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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Bill 3.A 07/14/20034 i U L, 14 2003 3 t A CITY OF PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA PETALUMA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION ADEN A BILL Agenda Title Discussion & Action Regarding a Status Report on Meeting Date: the Keller'Street Garage Pay Parking Program July 14,'2003 Category (check one) X New Business Meeting Time X 3:00 PM Department: Director. Contact Person Phone Number Redevelopment Paul Marangella Paul Marangella 778 -4581 Cost of Proposal $167,000 Account Number 901 - 400 -9993 Amount Budgeted $167,000 Name of Fund: Central Business Project Area (901) Attachments to Agenda Packet Item None Summary Statement In 2000, representatives of the Petaluma Downtown. Association (PDA) came to the Petaluma Community Development Commission (PCDC) and requested that the Keller Street Garage have a major clean-up. They expressed many concerns about the garage on behalf of the PDA membership, including: vandalism, poor lighting, .lack of pigeon control, lack of maintenance, and the lack of personal security. They suggested these as the reasons many merchants, employees and patrons refused to park in the garage. They asked if the City could make the necessary capital improvements to eliminate these problems and proposed that the Garage be converted to pay parking as a means of financing a new security and maintenance program after the-clean-up. The PCDC responded affirmatively, directing the staff to make the requested improvements. On March 3, 2003, the PCDC established a pay - parking system for the Garage and requested a status report to evaluate the parking system after ninety days of operation. Operations began on April 1, 2003. Therefore, the purpose of this agenda item is to provide a status report of the first ninety days of operation and receive direction as appropriate. Recommended PCDC Action /Suggested Motion It is recommended that the PCDC receive and file this report. Reviewed by Finance Director: Revi me Approved &I-.Qitv Manner: Date: Today's Date Revision # and D �te . evised: " 'File Code: # July 1, 2003 y; CITY OF PE.TALUMA, CALIFORN_ IA Judy 14, 2003 I , AGENDA ]REPORT FOR DISCUSSION & ACTION REGARDING A STATUS REPORT ON THE FELLER STREET GARAGE PAY PARKING PROGRAM 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In 2000, representatives of the Petaluma Downtown Association (PDA) came to the Petaluma Community Development Commission (PCDC) and requested that the Keller Street Garage have a major clean-up. They expressed many concerns about the garage on behalf of the PDA membership, including: vandalism, poor lighting, lack of pigeon control, lack of maintenance, and the lack of personal security. They suggested these as the reasons many merchants, employees and patrons refused to park in the garage. They asked if the City could make the necessary capital improvements to eliminate these problems and proposed that the Garage be converted to pay parking as a means of financing a new security and" program after the clean-up. The PCDC responded affirmatively directing the staff to :make the requested improvements. Concurrently, the PCDC commissioned a parking study by Wilbur Smith Associates (WSA) to perform a detailed analysis of downtown parking. The study found that over 30% of the hours available for downtown parking were used by downtown employees and merchants. Subsequently, PDA and City representatives met with WSA to develop a parking strategy to address two issues: 2 -Hour Jumping: How could merchants /employees be encouraged to park in the garage and avoid moving their cars every two'hours — referred to as "jumping ?" Financing Security & Maintenance: How could annual security and maintenance costs of $180,000 be financed so aslnot to impact the City's General Fund? Le Based on these two issues, a parking strategy was developed'and approved .bythe PCDC as follows: • Quarterly Merchant/Residential Permits; The top two floors° were allocated for quarterly permits to merchants and. downtown residents to encourage them to move off the street. This would increase the amount of on- street parking for business patronage. • Hourly Pay-Parking: The ground floor was allocated exclusively for hourly pay - parking, using state of the art centralized pay- parking machines., On March 3, 2003, the PCDC established a pay - parking system for the Garage, implemented the aforementioned, strategy and requested a status report to evaluate the strategy after ninety days of operation. Operations began on April ,1, 2003. Therefore, the of this agenda item is to provide a status:report of ilhe'first ninety days of operation and receive direction as appropriate. BACKGROUND The Keller Street .Garage pay - parking program began on April 1, 2003. The program consists of two components: Quarterly Merchant/Residential Parking Permits on the second and third floors; and Hourly Pay - Parking on the ground floor. Page 2 Quarterly Parking Permits Number & Percentage of Quarterly Parking Permits Proiected` Annual. Revenue from Quarterly Pay- Parking Permits Number of_ Spaces Number 6f Permits % of Permits SecondYloor 113 57 50 Third' Floor 119 92 77 Total 232 149 �64 Proiected` Annual. Revenue from Quarterly Pay- Parking Permits Based on the fgure& above, several points can be made: .