HomeMy WebLinkAboutEx 1 BPC 8 8 2019 June 19 minBOZEMAN PARKING COMMISSIONMINUTESThursday, June 13, 2019 @ 7:30 AMA.Call to Order - 7:30 AM -City Commission Chamber, City Hall, 121 North RouseMavor - Cvnthia Andrus: AbsentCommittee Member -Paul Neubauer: PresentCommittee Member - James Ness: PresentCommittee ChaiCommittee Member - Shasta Winston: PresentCommittee Member - Kellv Wiseman : Prese¡{Committee Member - Mark Egge: PresentStaff - Ed Meece: PresentCommissioner Bryan Called the meeting to order at 7:30am, and welcomedthe newest member of the BPC Commissioner Paul Neubauer.Chanqes to the Aqenda07:34:35 AM (00:03:581Commissioner Bryan confirmed there were no changes to the agenda.Commissioner Bryan advised that the May 2019 minutes will be approved atthe July 2019 meeting due to the reschedule of the May meeting, it waspushed back a couple weeks, therefore not enough time for the BPCSecretary to publish them.Public Gomment - Members of the audience or their agent maybe invited to present testimony or evidence. To be recognized,each person desiring to give testimony or evidence shall stepfonvard and, after being recognized, give their name and addressfor the record. The presiding officer may establish a time frame foreach public comment but in no case shall such timeframe be lessthan three (3) minutes per speaker. The presiding officer maylengthen or shorten the time allotted for public testimony.B.C.07:35:43 AM (00:05:051 Commissioner Bryan stated it was time for publiccomment.
Carolyn Boyd 1314 S 3'd- Carolyn stated that she is a member of Una Neighborhoodgroup and was attoday's meetingto bringforward concerns and questions she hasin regards to the new system for monitoring the district. She feels like the visitorpass portion of the district is an issue. Carolyn expressed concerns about the onlinemanagement of the permits, and stated that 1;he has had difficulty navigating thesite. She also expressed concerns about the complexity of trying to get peopleattached to the virtual passes in a timely manner to avoid the 560.00 citation.Carolyn feels that severalothers, particularly those who are not computer savvy,will have many issues with trying to manage their vísitor passes and will in turn leadto frustration towards the city. Carolyn stated that her relations with the City havebeen great and wants to still feel good about her interactions with the City ofBozeman. Carolyn made the suggestion to not launch the online portal untileverything has been tested and allthe complex details have been worked out. Shealso suggested that a focus group be put together to test all aspects of the onlineparking portal. She is aware of the revision to the form and that there is now avideo being created to help folks but thinks a focus group comprised of differentages would help to work out all the issues of navigating through the portal.Kathy Powell 1215 S 3'd Ave. Kathy expressed similar concerns about the onlineportal, and managing the visitor passes. Kathy showed concerns for folks whomight have disabilities, no computers, or do have a computer but don't know howto use it, or maybe someone else in the home set up the account but they are goneShe asked what are these folks supposed to do. Kathy advised she is aware of thevirtualtraining, however she feels it is still a challenge. Kathy and anotherneighbor, Tim Arsinco met with Tanya Andreasen and Brit Fontenot in February toshow the amount of steps it takes to get into the system, she stated there werebetween 26-36 clicks. Brit agreed it was challenging, and said he would take theissue to the vender. Kathy said she hasn't heard back on the issue yet, but learnedthat Missoula also uses the T2 system, so she called the Missoula ParkingAdministrator and she said that they have not been able to figure out the virtualvisitor passes either and continue to issue hang tag permits. Kathy encouraged thecommissioners and staff to re-look at the visitor part of the virtual passes andmaybe beta-test it, and think it through again as renewals are approaching inAugust.Jill Davenport and her spouse Commissioner Ness Goetz (not present at meeting)1019 S 3'd Ave. Jill stated that she supports and agrees with the concerns bothCarolyn and Kathy have expressed. Jill said that she knows three differentneighbors all over the age of 70 who couldn't even get to the first click, includingher husband. Jill advised that she know folks who are also sight and hearingimpaired and is worried that if they live in the district will have complications withthe virtual permits. Jill expressed that the City needs to be careful aboutdiscriminating people with disabilities or don't have the money for the internet. Jillalso brought up the amount of patience it takes to work through the online portal,and stated most people in her neighborhood do not have the patience to navigatethrough it. Jill reiterated that they just need the hang tags.
