HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-08-06 Parking Commission Minutes
Draft - Bozeman Parking Commission Meeting
June 8, 2006
Attendance:
Pam Bryan, Steve Schnee, Chris Pope, Paul Burns, Jeff Rupp, Anna
Rosenberry, James Goehrung, Larry Bowman, Thomas Mosser, Paul Reichert
Meeting was called to order @ 7:30 a.m. by Chris Pope.
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Minutes were read. Small change on 1 page – Pam commented that what she said was
“lack of enforcement erodes support for garage issue”.
Larry moved to approve with change, Steve seconded.
Paul Burns the Director of Parking @ MSU was introduced as the new Parking
Commissioner.
Steve suggested that they look into how they can keep Lisa as a resource. She has a
wealth of knowledge and energy which is hard to come by in the area of parking. She is
a resource they don’t want to overlook. The Parking Commissioners discussed ways to
show their appreciation to her for all her dedicated work.
Garage Project Update:
James discussed the draft he put together. He stated he
attempted to identify the major tasks that needed to be accomplished and a time line to
get those accomplished—identifying which things need to happen before something else
can occur, and what can be done concurrently. The biggest unknown is the federal
funding by the federal transit authority.
James explained how he came to land on this schedule, and how he wants to bring
everyone who is a part of the project together to agree to the schedule to keep everyone
on task.
The transit portion of the garage had not been done. This required new contracts and new
work to be done before the project could move forward.
There was some clarification that James is the Project Manager for this project. A
discussion ensued on why the timelines were as they were. The time line listed the
construction start date as March/April of 2007. The commissioners expressed concern as
to why there was so much time between some items on the schedule.
Chris Pope asked what the checkpoints were so that the commissioners would know that
we are on track.
Anna explained that according to Martel the fact that we are not yet bidding the project
during the summer is a good thing. Not getting the Federal Funding is the big
checkpoint. And then Anna explained that there are rumblings that the TIF may be
compromised. The state is looking at legislation to take back some of the mills that the
TIF is currently getting. We are in a weaker position since we haven’t yet sold bonds or
formerly committed those funds. We would have to have the bonds sold by November
th
30 in order to secure those funds.
It was questioned if that was possible?
The three major steps on this schedule, are:
1.Receipt of Federal Award
2.Construction Bid Awarded
3.Bonds Sold
To move things ahead that quickly would be a tremendous effort and it would be very
optimistic that the fed’s would award within 30 days.
Chris Pope volunteered to be the main contact for James to help keep the commissioners
informed and assist him in anyway they can.
He again reiterated that they need to have checkpoints to make sure that this project is on
track and is not getting out of control—money spent on a project that may not ever be
completed in the end.
James stated that construction costs and bid price are the biggest items that we have no
control over, and could blow this out of the water.
James offered to present to this schedule to the TIF board to help communicate this
information as there was some question as to their commitment to this project.
Larry Bowman reminded everyone that we can always cut the number of spaces to make
this project fit our budget.
Steve asked if there was any way to actually fast-forward this project.
Jeff said it’s better to take the amount of time needed to make sure you have the best
project than to rush and possibly do something wrong.
New Business:
James mentioned that a request was made to add an additional
handicapped parking space on the corner of Bozeman and Main. The City was going to
be researching this and possibly installing one if it was deemed necessary. The
commission asked to see the request before the decision was made.
James brought it to the commissioner’s attention that there would be some disruption of
the Rouse lot and on-street parking on Rouse due to the Soroptomist Park landscaping
project.
He also mentioned that he is trying to get contracts filled for crack sealing, overlaying
and striping of the parking commission lots. There has been some difficulty getting those
filled.
Thomas Mosser:
He submitted a request for a perpetual lease of 28 spaces in the lot on
the SE corner of Main & Willson (Armory) on an overnight basis. The UDO requires
him to have 62.1 spaces off-site. He has proposed a 5 story project – The City Hotel – a
very nice looking building and mentioned that it would be a gateway to downtown. It
would add to the appeal of the downtown area.
Chris reminded him that 50% of those spaces could be satisfied by cash in lieu.
Thomas stated that he needs actual spaces. He cannot run a hotel with “fictitious/ghost”
spaces, and the cost of going down or up—just wasn’t cost effective. He mentioned he
may have to revisit this at a future date. The hotel will be an upscale hotel for the higher
end consumer.
Paul Reichert reminded everyone that on-street parking is still an option—to lease
additional spaces. Also, another option may be to lease the Holy Rosary church parking
lot.
Chris stated that the parking commissioners need to have a discussion about perpetual
leases of public spaces. He stated they may need to have more meetings for a while to
get through some of these discussions and make some decisions—once a month for 1 ½
hours just was not enough time.
Larry reminded everyone that they already have had another request for those same
spaces by another individual, and that he had been told that he would have to replace any
spaces that were eliminated by his development.
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Chris asked everyone to plan for a meeting in two weeks on June 22.
Paul Burns stated that he would be out of town.
Chris wants to work towards solving the fundamental issue about parking and how it
affects development downtown.
The parking commission approved the re-hire of the parking clerk position with the
changes suggested by Paul Luwe.
Steve asked if they could expand the board to include Lisa. Anna reviewed Montana
Code, and reported that it states their can be 5-7 commissioners per state statute.
Larry made a motion to change the allowable size of the commission to up to 7
commissioners. The motion was seconded by Pam and approved.
The parking commissioners donated funds to get a gift for Lisa in appreciation for all her
hard work and dedication to the commission.
Steve asked if they had ever discussed Ray Erickson’s issue with parking. It was
confirmed that they had talked to him and the issue was resolved.
Meeting adjourned @ 9:25 p.m.
Paul Burns was given a packet of about the last year and a half of minutes and issues
facing the parking commission. He can be reached by e-mail at pburns@montana.edu.
Respectfully submitted,
Laurae Clark
Treasurer