HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/16/2016 - Downtown Plan Parking Element - Parking Advisory BoardChair, Susan Kirkpatrick
Vice Chair, Holly Wright
PARKING ADVISORY BOARD
MEMORANDUM
DATE: May 16, 2016
TO: City of Fort Collins Councilmembers
FROM: Parking Advisory Board
RE: Parking Advisory Board’s Downtown Plan Parking Element
Recommendation
On April 11, 2016 Seth Lorson presented staff recommendations from the Downtown Parking
Community Dialogue (an element of the Downtown Plan) to the Parking Advisory Board. The
Parking Advisory Board voted 8 – 1 to not support the recommendations and drafted an
alternative recommendation as follows: (proposed changes in bold)
1.Implement a monitoring system to collect data on occupancy and turnover, and pilot an
on-street paid parking program in a portion of downtown.
2.Adjust enforcement: (Same as staff recommendation)
•Explore weekends and evenings
•Explore 2-hour parking limits to an entire zone
3.Create a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program. (Same as staff
recommendation)
4.Engage in public-private partnerships to use under-utilized surface parking on
private lots and parking structures.
5.After one year, analyze data collected from monitoring system to determine if an
on-street paid parking system should be implemented throughout downtown.
Parking Advisory Board members would like to acknowledge the time and efforts that City Staff
has dedicated to educate Board members and for allowing them to be part of the Downtown
Plan. These Staff efforts helped to generate the dialog about the alternative recommendations
the Parking Advisory Board crafted.
Discussion:
Staff recommendation to implement an on-street paid parking system without first developing
robust data about availability and turnover is premature. This conclusion is consistent with the
Downtown and surrounding neighborhoods parking plan, adopted January 15, 2013. The staff
did not present new evidence of the need for on-street paid parking in the near term. Creating a
pilot program with paid on-street, along with the downtown-wide monitoring system would
provide additional data.
Downtown Fort Collins has several surface parking lots and parking structures that are under-
utilized but in private hands. Parking spaces in structures cost $30,000 - $35,000 to build, it is
important to explore entering into formal relationships with parking lot owners to potentially
structure financial arraignments to gain access to these parking assets with the City managing
the permitting process. Surface lots are perceived by some citizens safer than structure parking
and the land-use is already committed to parking use. This option has been discussed for many
years but has never been specifically directed through policy.
CC: Darin Atteberry, City Manager