Commissioner Bryan asked for further public comment. NoneEx Parte Disclosures of Parkinq Commissioners07:44:38 AM (00:14:01)Commissioner Bryan asked if there are any Ex Parte disclosures of parking commissioners forany item on the agenda. There were none.Action ltems1. Discuss Parking Program Manager's report on the April/May 2019public engagement sessions regarding the creation of Parking PermitDistricts, as well as 'next steps'for this initiative. (Exhib¡t 1)Mr. Meece noted the short memo in the packet. Most of the Parking Commissionersattended at least one of the public engagement sessions. The sessions were held on April3Oth, May l-6th and May 3Oth. He stated that the turnout at each session was good. He saidthat the purpose of the sessions was to discover, and fine tune, the process of creatíng andmanaging new parking permit districts. Mr. Meece stated that most of the questions andconcerns were related to the topics in his memo. Mr. Meece asked the BPC if they would likehim to go into detailon each of the topics, or if they would like to have a discussion on whatto do going forward.Commissioner Bryan opened the discussion.by asking the BPC if there were any questions forMr. Meece about the memo or the sessions.Commissioner Egge asked if Mr. Meece had a sense for the distribution or breakdown ofresidents or property owner's vs potential downtown parking users. Mr. Meece stated yes,he did gather some information at the sessions by asking the folks who attended the sessionsto sign in and if they are a resident within the district or a resident in a potentialdistrict. Mr.Meece estimated that 30% of folks that attended were folks who lived in the currentresidential districts, and 50% were folks who lived in potential new parking permit districtnorth or south of downtown area. Mr. Meece stated that there were 2 or 3 folks thatattended who live downtown and are interested in purchasing a permit in one of the ned istricts.Commissioner Egge asked if there was any feedback throughout the sessions that would leadto changes to the current policy. Mr. Meece stated that the parking staff and the BPC shouldlook at the comments made from the public at the sessions, and look at what the existingconcept to determine how to address those comments. Mr. Meece advised that he does nothave a final policy recommendation for the BPC at this time, but does think the areas outlinedD.
in the memo should be discussed. Mr. Meece thought the folks who attended brought greatinput that the BPC can consider.Commissioner Bryan asked what Mr. Meece thinks the next steps are. She asked if his staffwill prepare a marked up version of the initialconcept paper with public changes what wereraised. Mr. Meece stated he could certainly work on that. He also stated that there aretopics that will benefit most from BPC discussion, because they have to do with how the BPCwants to approach the districts from a policy standpoint. Mr. Meece stated he willtake theexisting Concept and bring a revised version to the BPC for additional markup. CommissionerBryan asked the other commissioners what they think about doing that,CommissionerWinston asked Mr. Meece if there is anything specific he is concerned with atthis time that he would like the BPC to address. Mr. Meece stated any input would bebeneficial, either now or in an email. One area that came up severaltimes was the pricingscenario, in terms of whether to differentiate between residents of the district and non-residents. lt was suggested at a session that non-residents should have a highercosttopermits which would then subsidize the rates for residents in the district. Someone elsethought they should be even costs. Mr. Meece was surprised to find folks preferred to keepnumber of permits per residents and businesses lower than the existing residential parkingpermit districts.Commissioner Bryan asked if points jumped out for other BPC members.Commissioner Winston stated that there seems to be a relation between what was preparedin the manager's report, talking about the overall solvency of these districts and the efforts,so she feels it would be beneficialto just look into the potential districts. She stated that thegoal is for these districts to pay for themselves eventually, but at this time knows we are stillheavily subsidizing permits. Mr. Meece stated that was correct.Commissioner Winston continued to state that as we address the question of how muchparking we allow and at what price, we create something long term. She suggested takingthat on sooner rather than later, Commissioner Winston stated she thinks it is important tolook at the business permits, and the allocation of these permits, are they actual businessemployees or people going to the business. She asked if they are allocated by address. Mr.Meece stated that is a great point, and clarified that when he mentioned a business, he istalking about a business that is physically in the district, so it would be eligible for "X" numberof permits like a residence. Mr. Meece also stated that we have people who work downtownwho purchase a parking permit to park downtown, so they are two separate things.Commissioner Bryan asked the BPC for other questions or thoughts, and what the next stepsareCommissioner Egge made a suggestion to have a progressive pricing structure. For examplethe first permit would be 520.00, a second permit would be 530.00 and a third would beS50.00. Hestatedhewouldliketoseeacopyofthepolicyintheformofaresolutiontoconsider passing.