• Quarterly Merchant/Residential Permits , making a positive difference in downtown park1110 by taking 149 merchant and residential vehicles off the street. These vehicles would normally take up precious on- street parking. Many' merchants have expressed satisfaction - With the new permit.parking program. • While the, number of quarterly permits is a good start, an additional 83' spaces could be occupied by downtown merchants and employees. To this end, the PDA has pledged its support to get downtown,merchants .purchase.-them. • Due to flexible work schedules, it may be feasible to sell '110% of the spaces, as not all, permit holders.park at;the same time. .Ground Floo Hourly Pay - Parking When WSA : prepared. their recommendations on hourly -pay- parking rates for the ground .floor, they assurned that there would be 25% fewer . packers at $0.50/hour than when _it was' free: They pointed out that this was a best guess, as it ;is difficult to predict .parking behavior when there is free on- street parking. Based on this occupancy estimate, WSA projected annual ground floor .hourly pay - parking revenue at $111,000. Actual monthly hourly pay - parking revenue has been received as shown in the table below. is Page 3 With Current # Permits With 100% Occupancy With ,110.% Oceu ,.anc ' Second Floor $23,940 $47,460 $52 - Third Floor $22 $28 $31,440" Total $46,020 $76,020 $83;250` Based on the fgure& above, several points can be made: .• Quarterly Merchant/Residential Permits , making a positive difference in downtown park1110 by taking 149 merchant and residential vehicles off the street. These vehicles would normally take up precious on- street parking. Many' merchants have expressed satisfaction - With the new permit.parking program. • While the, number of quarterly permits is a good start, an additional 83' spaces could be occupied by downtown merchants and employees. To this end, the PDA has pledged its support to get downtown,merchants .purchase.-them. • Due to flexible work schedules, it may be feasible to sell '110% of the spaces, as not all, permit holders.park at;the same time. .Ground Floo Hourly Pay - Parking When WSA : prepared. their recommendations on hourly -pay- parking rates for the ground .floor, they assurned that there would be 25% fewer . packers at $0.50/hour than when _it was' free: They pointed out that this was a best guess, as it ;is difficult to predict .parking behavior when there is free on- street parking. Based on this occupancy estimate, WSA projected annual ground floor .hourly pay - parking revenue at $111,000. Actual monthly hourly pay - parking revenue has been received as shown in the table below. is Page 3 a >, Ground Floor Hourly Pay - Parking_ Revenue by Month Hourly pay - parking has generated -approximately 54% of the parking revenue projected by WSA. Several factors can be attributed to this including: • Shopper resistance to paying for garage parking while there is free parking on the street; • Unfamiliarity and difficulty with operating centralized pay; parking machines; • Fear of getting a parking citation in the -garage because of uncertainty about operating the pay - parking machines; and • Actually receiving a parking citation in the garage due to erroneous use of pay - parking machine. n PDA/City Staff Concerns Over the past month, as hourly 'pay- parking in the garage declined and numerous merchants complained about the loss of potential shoppers due to resistance to parking "in the garage, the City staff and the PDA met to identify solutions to enhance downtown parking. The team concluded that it would be useful to meet with the downtown merchants.. The City and the'PDA held two joint meetings downtown, inviting merchants to express their concerns about downtown parking. The meetings were held at the Petaluma Hotel on June 17 and 24th. Approximately 30 merchants attended each meeting. The outcome of these meetings was a request from the PDA ao suspend ground, floor pay parking in the Keller Street Garage for a period of 60 days; while a committee of downtown merchants, community and City representatives develops recommerided solutions to address the following issues: Garage Financing: How to pay the $180,000 annually for garage security ($130,000) and garage maintenance ($50,000) without requiring City support? Possible solutions mentioned at the meetings. include; on- street parking meters, property assessments; and mandatory Business Improvement District assessments. (Note: $46;000 is generated from quarterly parking permits.) Parking Behavior: How to eliminate merchant parking on the street ( "jumping "), thereby making available more customer parking? Possible solutions mentioned at the meeting are on- street parking meters while making the ;garage free and 2 -hour color zones. Because of the °:urgency of the merchant request to suspend hourly pay- parking on the ground floor for 60 days, while solutions to the two aforementioned issues can be developed, the City Manager accepted the request. Effective June 27, 2003, hourly pay - parking on the ground floor was converted to free two - hour parking. Page 4 Ground Floor Revenue Annualized Revenue WSA Estimated Annual Revenue Difference Current vs EstimatedRevenue April $4,500 $54 $111,000 $57,000 May $6,`732 $80,784 $111,000 $30,216 June 0,069 $44,028 $111,000 $66,972 Total $14,901 $59,604 $111,000 $51,396 Hourly pay - parking has generated -approximately 54% of the parking revenue projected by WSA. Several factors can be attributed to this including: • Shopper resistance to paying for garage parking while there is free parking on the street; • Unfamiliarity and difficulty with operating centralized pay; parking machines; • Fear of getting a parking citation in the -garage because of uncertainty about operating the pay - parking machines; and • Actually receiving a parking citation in the garage due to erroneous use of pay - parking machine. n PDA/City Staff Concerns Over the past month, as hourly 'pay- parking in the garage declined and numerous merchants complained about the loss of potential shoppers due to resistance to parking "in the garage, the City staff and the PDA met to identify solutions to enhance downtown parking. The team concluded that it would be useful to meet with the downtown merchants.. The City and the'PDA held two joint meetings downtown, inviting merchants to express their concerns about downtown parking. The meetings were held at the Petaluma Hotel on June 17 and 24th. Approximately 30 merchants attended each meeting. The outcome of these meetings was a request from the PDA ao suspend ground, floor pay parking in the Keller Street Garage for a period of 60 days; while a committee of downtown merchants, community and City representatives develops recommerided solutions to address the following issues: Garage Financing: How to pay the $180,000 annually for garage security ($130,000) and garage maintenance ($50,000) without requiring City support? Possible solutions mentioned at the meetings. include; on- street parking meters, property assessments; and mandatory Business Improvement District assessments. (Note: $46;000 is generated from quarterly parking permits.) Parking Behavior: How to eliminate merchant parking on the street ( "jumping "), thereby making available more customer parking? Possible solutions mentioned at the meeting are on- street parking meters while making the ;garage free and 2 -hour color zones. Because of the °:urgency of the merchant request to suspend hourly pay- parking on the ground floor for 60 days, while solutions to the two aforementioned issues can be developed, the City Manager accepted the request. Effective June 27, 2003, hourly pay - parking on the ground floor was converted to free two - hour parking. Page 4 60 =Day Task Force 0 At the last meeting with the merchants, the PDA asked for volunteers to participate on a task force to develop solutions for garage security & maintenance financing and 2 =Hour "jumping." 'Eighteen members of the PDA volunteered and will work with representatives of the City to develop solutions to thesel two problems. Recommended solutions will be transmitted to the PCDC in early September. 2. ALTERNATIVES NA 3. FINANCIAL,IMPACTS The FY 2003 -04 PCDC Budget assumes pay- parking revenue of $167,000 as4 per`the WSA:estimdte. Actual revenue is projected to be less, as follows: m $167,000 FY 2003 -04 PCDC'Budget ® -$45,000 Projected- Ground Floor Revenue (Two Months Free) e -$46,000 Projected Quarterly Pay Parking Permits at Current Level $ 76,000 Variance from Budgeted Revenue 5. CONCLUSION The PCDC has fulfilled =its commitment to improve the Keller Street Garage; providing access .control, pigon control, improved lighting and cleanliness, and improved security. Merchants and downtow residents are very appreciative of the improvements and the ' availability of quarterly permit parking. What has not worked well is the hourly ground floor pay parking. The City and the PDA will work with a task force over the next sixty days to develop solutions' to two issues: garage security &,maintenance financing and 2 -hour "jumping." In the meantime; hourly pay- parking has been suspended in the garage for"60 days, pending recommended solutions from the task force. 6. OUTCOMES OR.PERF..ORMANCEIV EASUREVIENTSXHAT'WILL IDENTIFY SUCCESS OR COMPLETION: The development of a downtown parking program that discourages or eliminates 2 -hour "jumping" and provides the financing necessary to pay for security and maintenance. 7. RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the PCDC receive and file this report. • Page 5