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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDTS-08-092 - Downtown Parking Petition..,, ~~~~ development & Technical Services REPORT Report To: Finance and Corporate Services Committee Date of Meeting: 2008 May 26 Submitted By: Rob Browning, General Manager of Development and Technical Services Prepared By: Ken Carmichael, Supervisor of Traffic and Parking Wards}Involved: Bridgeport-Centre Ward -1 West-Victoria Park Ward - 6 Date of Report: 2007 May 16 Report No.: DTS-08-092 Subject: DOWNTOWN PARKING PETITION RECOMMENDATIONS: That consideration of the received Downtown Parking Petition be referred to the Downtown Parking Strategy process, in conjunction with the City's impending Transportation Demand Management program. BACKGROUND: A parking petition was presented to Council at its meeting on Monday, May 5, 2008, by a business owner of a Downtown business. This petition, which included approximately 3,000 signatures, is requesting Council's consideration of a request to provide free parking at all City of Kitchener Downtown parking facilities after 3:00 pm, Monday to Friday, along with free parking all day Saturday and Sunday. This petition asks for the implementation of a one year pilot program, with an intent to encourage those working during daytime hours to transition in the Downtown nightlife and to encourage others to come Downtown. As a result of this petition, Council passed the following resolution: "That the citizen petition submitted by Mr Ralph Glemser, Far Out Flicks, requesting free Downtown parking Monday to Friday after 3:00 pm and all day Saturday /Sunday, be referred to staff for further investigation, in consultation with the Kitchener Downtown Business Association, and a report back to the May 26, 2008 Finance and Corporate Services Committee meeting." In response, staff has prepared the following report for Council's consideration. REPORT Current Ongoing Practices City of Kitchener Downtown Parking Rates 1 Effective Periods The following outlines current parking provisions in the Downtown: On-Street Parking Spaces • 380 on-street parking spaces are provided in the Downtown • free of charge • two ~2} hour parking limit between the hours of 8:00 am and 12:00 midnight. Off-Street Parking Lots • 1470 off-street parking spaces are provided in the Downtown • rate of $1.75 pe r h o u r • 8:00 am and 6:00 pm, Monday to Saturday, with Sundays free. Parking Garages • 1050 parking spaces are provided in the Downtown • 1 St four (4) hours - $3.00 • $1.25 per half hour ($2.50 per hour) thereafter • daily maximum - $8.50 • 24 hours per day, Monday to Saturday, with Sundays free. Existing City of Waterloo /City of Cambridge Downtown Parking Provisions City of Waterloo Through discussions with Waterloo staff, unlike Kitchener's Downtown, the City of Waterloo Uptown currently generates a parking supply in excess of parking demand. On-Street Parking Spaces • 235 spaces • Free • majority are controlled with a one (1 }hour parking time limit. Off-Street Parking Lots • 1700 spaces • majority of these lots are free • in two ~2) lots, payment ($1.00 per hour} is required • 8:00 am - 9:00 pm, Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 6:00 pm Saturdays, with Sundays free. Downtown Parkade • 468 spaces • $1.00 per hour, $6.00 daily maximum • 8:00 am to 9:00 pm, Monday to Saturday. The City of Waterloo is currently finalizing an Uptown Parking Strategy. This strategy is directing Waterloo towards creating a financially self-sustaining "utility", or separate division, and away from their current practice of "public subsidization". City of Cambridge The City of Cambridge, like the City of Waterloo, is currently experiencing a parking supply in excess of demand. With underutilized facilities, a number of parking lots on the perimeter of the Downtown are offered free of charge, along with enforcement practices being relaxed during certain time periods of the day and/or week. Both Waterloo and Cambridge have parking payment effective periods similar to Kitchener, typically being 8:00 am - 6:00 pm Monday to Saturday. These hours are standard practice within the parking field, reflecting the need to properly control parking during generally common work and business hours. Downtown Parking Study Every two years, Transportation Planning conducts afull-scale parking study of all City parking facilities Downtown. This study measures parking operations by determining average and peak lot occupancy, along with vehicle turnover and duration. Since 2001, these studies show that within our on-street and off-street parking spaces, parking occupancy and duration have increased, while turnover has reduced. This indicates that more people are parking Downtown, staying longer, and finding that parking availability is getting more difficult. In summary, parking usage is very high, with availability low. Providing additional hours/days of free parking would only aggrevate this condition. Current Ongoing Studies Transportation Demand Management Transportation Planning of Engineering Services is finalizing a Transportation Demand Management (TDM} program through a current consultant review. TDM is a wide range of policies, programs, services and products that influence how, when, where and why people and goods are moved. TDM approaches transportation issues from the demand side as opposed to the supply side. TDM is not about reducing the number of cars in the city at large; it is about people making educated choices in their travel mode options and ultimately reducing the number of vehicle trips. Many key initiatives of TDM involve parking, including ridesharing and preferred parking, shared parking and parking pricing. 