Commissioner Wiseman added that this is a complicated idea to do a district downtown. lf adistrict is created that businesses and employees can't use, it will lead to a big parkingproblem downtown because of the heavy use of those streets. Commissioner Wiseman wenton to say that if we allow B-3 people to use the district to buy permits, then we have noreason to have these districts because it doesn't serve a purpose at that point. CommissionerWiseman stated there are many layers that need to be considered.Commissioner Ness stated that he agrees with a lot of the comments, and that this is going totake a couple meetings to discuss. He looks forward to the public comment. He stated he isin favor of reviewing a mockup policy so we have a working document to go through andbegin buílding upon.Commissioner Bryan asked for Public commentKathy Powell1.215 S 3'd Ave. Kathy wanted to make some comments about the PPD concept.Kathy stated she has comments from the University neighbor association board and the UNAParking working group. Kathy said that at one of the public sessions, the Parking Managerstated that the PPD concept is for North and South of downtown to be separate from theexisting residential parking permit districts. She said that makes sense because downtown isprimarily residential impacted by commercial and mixed use, whereas RPPD is impacted byplaces like a school and university. Kathy suggested including a concept that if any revisionsor changes are to be made that they have the approval of at least 60% of the residents beforemaking any changes.Kathy said that the concept of the PPD as a Parking Permit Benefit District (PPBD)would bemore-clear to public rather than just PPD. Kathy went on to say that the current ordinancerefers to more than just parking spots, but also what is involved with parking, includingtranquility between commuters and residents and also reducing noise, traffic, hazards andlitter. She mentioned that the Supreme Court in 1993, or 1.994, approved this kind ofordinance which in turn allowed Missoula to create a parking district, and she encourages theBPC to include that in the concept. Finally, Kathy encourages the BPC to indicate it is forcommercial use and mixed use.Commissioner Bryan acknowledged that the district created a letter that was sent to the BPCand is now on the public record, summarizing Kathy's comments.Commissioner Bryan asked for any other public comment. There was noneCommissioner Bryan restated to have Mr. Meece come backtothe next meetingwith amocked up version or with points that need to be addressed for further discussion.Mr. Meece agreed. He stated he will put it in form of a resolution, however it will not bereadytobepassed. Hestatedthatthebiggestunansweredquestionistheboundariesofthepotentialdistricts. He said he would take a swing at that and allow it to be the starting pointfor the BPC, and would have it ready for the August meeting.
