stress on those businesses though. We could set expectations from the beginning. Council Liaison: Ken Summers Chair: Nora Hill Vice Chair: Kayla Utter Staff Liaison: Drew Brooks (970) 221-6386 Administrative Support: Danna Varnell (970) 224-6161 DocuSign Envelope ID: 6673E0E9-5EEF-4E98-8428-3C975BFD9121 0 9/14 /2020 – MINUTES Page 2 Hill - Our biggest question to Parking Services is how this will be economically sustainable. Brooks – we recently did a presentation to the council finance committee focusing on the current parking situation, we let them know that this was a problem prior to Covid19, and the finance committee has some of our longer-term members. Atteberry has said that we will need to have a work session next year to put this on the council’s radar to get the newer council members up to speed. In April we are due to have new council members so maybe at that time when we can present this to them and get them up to speed. And we will also have the data to present to them. Obviously, Covid19 is the determining factor on how quickly we can move on this because the data will not be from a normal period. On street parking is typically priced higher than in a parking garage. In some cities it can be up to 50% higher to park on-street verses a parking garage. We need to have a conversation and work on right sizing that. Eggleston – if the Council said yes, let us do paid parking, I noticed in the budget for 2021, it has 2.6 million dollars allocated to parking, is that enough funds to implement paid parking? Brooks – we can all agree that we will not be putting parking meters on the street, it is going to be something else. Whether is a pay station at the end of the block or something else or app based. There are many people who will not use or cannot use an app-based program. There is no budget set aside for this and I cannot imagine this happening next year. Utter – is there anything we can do to facilitate this along? Should we be working on a paid parking proposal next year? We should be working on this sooner rather than later. Hill – it seems like we could not even have a pilot this year even with Covid19. What do we need to do to get a pilot program going? What are the steps and what is the budget process, where is the money coming from and what kind of technology do is required? Brooks – I agree, we need to know what the costs are upfront. Another thing is we have many folks who are resistant to this. We need to start reaching out to those folks. I believe this Board would be a good resource to start mitigating their concerns. Wilkins – paid parking is the last of the things to be done and we talked about this for several years. We discussed changing the enforcement hours and at that time there were two enforcement officers in a vehicle. Brooks – back then, we did not have enough vehicles, but now that is not the issue now. The issue now is that prior to Covid19, we lost two enforcement officers, they left the industry and now we are in a hiring freeze, so we will not be able to hire for those two positions in 2021 so adjusting the hours. Our goal was to hire those two DocuSign Envelope ID: 6673E0E9-5EEF-4E98-8428-3C975BFD9121 0 9/14 /2020 – MINUTES Page 3 positions for nights and weekends. We are stretched very thin right now. Eggleston – what is the probability of Darin to join our Parking Advisory Board meetings so we can get him on board with this plan? Brooks – Kelly DiMartino is the point person now and she has been highly involved with the DDA/DBA over the last few years. Utter – I think that is a really good idea and if we project to them how long it has taken to get this far. We need to get this moving immediately as we have put this off long enough. We need to look what is ahead on the horizon. Hill – first it should have a discussion on how paid on street parking economically sustainable. How can we turn it right side up, make the garages cheaper, and the street more expensive and how can we make that economically sustainable? What would be the budget and we know that falls on Transfort. So, there is our plan on what the numbers will be. Then we have a pilot. First we have sensor date and that will show us occupancy and we will compare that to the parking plan and we can see where our occupancy falls and would that trigger the plan to implement paid on street parking? When might we get sensor data? Brooks – we should have actual usable data by the end of the year. Hill – this data will still show patterns, whether it is usable or not because the same patterns are still happening within downtown, except for the late hour and the numbers will be lower. Hoenig – will we have that model done by the time the new council and the new mayor potentially come into office se we can present it? I think this is a really good time to get this in their minds quickly, it would be our biggest benefit. Hill – agrees with Hoenig. Hill – we might not want to Linden for one specific reason, I have a few concerns about some of the businesses on or near that street. Utter – maybe we have Brooks and his team look at some good options like something extremely near a parking garage to see if people make the decision to go there. Propose a couple of block faces that makes