Memo- Parking System Update
Police Administrative Services
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Memo
To: Honorable Mayor and Council Members
From: Connie Kurtz
Date: February 23, 2006
Re: Parking System Update
The purpose of the parking system program is to provide free adequate and convenient
short term parking for customers visiting the downtown business district. Additionally, the
parking system program regulates parking in the municipally-owned/operated parking lots
and ramp.
Municipal Ramp
The signage in the municipal ramp will be changed shortly to better define the areas where
parking permit parking is allowed. Currently the language on the signs is confusing and
doesn't clearly designate what the "upper levels" are for permit parking and therefore, permit
parking enforcement is lax. Permit holders currently park wherever they want in the ramp.
Once the new signage is in place, all vehicles displaying a parking permit will receive a
notice explaining the new permit parking area. There will be a one-month grace period
before enforcement will begin. The purpose of enforcing the areas where permit parking is
allowed is to provide more convenient main level parking for short term parking customers.
Overnight Parking
Recently four downtown businesses contacted me inquiring about permanent overnight
parking for their business vehicles. These would be vehicles used by the business primarily
during the day and parked overnight and weekends.
Currently the parking system provides limited overnight parking in lot 300 located just north
of Downtown Park. The purpose of the ovemight parking is to allow individuals who need to
leave their vehicle overnight once, for whatever reason, in a designated place and not worry
about getting a citation. The overnight parking is intended for one-time situations, not
permanent or long term. Additionally, residents who live above businesses located on
Mainstreet are allowed to park ovemight with a special permit, in a designated area on the
lower level of the ramp. Parking is currently prohibited from 2:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. on
downtown streets, city parking lots and the ramp to allow for maintenance as necessary.
Since the current ovemight parking policy does not allow permanent or long term parking, I
brought this before staff for discussion.
Staff discussed the pros and cons of a permanentllong term parking scheme.
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A number of possible locations for this type of ovemight parking were discussed. Staff
determined the best location would be the top level of the municipal ramp.
Pro
. Revenue source
. Accommodate downtown businesses
Con
. Impact on maintenance issues (snowplowing, cleaning)
. Limits available customer parking for Art Center, theater, restaurants, city events, etc.
. Problems with allocating spaces -Which business would get spaces?
. Attracting the "wrong" kind of business to the downtown area. Businesses that might
be better suited for another part of the city.
. Legal limits on assigning specific spaces in the ramp (concem because of how the
construction of the ramp was funded).
. Vandalism
Issues to be addressed should this scheme go forward:
1. What type of enforcement action would take place if someone (public) parked in an
overnight parking spot?
. Staff recommends that the violator be issued a citation. However, there is no
ordinance covering this type of violation, so an ordinance would have to be
enacted.
2. Should the number of spaces be limited?
. There are 380 total spaces in the ramp; 200 of those are allocated to permit
parking. Staff recommends 20 spaces for the overnight parking on the top
level ofthe ramp.
. Should more spaces be allocated? If so, what impact would this have on
customers and regular permit holders?
3. Should there be a limit on the number of spaces a business can request?
. Staff recommends the limit should be no more than 3 spaces per business.
This would allow a variety of businesses to obtain spaces. A business with a
fleet of vehicles might be better suited in another part of the city, rather than in
the downtown business district.
4. What would be an appropriate fee?
. Current annual parking permit fee is $150. Staff recommends the fee for this
special parking privilege should be no less than $30/mo up to $50/mo per
vehicle.
5. How would snowplowing and ramp maintenance be conducted?
. Regular snowplowing operations would continue as usual. It would be part of
the parking agreement that it is the responsibility of the permit holder to move
vehicles to a lower, covered area of the ramp during snow emergencies.
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Permit holders could be notified by flyer of maintenance and cleaning
operations ahead of time.
6. How to determine which businesses would get spaces.
. Staff recommends a "first come" method of allocating a limited number of
parking spaces. Once the designated spaces are full, a waiting list could be
established for future vacancies. However there is the concern that some
businesses on the waiting list may never get an opportunity for a parking
space and would this be fair?
Revenue Potential
The following are examples of potential revenue if a permanent/long term parking scheme
was put into place.
Example 1
$30/molvehicle X 12 mo = $360/year/vehicle
20 spaces x $360 = $7,200
Example 2
$45/mo/vehicle X 12 mo = $540/year/vehicle
20 spaces x $540 = $10,800
Example 3
$50/mo/vehicle X 12 mo = $600Iyear/vehicle
20 spaces x $600 = $12,000
Currently the parking revenue consists of fees collected for parking permits and fines
collected for parking and registration violations. Only those citations issued by the Parking
Enforcement Officers are calculated for the Parking Fund.
The overall parking fund budget is under budget. However the projected parking fund
revenue is under budget by $23,235. Projecting revenue is difficult because it is based on
permit fees and citation fines. The number of permit sales and citations issued varies each
year.
Citation revenue collected in 2005 - $29,028,93. The projected revenue for 2005 was
$40,000. This reflects the fines collected in 2005, not necessarily for the citations issued in
2005.
Parking Permit fees collected in 2005 - $54,262.34 (approximately 500 permits :annual-
422, quarterly/monthly - 84). There are 317 permit spaces throughout the permit areas.
The projected revenue was $21,500.
I look forward to discussing this issue with you.
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