Commissioner Bryan stated August would be fine, and went on to thank Mr. Meece forholding those public sessions, and feels they were really helpful. Mr. Meece said it was ateam effort by many.Commissioner Winston asked Mr, Meece if we are currently collecting data adjacent todowntown. Mr. Meece stated they are not in a way that would be helpful at this time. Sheasked if it would be something that they will be doing. Mr. Meece stated they do have theresources, and that's why he is pushing for August to allow time to collect the data.2. Discuss/Deny/Approve BPC Resolution 2019-04, A RESOLUTION OFTHE BOZEMAN PARKING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BOZEMAN,MONTANA, RECOMMENDING A CHANGE TO THE ANNUAL FEESFOR NEW AND RENEWING PARKING PERMITS ISSUED IN THERESTDENTTAL PARKTNG PERMrr DTSTRTCTS (MSU & BHS).Mr. Meece stated that the BPC annually reviews the revenues and expenditures of the existingresidential parking permit districts. The municipal code states that residential parking permitfee revenues should pay the full cost of administration and enforcement in those districts. Mr.Meece stated he provided a breakdown in today's packet to show how the administrationcalculates the cost and revenue of the two districts. He has combined the two districts into onefor the purpose of this review, because the high school district is so small. Mr. Meece clarifiedthe same officer enforces both districts on a daily route system, so again they are combined forthat purpose. Provided in the packet are also historical revenues for residential, employee andvisitor permits for both districts and where we are at in 2019. Mr. Meece pointed out that asof May 2019 the Finance department has issued a total of 2557 permits, for a total revenue of556,602.00. He said the cost of administering and enforcing those two districts at this time is5100,970.00 which leaves a deficit of 544,000.00. Mr, Meece stated that on the right hand sideof the sheet the BPC will see a pro-rating of the district expenditures. Mr. Meece stated heworked with the Assistant City Controller to make sure they were in line with how the costswere allocated. Mr. Meece stated the bottom of the sheet shows the net effect of differentrate levels based on permit sales and expenditures this year. Mr. Meece stated that S30annually is the staff recommendation, and would still leave a SSO,OO0.00 deficit. Mr. Meecestated that parking enforcement issues approximately St00,000.00 a year in citations withinthe districts, and while the code does not elude to consideration to citation revenue, he did notwant to ignore the S100,000.00 in citation revenue. Mr. Meece stated it is a little bit of ablended recommendation, and he wants to keep moving towards self-sustainability, for theexisting residential parking permit districts at a gradual pace.Mr. Meece asked for any questions from the commissioners.Commissioner Wiseman asked if he is missing the amount of citations issued. Mr. Meecestated it wasn't included in the packet. Mr. Meece re-stated again it is about $t00,000.00 ayear just within the districts, with the vast majority being in the MSU district due to the size ofthe district and the cost difference between citations in each. Citations in the BHS district are520.00 and in MSU they are $60.00.
Commissioner Winston asked if the only way to get the districts to pay for themselves is tokeep raising the cost of the permits. Mr. Meece stated that was correct, because he doesn'tsee that more citations can just be issued, and since we have raised the fees in the twodistricts, there has been a noticeable decline in permit sales. So it does become a balancingact. lf less permits are being sold it will take larger increases to cover that ground, which isdifferent than the concept proposed for the new districts, where we would sell permits at amore market type of rate.Commissioner Ness asked if the S100,000.00 was included in calculation to determine if it isself-sustaining, Mr. Meece replied no it is not.Commissioner Ness also asked Mr. Meece to walk the BPC through the allocation/proration.Mr. Meece advised that the parking districts are charged 25% of the labor and benefit costs ofthe parking clerk, 100% for labor and benefits of a Parking Enforcement Offícer, 10%for laborcosts of the Parking Manager, and LO% of the total PSD operating costs. Commissioner Nessasked Mr. Meece if it is relative to the time they spend on enforcement, Mr. Meece statedyes, if anything it's a low percentage.Commissioner Lloyd asked if Mr. Meece reviews these numbers from time to time and askedMr. Meece if those numbers have changed over the years, specifically this year. Mr. Meecestated that he does review the percentages, but they have remained the same relative totime and expenditures consumed.Commissioner Egge stated that if he understands the report, current fees only cover about55% of the total administration enforcement costs. Mr. Meece stated that is correct.Commissioner Egge also asked if the suggested rate of 530.00 permit would increase thatamount covered toTO%. Mr. Meece stated yes. Commissioner Egge also asked what ratewould be necessary for the parking fees to cover IOOYo of admin and enforcement costs. MrMeece stated you would have to be pretty close to 540.00 a permit.Commissioner Egge read the code, it states that the amount of fees establish shall cover thecost of residential enforcement. Commissioner Egge asked Mr. Meece with his knowledge ofthe code, what would give the BPC the latitude to choose to set fees at a rate that was lowerthan what would cover the cost of admin/enforcement of the permit program. Mr. Meecestated there is nothing in the code that would give you that latitude. Mr. Meece added thatprior to the BPC adopting their annual fee review policy in 2016, the permits were $10.00 fordecades. So there is a couple decades history of not following the code strictly in regards tothis particular language, although Commissioner Egge's point is welltaken. Mr. Meece statedhe is trying to play catchup in a more gentle fashion, but stated he respects that if the BPCwould like to move faster he would respect that.Commissioner Bryan wanted to restate that if the BPC passes the resolution it would go to theCity Commission for approval, because the BPC does not have rate setting authority.Commissioner Neubauerasked aboutfiscalyears between 2O17 and 2019 because there is a30% reduction in permits sold. He wants to know if there are any other contributing factorsthatMr.Meeceisawareofthatmighthaveaddedtothereductioninpermitssold. Mr.