3 Parking policies, rates, supply and availability all greatly impact the use of the single occupant vehicle. To ensure effectiveness with any proposed TDM measure, it is essential to work together with parking policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all areas are working towards the same mandate. Any proposal that provides increased free parking in the Downtown, which would encourage further use of the single occupant vehicle, would be contrary to the intent of TDM. Accordingly, any proposed change to the done in conjunction with supported TDM potential effectiveness of the TDM program. City's parking rate structure is recommended to be initiatives. Failure to do so will compromise the Downtown Parking Strategy In 2003, Council adopted the following principles relative to the City's Parking portfolio: The City should continue in the Parking business to ensure control. Parking should operate as an enterprise providing a return on investment. Parking subsidies should be considered economic development tools and be accounted for accordingly. Since 2003, as a direct result of intense Downtown revitalization efforts, the demand for Downtown parking has grown tremendously and, as a result, the City is experiencing significant pressure for the expansion of parking. In continuing with Council's direction to operate the parking unit as an enterprise and further; to account for all parking subsidies, the subsidized amount to provide free parking M-F 3-6 pm and all day Saturday's to 675 businesses located downtown would be approximately $450,000/yr ~approx $55/mth}." Staff is currently working on a business case which will identify a strategic direction for the Parking Unit. This will incorporate an organizational review and a short and long term funding strategy which will allow the Parking unit to operate more so as a true enterprise. Kitchener Downtown Business Association KDBA) Input In response to this parking petition, the KDBA provided the following input: "The KDBA; in response to the petition that Mr.Glemer has presented to Council. The petition has not been reviewed at the board level of the KDBA and will be tabled at the next Board Meeting to formulate an exact position on the issue. However that being said as part of an initial review; we believe the petition as tabled is a key indicator that Parking is a "major concern", based on the sheer number of signatures from businesses and the people that use the core on a day today basis. We know our competitive situation against others and when you see increased access and flexibility for shoppers for parking is making it increasing more difficult to compete and maintain the customer base. 4 As an example Waterloo has (2) two hour free parking in all their lots, and this demonstrates flexibility for the shopper and provides an opportunity for the services in the core to be used based on ease of accessibility. Parking is a critical component of numerous projects in the core and within the region and should be an integral component of light rapid transit, walking community, environmental issues and development of Centre block and other housing develops currently being addressed. KDBA believes there should be direct linkage to these projects and would like to see parking as a critical component of these strategic plans. Parking as a whole should be brought forward as a separate strategic focus for the municipality, departmental assignments given and project initiated and communicated with the community. Thank You." The KDBA intend to meet with the Downtown businesses in the near future to obtain a better idea of what issues around parking exist. It is then intended for the KDBA Board to establish a position to present to Committee and/or Council in the coming months. In general, the KDBA are interested in working with the City on the Downtown Parking Strategy and would like that all Downtown parking issues are communicated to the association. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: The following outlines the financial impact of the petition which requests free parking in all City parking facilities after 3:00 pm Monday to Friday, along with all day Saturdays. Providing Free Saturday Parking Average Saturday revenue for surface lots - $1817 Average Saturday revenue for 3 garages - $370 $2187 X 52 weeks = $113,724 Total Annual Revenue Saturdays Based on 6% 2008 Fee Increase - $120,547.44 Providing Free Parking Monday -Friday, 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm Average surface lot revenue 3:00 - 6:00 pm - $620/day, $3720/week 30 percent loss in garage revenue to account for free parking 3-6 pm = $390/day, $2340/week $6060 X 52 = $315,120 Total Annual Revenue 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm, Monday to Friday Based on 6% 2008 Fee Increase - $334,027.20 Total Approximate Annual Financial Impact - $454,574.64 5 Please be advised that the implementation of this proposed new time period for payment would require programming changes to existing parking equipment, thereby resulting in fairly nominal charges to do so. Additionally, significant staff time would be required for this conversion. Therefore, the provision of this requested free parking is expected to result in a minimum of approximately $450,000 per year in lost revenue to the Corporation, which equates to approximately a 0.5% tax rate increase. CONCLUSION: The City currently provides the following parking subsidies: Free On-Street Parking (previously meters) - $657,000 Free Saturday Parking During Christmas Period - $34,000 Free Evening Parking - $167,000 The provision of the proposed free parking in the Downtown will result in the following impacts: • $450,000 loss of revenue annually. • Further increase in parking demand, despite a lack of supply. • Contradict the mandate of the City's impending TDM program. As a result, it is recommended that any consideration of revising Downtown parking rates and/or effective times should be conducted in conjunction with the City's TDM program, along with the City's Downtown Parking Strategy, currently being developed by a staff team. This will ensure a consistent approach where all areas are working together towards a common goal. Ken Carmichael, C.E.T. Supervisor of Traffic and Parking KC Rob Browning General Manager, Development and Technical Services Department 6