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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-14-11 Parking Commission Minutes Bozeman Parking Commission Meeting December 14, 20117:00 a.m. City Hall Commission Room Parking Commissioners in Attendance: Pam Bryan Ben Lloyd Chris Naumann 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 Laurae Clark, Treasurer Guests in Attendance: None. Action Items: None I. Call to order, 7:30 a.m. Ben L called the meeting to order at 7:35 a.m. II. Approval of November 2011 minutes Chris P motioned to approve the November 9, 2011 minutes. Chris N seconded the motion and the motion was carried unanimously. Paul wanted to mention that the minutes said the Snow Party was to be held on November 5th. The actual date was November 12, 2011. He stated that the minutes do not need to be changed and reprinted to reflect that. III. Public Comment — State name and address. Please limit comments to 3 minutes. None. IV. GUEST - Jerry Gossell to explain appraisal process for Carnegie Lot Jerry Gossell was not at the meeting, so Paul gave a brief update for him. Paul stated that there was a comparison done on the Carnegie lot against the lot of the blast sight, and a couple other lots in the downtown area. Jerry said Mike McKenna and Mike Basile told him they agreed with the appraised value. Chris N asked Paul if Jerry took into consideration the parking requirements. Paul stated that he did not take the parking requirements into consideration, only that there was ample parking in the garage across the street. Chris P stated that parking will always be an issue because the more we build downtown, the more spaces we need to provide to the public. It also depends on what is being built downtown. Chris P agreed that the price for the lot is a good number. Paul stated that even if the lot were to sell, a new appraisal would have to be done. The current appraisal will expire after three or six months. The appraisal was done in September. V. Manager's Report— Including finance report Paul stated that Lucas Olson broke a gate at the parking garage, and was caught by the police. A court date was set for December 15, 2011. The city prosecutor was asking for restitution along with community service and a $1,000.00 fine. Restitution would pay for the new gate and the cost to ship it. Paul will be on the witness stand for the hearing. Two vehicles were towed out of one of the surface lots because the vehicles were left there. Paul tried to contact the owners of the vehicles, but did not get a response back, therefore the vehicles were towed. He heard nothing from them. The new owner of Franks Catering came to the city a few months back to discuss his Cash-in- Lieu note that he had assumed when he purchased the business. He had not made a payment since taking ownership in May of 2011. He asked for a year's deferment on the installments stating that due to taking over the business, he has had to put a lot of money into it to make it viable. Anna Rosenberry took his request to the City Commission and it was approved. He will begin making payments in June/July of 2012. Chris P asked what the consequence is for not paying for the spaces? Laurae stated that if the business fails and was purchased for another use, then basically the parking under the new codes would not be required and the note would be null. The BPC could potentially have the City Attorney draw up papers and the BPC could sue. Currently, this is the only Cash- in-Lieu claim. Paul will be putting the fire extinguishers back up in the garage. The extinguishers will be in the same cabinets as before. Paul said we could upgrade to the cases that have alarms on them but when the batteries wore out the alarms would no longer work. Paul ordered 20 more plastic bubbles that cover the opening in the extinguishers cabinets; they should be here by December 16, 2011. There were 444 entries at the parking garage on Veterans Day. Paul suspects it was busier than usual because the holiday was on a Friday. Holidays are free, so the garage was highly utilized but didn't bring in any revenues. The Christmas stroll was very busy for the parking garage. From 5:01 p.m. to 6:43 p.m. vehicles were consistently moving in and out of the garage on a one by one basis because it was to capacity. Because there was very little snow at the time of the stroll, the rooftop at the garage was open. Paul went up there and shoveled the lines so people could see the parking spaces. Paul reminded the BPC that he must be available for all the downtown events, in case there is ever an issue at the garage or the surface lots. The finance report shows the top five busiest events for downtown. Many people have already renewed their permits for either the parking garage or surface lots. Laurae stated that we billed out in November instead of the beginning of December, so that is why so many people have already renewed. Paul received the first payment for the advertisements at the garage. He said the next payment will be bigger, because we have a couple more businesses that are advertising now. The Chronicle is interested in putting an ad in. The garage numbers