Meece stated no, none that he was aware of. Commissioner Neubauer went on to state thatwith that in mind the code states the program should be revenue neutral, and wants to knowif there are any other folks within the City organization that might interpret to suggest thatthe citation revenue should be included in the calculation on if its revenue neutral. Mr.Meece stated that he cannot speak to the fact that someone else might interpret the codedifferently. Mr. Meece stated thatthe code is prettyclearthe permits are supposed to coverthe cost of the district. Commissioner Neubauer asked what the cost of the permits were in2017. They were S10.00.Commissioner Winston stated does this mean we have 30% less parking on the street, thatthere was alternate parking? Mr. Meece stated if we are seeing 30% less permit sold, thenthat means less vehicles parked on the street.Mr. Meece stated that Laurae Clark pointed outthat if you look at "Employee permits andVisitor permits" for actual May 2019 you will see792 for Employees and 221-for visitorpermits, those number were transposed, it should be792 for visitor permits and 22tforemployee permits.Commissioner Bryan restated the resolution of the BPC is to recommend the changing ofannual fees for new and renewing permits in the residential parking permit d¡stricts (MSU &BHS), now therefore be it resolved that the BPC recommends that the City Commission setthe fees for residential, employee and visitor parking permits within the residential parkingpermit districts at $30.00 per permit annually, and that service permíts within the residentialparking permit districts at $L0.00 per permit annually.Commissioner Bryan asked for public commentDavid Fine, Economic Development - City of Bozeman. David wanted to add that a goodreason not to consider citation revenue in this policy is the goal of any enforcement is to havetotalcompliance, he acknowledged we are a long wayfrom there, but it is a good reason forthe policy stated in the municipal code.Cory Lawrence 4510 Morning Sun Dr. Cory stated that within the code it would be a goodidea to meet with the City attorney to get cost of enforcement, is it net of enforcement ofrevenues? He stated it's a curiosity that the revenue is set to the side, and he thinks it wouldbe a good question, because there could actually be a surplus in cost of enforcement, if he isreading the numbers correctly.Jill Davenport-1-O19 S 3'd. She advised that she agrees with what Cory Lawrence said. Shereiterated that it's money. She stated that we do have a different type of enforcement, wehave the cars with the computers, and she doesn't know if there is money in there that takescare ofthat business. She stated that it's an expense and she understands that, but shethinks the 5100,000.00 needs to be included into the calculations. She advised she is okaywith raising the permit fee.Commissioner Bryan asked for further public comment. There was none
Mr. Meece stated he.wanted to make a few clarifications. He stated that he understands andrespects all the comments about "does enforcement mean net, etc.", he said he has neverseen a code imply "net" without just stating it as such. Mr. Meece stated there was a goodpoint made in public comment about not seeing the cost for the LPR equipment. Hereminded the BPC is was paid for by the Downtown TIF district, and those costs are not in thatcalculation because the 10% of admin costs was minus the capital costs. So, if the districtswere picking up any pro-rated portion of the new technology, this number would be a muchlarger gap. Mr. Meece stated that the code specifically does not address citation revenues,what the BPC has done before is take a blended approach that allows the BPC to be awarethere are those citation revenues, but to recognize per the code the districts aren't paying forthemselves.Commissioner Ness asked for clarificatíon on what a service provider permit is. Ms, Clarkadvísed that those are permits purchased by businesses who don't have a business inside thedistricts, but who will be doing work inside the district, like a realtor or plumber. She stated iftheir vehicles are clearly marked they do not need a permit, but if they are not, than they canget a service provider permit.CommissionerNessaskedhowtheyaregoingtobemadeawareofthechange. Ms.Clarkstated that we send out renewal notices that remind residents of the time-line to renew, therequirements for purchasing permits, and any changes to the district.Commissioner Bryan asked for a motion to approve the Resolution.Commissíoner Wíseman motioned to approve BPC resolution 20L9-04. Commissioner Nessseconded the motion.Commissioner Bryan asked for those in favor of increasing to 530.00 annually for residentialand S10.00 for service providers annually. Commissioner Wiseman stated yes.Commissioner Bryan called for vote in favor. Resolution passed 5 to l-, with CommissionerNeubauer voting no.