sense? Brooks – yes, we can do that. Eggleston – with Elevations going in and it has limited parking, it might be a good street to look at for this. Parking will get worse as that building opens. Wilkins – the developer created a minimum of two parking spots per tenant in the building. Hoenig – another street that comes to mind is over near Ginger and Baker. They may be more receptive to it. Even though they have that big dirt lot across the street. Utter – I agree, they just did the renovation on W illow street and that is an up and coming area. There are several good options, so let us come up with a list and then let council pick a few DocuSign Envelope ID: 6673E0E9-5EEF-4E98-8428-3C975BFD9121 0 9/14 /2020 – MINUTES Page 4 ultimate ones. Eggleston – I have spoken with several of the potential council members and it appears to be a sensitive topic for them. Spivak – can someone explain to me briefly why paid parking would be good. Hill – Parking downtown on a few blocks is super congested and close to 100% during prime dining and shopping hours. People want to come downtown and park. As it stands right now, unless you come down at an odd time, or most recently, a pandemic. With parking fees, we want to incentivize people who are here for a long time to park in the garages or in remote lots. We want someone who is for instance running in for an ice cream, having dinner or shopping, to be able to feel confident that they will be able to find a place to park within a block or two of their destination. We want people who will be there for a longer term in the garages. The two-hour free parking is not ideal. People who work downtown tend to do the two-hour shuffle and move their cars around or employees who work around parking enforcements hours which takes up parking for patrons for the rest of the evening. Utter – the ultimate goal is to get people to get to where they are going that makes the most sense for them whether it’s parking on the street if it’s a quick trip or parking in the garage if they are staying long term. Even expanding it out even further, with like the Transit Plan, at some point with the economics, it makes sense to take a bus or the MAX downtown. But as long as parking is free in the most convenient spots, all those incentives are misaligned and it’s hard for us to manage the inventory that we have, it’s hard to incentivize people to use public transportation or bike, when we don’t have the tool of paid parking. So, everything is upside down. We need to get the employees off the street and park in the garages. With extended enforcement, if we cut off enforcement at 6 or 7 pm, that window would close, and employees would have to do something else. One of the main concerns for downtown merchants is that paid parking would drive patrons away. Brooks to send out the 2013 and the 2017 parking plan so the PAB can read past and current plans. Utter – one of the tools to manage the spread of the parking into the neighborhoods is the RP3 program, which is the residential parking permit program. This plan originated because of CSU students parking in the residential areas. Neighborhoods can apply for this program Hill – do we want to present an economic plan on how we are going to make paid parking sustainable to City Council? What time frame? What are the charges going to be in the garage and on the street? DocuSign Envelope ID: 6673E0E9-5EEF-4E98-8428-3C975BFD9121 0 9/14 /2020 – MINUTES Page 5 Brooks – these are big questions. Do we want to break even or make a profit and where would it go? Would the profit be used for instance a parking garage beautification project, etc. We can pull together some estimates. Eggleston – for a pilot program, based on a lower budget for next year, is there a way for a paid parking vendor to allow us to use their system for 6 months or a year, to see how it would work? Hill – directed to Brooks, what type of timeline are we looking at to get an economic plan. Brooks – we will need to get some RFP’s from some vendors regarding costs. Or we could talk to other cities that have on-street parking and look at it block per block. Eggleston – I have heard that Loveland is looking to close their 4th Street area and to do on-street paid parking to encourage people to park in their new garage on 5th Street. Hill – can we get a plan by next month a timeline for what a paid parking program will look like? b. Bank parking lots – and how it is an underutilized resource. Hill tabled until next meeting. c. Paid parking – Hill tabled until next meeting. d. 2019 City Plan and Transit Master Plan  Hill – Homework for next meeting. We have six sections in the TMP and three line items in the City Plan. Homework – prepare a summary of the section you are assigned, document any action items we should review and if there are none, document how we fit into that section or not. The Board is to email how we will fit into the City Plan to all PAB members. Email your findings to the PAB group.  Eggleston will review City Plan, starts on page 90, Structure Plan.  Hoenig to review the City Plan Chapter 1, Vision and Values.  Utter – Transit Master Plan, Existing Services and Community Input.  Spivak - Transit Master Plan, Fort Collins 2040, page 28, How will transit look in 2020. Page 43.  