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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-14-11 Parking Commission Minutes Bozeman Parking Commission Meeting September 14, 20117:00 a.m. City Hall Commission Room Parking Commissioners in Attendance: Ben Lloyd Chris Naumann Pam Bryan Chris Pope Lisa Danzl-Scott Ben Bennett Tammy Hauer City Staff in Attendance: Cyndy Andrus, City Commissioner Paul Burns, Parking Manager Ashlie Portnell, Parking Clerk Guests in Attendance: None Action Items: I. Call to order, 7:30 a.m. Ben L called the meeting to order at 7:30 a.m. II. Approval of August 10, 2011, minutes Ben L asked for a motion to approve the August 10, 2011 minutes. Chris N motioned to approve the August 10, 2011 minutes. Lisa seconded the motion. The motion was carried unanimously. III. Public Comment, State name and address. Please limit comments to 3 minutes. None. IV. Manager's Report, including finance report Paul stated there was nothing new to report on regarding the "two hours free" signs for the parking garage. The amount of total courtesy tickets per month since the program has started was put on the board for the BPC to look at. May and August numbers show a lower amount of courtesy tickets issued because some of the officers were on vacation. Paul anticipates the numbers will go back up now that school is back in session. Cyndy ask for comparison to actual tickets issued and courtesy tickets issued. Paul stated the average amount is twice the amount of courtesy tickets. Paul met with the company that wants to install the cell tower at the parking garage. There is no word yet on whether this project is going to happen. Sign-o-Rama is going to create the entrance signs for the parking garage. The total cost for the signs is $700.00. We are going to install the signs ourselves. Chris N sent out an email to some of the downtown businesses in regards to the courtesy ticket program. He received two responses. Paul said there is a homeless person living in the Mendenhall stairwell at the parking garage. The police think signs stating "No Loitering" should be installed. Chris N doesn't think those signs should be posted. There are so many other signs at the garage, we don't want to over sign! A couple weeks ago a lady was leaving the parking garage at about 2 a.m.; she inserted her baggage claim ticket instead of the garage ticket. This brought down the Mendenhall exit. All of her information was on the baggage claim ticket so Paul was able to get a hold of her. She finally paid the $10.00 on 09/13/11. There was a power outage a couple weeks ago at the parking garage. Paul was there when it happened. It took 35 minutes for it to come back on. All the gates had to be fixed so people could leave. Tammy asked if it would be beneficial to have a backup generator. Paul said it would be really expensive, and most likely not worth it to have one. Chris N mentioned if the garage ever has the solar panels installed, that it might give off enough energy to keep things running if the power goes out. Friday September 16, 2011 is National Parking Day! This means for two hours only people can turn a normal parking space into a little park. People can lay out green carpet, have a barbeque and lawn chairs set up. This was started in San Francisco, and has taken off to many different cities and towns around the nation. Paul stated that many of the fire extinguishers at garage have been stolen and used for fun. In an attempt to get the vandalizing and stealing of the extinguishers to stop, Paul has not been replacing the ones that have been taken. The fire department told Paul he does need to replace them, so he needs to find a new way to store them. One suggestion is to attach an alarm to them. They can be expensive but would hopefully keep people from taking them. Another suggestion is to put a glass case over them. Chris N stated this could just create more fun for those who are taking the extinguishers. Paul stated there are between 17 to 19 total extinguishers at the garage. It could be really expensive to have alarms for each of them. Ben B suggested only putting alarms on the ones that are being taken the most. And maybe putting up signs on all of them that state there is an alarm and the police will be called if an extinguisher is removed. Cyndy asked how much they cost to replace. Paul stated that we rent the extinguishers, and only pay for them if they are lost/stolen. They are not very expensive. Pam asked if it is expensive to put in a siren. Paul said no, unless it's an alarm that would sound for the police to respond, then that could be expensive. Chris P said this is not a decision the BPC should just make. We need to look at the code book and do what it says. Pam said the BPC should choose to have the alarms installed. The finance report shows residential permit numbers are way up. The downtown surface lot trend has declined. Last year actuals compared to this year is still pretty good. The garage usage numbers show an increase from August 2010 to August 2011. V. Street Beat Catapalooza was August 24, 25 and 26. Both Officer Megan Stewart and Paul attended. They handed out parking flyers and residential permit applications. They also handed out about 200 free two hours parking at the parking garage. Paul stated only two of those tickets have been used. Dave Eubanks is back as a parking officer. Pam asked where Dave and Megan patrol? Dave's route Wednesday through Friday is up at MSU. Megan works MSU route Monday and Tuesdays. Friday and Saturday she works the downtown area. Paul stated there have been issues with daycares at both of the parking districts. Parents are dropping off their children and talking to the child care providers for a few minutes, and by the time they get back to their vehicles, they have a parking ticket. Paul instructed the officers to circle the block and come back in about 15 minutes. If the vehicle is still there, then write them a citation. The South 8th street project is finished. Signs were bagged in that area while the construction was taking place, but they should be back up now. There is an apartment complex near Iho's Korean restaurant that people are having parking issues with. People cannot tell what is restaurant parking and what is apartment parking, therefore complaints have been made and parking officers have been called to issue citations. Paul said, he thinks the problem has been solved. VL Renting garage closet to Starky's, Proposed 