*****************************3. Discuss/Approve/Deny the Parking Program Manager's recommendedmodifications to the Lease Limit Calculator; with Rick Williams (consultant)on conference call. (Exhibit 3)Commissioner Bryan stated that we are going to discuss/approve/denythe Parking Managersrecommendation to the lease límit calculator with the consultant Rick Williams who's on aconference call. Commissioner Bryan advised the BPC to please see Exhibit Three (3) for theupdated calculator.Commissioner Bryan advised that there was only 30 minutes to try to discuss this item. Shereminded the BPC that the lease calculator was created in 2017 to give the BPC a tool todetermine how many monthly permits to lease in the downtown parking garage.
Commissioner Bryan stated that in a December 201-8 meeting the BPC discussed a calculatorbased on December 1. 201.8 peak occupancy, and at that time it was decided to wait forimproved data with the implementation of the T2 systems. Commissioner Bryan said thattoday with direction from Mr. Meece, the Parking Manager, and additional advice andperspective from Rick Williams, we can make a decision on how to use the calculator goingforward.Mr. Meece stated that with Rick Williams help, what the BPC has in front of them is whatcontinues to be an evolving document, the Lease Limit calculator.Mr. Meece stated that the calculator works off the 5O%o rule, which recaptures 50% of theunoccupied spaces during peak times - for permit sales. The formula at the top of thedocument gives a breakdown, it shows 435 stalls in the Bridger Park garage currently with 604total number of leases and permits sold as of 5/1,4/1,9, combined both UDC and non-UDC.Mr. Meece gave a breakdown of peak occupancy times for April 4, 201,9 as an example. Thebreakdown shows that 90% of the time, peak hours occur between t2 and 2pm, with 219vehicles in the garage. Mr. Meece stated that 15 of those vehicles were hotel UDC leasepermits, 72 vehicles were non hotel permits and remaining 132 were transient parkers. Thecalculator takes into account that we still have 46 leases that have been sold but not activated,and tells us that the peak occupancy was at 50%. This leaves the garage wíth 108 potential newleases, which is then subtracted from the leases sold but not activated to make sure we are notdouble selling permits. According to the calculator, there is an opportunity to sell 62 newpermits/leases. Mr. Meece stated the language in this document still needs to be cleaned up,the word leases should be replaced with permits. The combined total leases authorized forsa le as of April 4, 201.9 is 666.Mr. Meece said there was a new item added to the calculator. Just below the top graph, toshow number of hotel leases for sale. However those leases are UDC related, so they comethrough a specialized process, and reiterated that he is not asking the BPC to authorize 1,24hotel leases at today's meeting. This is just to help start the conversation on how hotel leasesmight be counted differently since they are typically overnight stays as opposed to daytime.Mr. Meece mentioned that he and Mr. Williams studied previous data from 2OI7, aI this timethere was a correlation of almost 5 hotel spaces to 1 day time space. So for the purpose of thiscalculator, and to stay conservative, what is being presented to the BPC is if they approve aUDC lease request, the BPCcould be comfortable to go as high as 1.24 based on the 2 to l ratio.Mr. Meece asked Mr. Williams if he had other clarifications. Mr. Williams stated that Mr.Meece did a great job with the break down, and feels we can move on to take any questionsfrom the BPC.Commissioner Bryan clarified that for today's discussion we are only looking at non-hotelpermits.Commissioner Neubauer stated that if we look at the number of non-hotel leases for sale (62)and the number of hotel leases for sale (124), but we already have 256 UDC leases sold, are we