Wilkins - Transit Master Plan, 2040 Transit Plan. e. How do we see ourselves as a Board? – Hill  Hill – we are currently a nine-person board. Do we need to be a nine- person board or will a 7-person be sufficient? Brooks to investigate the requirements and process to change it. Utter – prefers 7 board members. Hill – let us find out if it is possible to make it a seven-person board and we can vote on it at our next meeting. DocuSign Envelope ID: 6673E0E9-5EEF-4E98-8428-3C975BFD9121 0 9/14 /2020 – MINUTES Page 6 f. Work Plan  We did not get too much accomplished this year due to the lack of a quorum at the beginning of the year and then with Covid19. Hill and Utter will work on the Work Plan. g. Parking citation updates - Brooks – (See year over year dashboard presentation)  Enforcements – we are down about 18k in citations this year, which is equal to about 55% less citations over last year. In March, we were only issuing citations for public safety reasons, like parking in a handicap space or parking next to a red curb, etc. In August, enforcement ramped back up. We have begun to issue more citations in the form of warnings as there is a six-month ticket reset program in place. This allows citizens that have not had a ticket in six months to reset their record.  Hill – what does that mean in dollars? Is the City concerned about the loss of revenue? Brooks – it is minimal at this point. As we have ramped up enforcement, he vast majority of the citations written have been mostly warnings. As far as the loss of revenue, yes, we certainly are concerned. Parking Services acts much like a regular utility. We really do not make money on parking. The money is used for operations and updates. We have been able to use money from the general fund to fund large projects, like the sensor project. Future updates and projects could be a problem as the revenue has declined due to Covid19. We have used funds from the general fund this year to help with operations. We are encouraged by the uptick in permit sales.  Curbside pickup – Brooks. Keselburg has been working with Traffic Ops on updated signage. Our current signage is not enforceable. We need to have traffic signs that meet the code and can be enforced. We are working on this. I currently do not have an update on this. Hill – this has been the third meeting that we have discussed this. It appears that you are not moving very quickly. Brooks - Keselburg is working with the DDA since DBA is no longer a body. We will have more information and updates on this at our next meeting. Wilkins – businesses like Grub Hub are utilizing the curbside pickup on our block. Spivak – it gamifies the way the system works and the parking citations. Who are the people trying to outwit the DocuSign Envelope ID: 6673E0E9-5EEF-4E98-8428-3C975BFD9121 0 9/14 /2020 – MINUTES Page 7 system, what are the demographics of that group? Are they office workers? Who parks downtown and what are the characteristics of each group? Brooks – yes, there are office people. From the industry, it changes the dynamic quite a bit as it comes down to how much you want to pay. It can be confusing to a visitor. For residents who are familiar with the system, can play the parking game. It is very difficult to incentivize someone to park in the garage when they can park on the street for free even if there is a time issue. We are going to have a community wide discussion to come up with a plan. Hill – it is a big discussion that we will get to in the future. Wilkins – can they maximize the number of parking violations that an individual can get? Brooks – this might be difficult to do. We have reset for pretty much everyone due to Covid19. Wilkins – it would be more welcoming to for someone not to get ticketed on their first-time visiting Fort Collins. Hill – they are giving warnings. Wilkins – is there a way to track this? Brooks – will investigate if we have the capability to do this. If we can look in our system, it is probably not too difficult to get this information, but if it is already in the courts system, then it might be more complicated.  Outdoor dining – Brooks. Outdoor dining is technically set to expire. We have requested an extension. We are having discussions about heaters, covers, and a short-term solution. We believe the extension will be allowed, but that is tied to the liquor license issue and that is either county or state. Eggleston – what are the rules for outdoor heaters on the street? Brooks – I do not know, and we are working on logistics. Hill – installing the jersey barriers was a good idea. They might be ugly, but they are safe. I am sure the restaurants would like guidance quickly, and we will need this sort of thing until the end of next spring. 5. OTHER BUSINESS - NONE 6. ADJOURNMENT DocuSign Envelope ID: 6673E0E9-5EEF-4E98-8428-3C975BFD9121 0 9/14 /2020 – MINUTES Page 8 a. The meeting was moved to be adjourned by Eggleston and second by Utter at 7:18 pm. These minutes have been unanimously approved by the Parking Advisory Board on October 12, 2020. X_____________________________________________ Eleanor Hill, Parking Advisory Board Chair DocuSign Envelope ID: 6673E0E9-5EEF-4E98-8428-3C975BFD9121 10/23/2020