show that September, October and November numbers were flat, but still better than a year ago. December permits jumped up because businesses hire seasonal help for the holidays. VI. Street Beat The new HR Director Tricia Gowen introduced herself to the parking staff. The fall leaf cleanup is finished. This always brings in lots of ticket appeals, this year was no exception. The week before/after Christmas Paul instructed the officers to be more lenient, giving violators 3 hours instead of 2 hours to park downtown. Instead of working Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, which are both Saturdays, Megan will work on Thursday those weeks instead. VII. ACTION ITEM. Proposal to increase rent of parking lots from $2/space to $2.50/space starting January 1, 2012.Paul suggested and increase in the price to rent the surface lots from $2/space to $2.50/space. Pam asked what are the costs were associated with renting the lots? Paul stated it is mainly time. He also stated that we are losing revenue because our officers are not patrolling the lots. Ben L asked if there is special signage? Paul said yes. Lisa asked if there was a discounted rate for those who are a non-profit? Paul stated that everyone pays the same amount. Chris P motioned to increase the fee of renting the surface lots from $2/space to $2.50/space, starting January 1,2012 and going for a calendar year. Tammy seconded. Ben L asked for discussion on the motion. Ben B asked if$2.50/space is enough? Because there is not a high demand for the lots, when people pay they don't have an issue with the cost. He stated that chances are the people who are a FOR profit wouldn't even remember the price they paid; they simply write the check and move on. Chris N said if this amount doesn't work well for people, we could always lower the amount for the next calendar year. The vote was taken, and the motion passed unanimously. VIII. UPDATES:TSEP • Grant for Bozeman Creek Park(ing) Project (5min). Chris N stated that the project was granted $15,000.00 from the TSEP in addition to the $15,000.00 from the TIF. This money is only going towards this project. There are 6 other lots that will need these improvements done in the future. The costs might not be as high with the next lots because we will know exactly what we need. Chris N is going to email the BPC the survey about this project from HRDC. So far there have been over 200 responses. The survey is open until 5p.m. on December 15, 2011. • Status on upstairs office at garage (5min). Mike McKenna liked the price we have set for the office space in the Garage. Paul has not heard from anyone who might be interested in the space. Paul needs to look into what fees would be charged. Chris P mentioned that Mike should broadcast the office space to other commercial brokers to get the word out. This will increase the chances of getting the space rented. • Carnegie Lot/hotel RFP(5min) Brit received an email from The North Carolina firm, they withdrew their application for the Carnegie lot space. How is the City Commission going to address this at their next meeting on January 23rd? Will the RFP be delayed again? Cyndy said this will be addressed at the January 23, 2012City Commission meeting. The RFP process has a deadline for people to submit their proposals. Chris P asked if an exit interview was done or will be done with the North Carolina firm? It would benefit the BPC to do an exit interview, to get their opinions on how this whole project went down. Paul, Ben L and Chris N will set up a conference call with the North Carolina firm. The BPC will revisit this in January Ben L will meet with the strategic committee. Paul will draft something that will discuss how the BPC wants things handled with the Carnegie lot. IX. DISCUSSIONS: The executive committee met to discuss the issue of parking tickets when people have left their vehicles downtown after drinking too much. Paul contacted ASMSU but has not heard anything back from them. Paul stated that he is going to leave things as is. Our officers do not start patrolling until 8 a.m. so this gives people until at leastl0 a.m. to get their vehicles before tickets may be issued. Paul will talk to Chris Kukulski again to see if he has heard anything further. XII. Marketing Plan Paul presented to the BPC a handout explaining some outreach opportunities to promote the amenities of downtown parking. The BPC will review the handout on their own time and a discussion will ensue at the January meeting. XIII. BPC 2011-2012 goals No discussion. XIV. New business It was suggested that a spreadsheet be created. It could have columns that show spaces per mot from SID 565. Paul said that instead of hiring someone he could keep the spreadsheet updated himself. Cyndy told the BPC that she will no longer be a part of the BPC. The commissioners will be switching which advisory groups they will be a part of after the first of the year. The January meeting may be her last. Chris N mentioned that the owner of Tarantino's Pizza is interested in joining the BPC. XV. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 9.30 a.m. Respectfully Submitted Ashlie Portnell, Parking Clerk