Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/16/2014 09 Short Term Parking Recommendations for Downtown DistrictBUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL YAKIMA, WASHINGTON AGENDA STATEMENT Item No. 9. For Meeting of: September 16, 2014 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ITEM TITLE: SUBMITTED BY: SUMMARY EXPLANATION: Short Term Parking Recommendations for Downtown District Sean Hawkins, Economic Development Manager 575-6274 Eight short term recommendations for improving retail parking in downtown Yakima were made by Carl Walker and Associates at a Yakima City Council study session on Tuesday, August 12th. The recommendations were also discussed at the Council Built Environment Committee meeting on Thursday, August 21st. The recommendations include adding additional angled parking throughout downtown, changing the hours of the main municipal lots, creating marketing materials, appointing a parking manager and entering into agreements with private parking lot owners to make their lots available for after hours parking. Resolution: Ordinance: Other (Specify): Contract: Contract Term: Start Date: End Date: Item Budgeted: Amount: Funding Source/Fiscal Impact: Strategic Priority: Economic Development Insurance Required? No Mail to: Phone: APPROVED FOR SUBMITTAL: RECOMMENDATION: City Manager ATTACHMENTS: Description Upload Date Downtown Parking Memo 9/11/2014 Type Cover Memo Memorandum To: City Manager and Yakima City Council From: Sean Hawkins, Economic Development Manager Date: September 10, 2014 Subject: Short Term Parking Recommendations for Downtown District The following are short term parking recommendations made by Andy Miller from Carl Walker and Associates to the Yakima City Council for addressing downtown parking issues. These issues were discussed, in detail, at the August 21, 2014 Council Built Environment Committee meeting attended by Bill Lover, Kathy Coffey, and Rick Ensey. 1) Finalize Physical Plan to Increase On -Street Parking — Using the Carl Walker & Associates and Gustafson, Guthrie, Nichol parking expansion recommendations as a guideline, we plan to convert parallel parking spaces to angled parking in numerous locations throughout downtown for an anticipated increase of 120 parking spaces. The project cost will be $90,000 which will be funded from the Central Business District Capital Fund and the Streets and Traffic Fund. Conversion work will begin in late October. In the future, there are other streets in downtown that could be converted from parallel to angled parking to add additional retail parking capacity. 2) Designate Staff Person to Oversee and Manage Parking System - The City of Yakima has no designated staff person to oversee downtown parking issues. As described by the organizational chart in the Carl Walker & Associates study session presentation on August 12th, there are numerous City departments involved in our parking system, but no point person to ensure that the system is responsive to our evolving downtown. The City Manager intends to appoint James Dean, the City's Utility Services Manager, as the point person for downtown parking issues. Sean Hawkins, the City's Economic Development Manager, will work closely with James and the business community to address individual issues as they arise. 3) Revise YMC 9.50 to Make Parking Hour, Loading Zone and Residential Permit Changes an Administrative Decision - When a need arises to change the parking time limit on certain streets, the desired change requires an update to YMC 9.50. City staff recommends that administration of parking time limits and loading zones be an administrative function administered by the Parking Manager with final approval from the City Manager and advance notice to the City Council. This change in execution makes it easier for the City to quickly address business and customer parking needs. If this direction is approved, City staff will bring back a revised ordinance for discussion at the October 7, 2014 Yakima City Council meeting for discussion. 4) Revise Time Limits in Three Primary Public Lots to Two Hours to Accommodate Customer Parking Turnover — As documented by the turnover surveys conducted by Carl Walker, the dominated use of our central parking lots is by employees who often move their car to another spot after their four hour limit is up. At the same time, downtown customers often complain about finding a convenient parking spot during our busiest times. Revising our lots to two instead of four hours will increase turnover and ensure better parking options for customers. The three primary lots included in this decision are the lot across the street from the Capitol Theatre, the lot across the street from the Second Street Grill and the lot on the SE corner of N. 1St Street and Sgt. Pendleton Way. 5) Work with Owners of Existing Private Lots to Allow General Public Parking After Hours — Downtown contains numerous privately owned parking lots located next to many downtown restaurants and entertainment venues. Today, many of these lots are used without permission for evening time parking. City staff has already spoken with Yakima Federal Bank and Wheatland Bank about an agreement to make their private spaces available to the public and signed properly to welcome customers after hours. Staff recommends contacting Chase Bank, the Sunfair Building, and others to make their spaces available after hours. Yakima County has already agreed to open up their parking lot at 2nd and Sgt. Pendleton Way on weekends and evenings. 6) Convert Under -used Public Lots into No Time Limit / Employee and Residential Parking — Upon changing the hours of the main customer lots to two hours, we need to immediately convert three lots in downtown to free employee and residential parking for those that chose not to purchase a monthly permit for the lots. These lots include the "Barrelhouse Lot" on 1St Street, the "YPAC" lot next to YPAC on Second Street and the lot across the street from the Police Station on Walnut and S. 3rd Street. These lots would be all day free parking for employees and residents. 7) Develop Multi -tiered Special Event Parking Plan — This recommendation relates directly to recommendation #4. Using the Capitol Theatre as an example, there are hundreds of privately owned parking spaces within two blocks of the Capitol Theatre that sit empty after hours or on weekends. We recommend working with the private owners and the Capitol Theatre to develop a communication plan to promote the spaces on theatre nights. Signage and communication will be important to the success of this initiative. 8) Develop Parking Marketing and Communications Plan — All of these recommended actions will have little effect if they are not communicated to the business community and public. The City of Nashville, TN's "Park It" program is a good model for us to follow as it includes branding of the parking system, way finding signage throughout the downtown district, a smart phone application, easy to follow parking maps and a website. The City of Yakima's information technology staff can build a website and we can hire a local public relations firm to develop the marketing materials. The total cost for graphic design for this project will not exceed $3,500 and way finding sign fabrication will be handled in house.