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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-11-12 Parking Commission MinutesBozeman Parking Commission Meeting January 11, 2012 7:00 a.m. City Hall Commission Room Parking Commissioners in Attendance: Ben Lloyd Chris Naumann Chris Pope Pam Bryan Ben Bennett City Staff in Attendance: Paul Burns, Parking Manager Ashlie Portnell, Parking Clerk Laurae Clark, Treasurer Cyndy Andrus, City Commissioner Guests in Attendance: None. Action Items: None. I. Call to order, 7:30 a.m. Chris N called the meeting to order at 7:35 a.m. II. Approval of December 2011 minutes Pam motioned to approve the December 14, 2011 minutes. Ben B seconded the motion and 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 There was a court trial set for December 5, 2011. The new City Prosecutor was able to settle the matter out of court. There will be two new trials set for January 23rd and January 25th. Paul stated that he has installed the fire extinguishers back in at the parking garage January 4th, 2012. Paul was called in the middle of the night on January 7th because the fire extinguisher alarms went off. Someone broke into the case and took the extinguisher. There is more BKK graffiti at the garage. Police got a tip on who they think might be the one responsible. Deputy Chief Rich McLane had interviewed someone, but they did not admit to the graffiti. Paul stated that there are three spots at garage with graffiti; one of them just won't come out. Chris N mentioned that when it gets warmer there is a cleaning product that may clean it up. Paul received a phone call from a guy that wants to install an ATM machine inside the parking garage. There would be a five year contract to keep it there. After some discussion it was decided that an ATM machine does not need to be in the garage, but Paul will still talk to the guy and get a little more information about it. Would the BPC really benefit from having an ATM at the garage? Mike McKenna showed the office space at the garage. We still do not have anyone interested in leasing that space. The finance report shows a jump in the parking permits sold for the garage. When school first starts in August and again in the December/January months we usually see a jump in permits sold. Expenses have flattened out. We have had less snow removal expenses so far due to the mild winter. The numbers on the finance report show we are in the black. There has been good growth in numbers from a year ago; Paul is pleased with these numbers. Discussion ensued about the empty spaces in the basement of the garage. Due to the underutilized space in the garage, Chris Pope suggested we offer free basement upgrades to long-term annual users of the upstairs area, It was decided that Paul would contact a select group of long-term annual users to see if they wanted an upgrade to the basement for 2012. There has been a pop-up camp trailer at the parking garage with a for sale sign on it. The BPC is concerned that other people will want to leave their extra vehicles and trailers in there like David has. V. Street Beat Paul stated that the total amount of courtesy tickets issued is 2,526 from 2011. It should continue to be a goodwill gesture to downtown. A lot of out of town people and local folks who have never got a parking ticket before got just the warning and really appreciated that. There was a lot of positive feedback on this program from the community. Megan’s last day is going to be January 17th. She is moving to Portland Oregon. Human Resources are taking applications at this time. Paul stated that there will be a hiring committee put together for interviews. He asked if anyone on the BPC is interested on being. Pam said she was interested, but she will be out of town. VIII. FY13 Budget presentation – Earlier than usual due to direction from Finance Anna Rosenberry needs the final budget numbers by the end of January. Paul presented the FY13 proposed budget to the BPC. After a brief discussion, Pam motioned to approve the Fiscal year 2013 budget. Ben B seconded the motion. The motion was carried unanimously. VI. Report on telephone conversation with Catellus regarding Carnegie Lot RFP process Brit Fontenot, Director of Economic Development for the City of Bozeman came to discuss the phone conversation he, Ben L, Chris N, Paul, and Cyndy had with Steve Barker from the North Carolina firm that was interested in building their hotel on the Carnegie lot. His firm withdrew their RFP due to the time frame and lack of a decision from the City. Steve said a lot was asked of him, he spent much time and money on this project with no guarantee that they RFP would be accepted. Brit went on to explain to the BPC that Steve's firm was not used to the process the City used. Steve was more familiar with a two-tiered process that involved first of putting out a RFQ, and not having to spend a lot of money up front. If the RFQ was accepted then a meeting would be set up for everyone that would be involved in the project, to create a working relationship. Steve said our process was a lot slower and he didn't really understand what the City was actually wanting from them. Chris P stated that from now on the BPC must be involved in future conversations to keep them in the loop of things. Brit stated he would keep the BPC informed on the conversation he will have and where the City Commission is heading with this process. Pam asked Brit if Steve gave examples of his concerns with this process. Brit said yes, Steve talked about what they wanted to do with the hotel. Steve felt like the project was exposed to the public too early in regards to the financials and business model, because the City Commission asked to see all that information up front. Because of this, Steve would of had to re-do this whole portion again IF the RFP was ever accepted. Brit received a phone call from another party who expressed interest in building a hotel at the Carnegie lot as well. This person also explained to Brit that he too was familiar with the two-tiered process, and felt that was the best way to work with the City on projects like this. At this time Brit would like to propose a 30 day hold and "refurbish" the RFP into the two-tier process. Now that we have gotten the advice from two different people who are familiar with that process and say it is the way to go, it would be wise for both the BPC and the City Commission to take that advice. Chris N stated that by going with an RFQ process that would allow everyone to look into the past projects of the firms who want to construct in Bozeman. The City would get to see how these past projects have gone, to ensure they like who they have chosen for the project. The City Commission and the BPC need to work together to make this mission more clear and successful. Communication needs to be a lot better. Brit said it would be beneficial for a BPC member to attend the next City Commission meeting on January 23rd. IX. Update on Eagles Lot Park(ing) plan Rob from Intrinsik Architecture presented to the BPC his five different options for the reconstruction of the Eagles parking lot. OPTION A: Will open up the lot to give it 36 spaces. Bike parking and a bus shelter will be installed to one corner of the lot. OPTION B: Will open up the lot to give it 33 spaces. New landscaping will border most of the lot and next to the creek. This option does not include bike parking or a bus shelter. OPTION C: Will open up the lot to give it 26 spaces. Only two rows of parking will be available, but there will be bike parking available. New landscaping will be put in on the S south Rouse side of the lot and a side walk will be put in between the creek and the parking lot. Storm water drainage will be installed and the remaining space will be left open next to the creek. OPTION D: Will also open the lot to also give it 26 spaces. Also similar to option C, there will be two rows of parking with a sidewalk put in between the creek and a row of parking. Landscaping will not be put in next to the creek to keep that space open for future development. No bike parking or bus shelter will be available with this option. OPTION E: The final option presented will open up the lot to give it 24 spaces. This option provides the most changes and the fewest parking spaces available. The creek will be completely re-aligned. New landscaping will be put in on both sides of the creek and throughout the lot. This option does not include bike parking or the bus shelter. Rob also presented some pictures that show the pros and cons of the lot as is. The page with all the red writing shows all the issues with the lot as is today. We are starting with 56 spaces; however 12 of those spaces are private parking spaces, so truthfully we are starting with 44 public spaces. The next page shows all the positives with the lot as it is today. Chris N has the results from the online public survey that was taken on the lot. He stated that he got 192 responses on the survey. There is still a discussion to be held with the owner of the Eagles regarding the potential sale of their 12 spaces to the BPC. Chris N proposed for Rob’s team to schedule the public meeting after the next BPC meeting. X. New BPC Membership No discussion on this item. XI. BPC 2011-2012 goals No discussion on this item. XII. New business No discussion on this item. XIII. Adjournment Ben L adjourned the meeting at 10 a.m. Respectfully Submitted Ashlie Portnell, Parking Clerk