6x6 for $25/month Starkey's is in need of extra storage space. There is a storage closet at the garage that would be perfect for them to store their napkins, straws, etc. Starkey's mentioned to Paul that they would like to rent out that space. Paul asked the BPC if he could rent out that space to Starkey's at $25.00 a month. Chris N thinks it is a reasonable price, but that they should pay for the whole year up front. James Goehrung and Paul will get together and create a contract. VII. Update on build out of upstairs office at garage Paul received the cost estimate quote from Prugh and Lenon for the office space on the second floor of the parking garage. James Goehrung said the BPC should add another 10% for a contingency. He will go to individual contractors and get their quotes. Anna Rosenberry said the BPC can borrow this money from the general fund with 1% interest, and the BPC needs to have a payment schedule set up. Paul didn't know when the BPC would have to start paying back those funds. At this time it is unknown if there is any interest from anyone for this space. Ben B asked if the City should just utilize that space instead of trying to lease it out to another business. Chris N said that until we get "kicked out" of the offices at the Stiff building, that there is no need for someone to have that space. It would be best to lease it out and earn additional revenue. Tammy is wondering if we will start to advertise now, even though the space is not finished, and put it out there that we are going to pay 50% of the work that needs to be done? Paul said it he doesn't know if it would be easier to wait until the space is finished to advertise or if we should just try and lease it out as is and then finish the space. Pam asked Chris P if it would be easier to market the place if it was finished. Chris thinks it would be easier. He suggested that Paul find a commercial broker to work with him on this. Paul and Chris P will work together and come up with a couple different scenarios for the BPC on how they would manage a tenant at that office space. Pam asked if there was any interest in this space yet. If we don't have it rented by Thanksgiving we could then change things and come up with a new strategy to get a tenant in there. Paul will look for a commercial broker to work with. Cyndy asked about how long the lease is going to be set up for? It was suggested that the lease be set for no less than three years. Chris P said by the time you do the build-out, a three year lease would be great; however a five year lease would be best. VIII. Cash-in-lieu discussion Paul created the City of Bozeman's Cash-in-lieu (of actual parking spaces policy) which he presented to the BPC. The document discussed three options. 1. Raise the rate from the current $5,000.00 to $11,000. This is the national average. 2. Do nothing. 3. Eliminate it totally. Chris N suggested a fourth option. 4. Create a sliding scale Where depending on a project's parking shortage, a certain fee would apply. The more the shortage of required parking, the more the project would pay per parking space. This suggested was well received by the other members of the BPC. Tammy stated that any change should come before the Carnegie Hotel project gets underway. That would mean by this fall of 2011 or after the project is more defined with a developer. Paul will talk to the Planning department about his different options, including the sliding scale. IX. Update on Bozeman Creek Park(ing) Project Chris N said Ron Dingman, Gary Wiener, Paul Burns, Dustin Johnson will join him to make up the consultant selection committee for the update of the Rouse parking lot project. Two contractors will be interviewed next week. Chris N will announce which contractor they have selected for the project on September 23, 2011. At this time only the Rouse lot will be cleaned up. After its completion the BPC will look into making improvements on the other lots as well. It is anticipated that there will be three or four alternatives for the public to review sometime in January 2012. X. Update on Carnegie Lot/hotel RFP Brit has finished preparing the RFP. It was sent out to others for further review. The City Clerks should have it by September 15, 2011 and it will go in front of the City Commission at their next scheduled meeting which is September 26, 2011. Paul needs to contact Jerry Gossell who is doing the appraisal for the Carnegie lot. Advertising for this will be done through USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and locally through the Downtown Business Association (DBA). Brit has had a few phone calls from locals who are still interested in the lot. The firm from North Carolina confirmed they are still interested in the lot. Chris N has heard some concerns from people about thing not being spelled out clearly in the RFP, or things that simply weren't put into it. Brit is set to present the RFP to the City Commission at their next meeting. After it presented to the City Commission, the RFP will be available for the public to view on the City website. XI. Reminder — Montana Downtown Coalition Annual Conference, October 12-14 Bozeman is hosting the annual Montana Downtown Coalition Conference on October 12-14, 2011. There are 100 people expected to show up for this conference from all over the state. The conference is going to be held at the Baxter Hotel, however many of the people attending will be staying elsewhere, and shuttling over when it starts. Wednesday is a half day; Thursday and Friday will be full conference days. Paul is going to give a presentation on Friday. Pam is also going to be a part of this conference by helping out on a panel about the importance of tourism. Ben B is going to lead a discussion on marketing trends. Chris N will send out a schedule to the rest of the BPC, so they can attend the conference if they wish. Chris N will get together with Paul to figure out the parking situation while this conference is going on. It was suggested that everyone who will be staying and driving their vehicle here be given a parking pass for the parking garage that will expire on September 15, 2011, in case there are people who decide to stay an extra day for shopping etc. XIL BPC 2011-2012 goals Chris N, Chris P and Ben L met up last month and discussed the Marketing Plan Handbook. XIII. New business None. XIV. Adjournment Ben L adjourned the meeting at 9:40 a.m. Respectfully Submitted Ashlie Portnell, Parking Clerk