suggesting that we allow 186 new leases? Mr. Meece stated no, that in the past the BPC dealtwithjustthetopnumber(62)basedonoccupancy.Mr.MeecewentontosaytheBPChashadmany conversations about what is the ratio of overnight vs daytime leases based on the factthey are frequently there at different hours of the day. Mr. Meece stated the second line is notto be made operational at this time, it's just a data point to potentially be used for futured iscussions.Mr. Williams paraphrased it as; non-hotel permits are likely going to be used in the middle ofthedayatahighrate,soifwesell62nonhotelleases,thatisaconservativenumber. lfwesell1-24 hotel leases, using that same conservative estimate, it would probably also translate to 62vehicles parked during the day. He stated what we are trying to figure out is if we sell a non-hotel lease, what is the probability it will be in the garage in the middle of the day during thepeak hours, competing with other customers. He also stated they are trying to figure out thesame thing with the hotel leases.Commissioner Wiseman asked if there are concerns with picking the slowest month downtownfor peak occupancy calculations. lt's not ski season, Yellowstone Park's roads aren't openedyet, and downtowntourism isn't happeningyet, so he isconcernedthatthe data used doesn'treflect the peak of summer or December usage.Mr. Meece advised he and Mr. Williams had that same conversation.Mr. Williams stated that due to the new plate reader system, so we are starting to get gooddata. Mr. Meece can collect data on a regular basis and he can bring that data to the BPC every6 months or so and he can use a number different of approaches to find the peak hours. Hestated his recommendation is to use the rule of 50%o, and remember it is a conservative numberwith the empty space available. This gives the BPC flexibility in selling permits. Mr. Williamssaid using the LPR system, Mr. Meece will be able to track how decisions play out. Reviewingdecisions every 6 months or a year will allow for variances or anomalies that may happen.Mr. Meece stated there have been concerns at the last several meetings regarding theavailability of data. He thinks the BPC can come to an agreement about this calculator in termsof its current structure, and with the amount of data we currently have, though the BPC couldwait even another quarter before we operationalize this. Mr. Meece suggested he couldcontinue to collect data and come back to this decision in September perhaps, and then therewould be more data at that time, and from there go on a 6 months cycle if the BPC would Iiketo review additional data.Mr. Williams added that even though the calculator shows one peak day, every day the datawillget better, so waiting another quarter like Mr. Meece suggested would work well becauseit would give several months of data at a time. But, he stated that given the flexibility the BPChas now and the 50%peak hour occupancy data recorded, they could make a decision todayand let it play out. He emphasized again the data will get better as time goes on.Commissioner Bryan asked the BPC for comments.
Commissioner Ness stated that there is still a lot of assumptions the BPC has to make, we knowwe have 113 monthly permits that Andy Holleran has that we don't know how actively they arebeing used; as well as other UDC permits that we don't know how actively those are being used.Commissioner Ness stated he looks forward to the day the BPC really understands how thosepermits will be used and how they are going to function in the garage. Commissioner Ness saidhe is interested in getting those folks who are on the waiting list in the garage. He went on tostate that if things change in the future and we see more vehicles coming in like more guestsstaying at one of the hotels, there needs to be a place for them to park as those hotels haveleases. Commissioner Ness asked if we did issue the monthly permits and we find out there ismore demand, can we pullsome of those permits back? lf we did have to retract some leasesto provide for the UDC people, what is the ability to retract those leases? Mr. Meece statedwe cannot retract those leases. Mr. Meece stated in the past we have always been able tomeet the goal of reduction through attrition. He stated there are certainly improvements inthe language in the parking permit applications that will talk more clearly about the ability topull those permits back if needed.Commissioner Ness asked what the impact would be on the permit holder. Would there be 30or 60 days'notice? Mr. Meece stated there is no language that states "x" days'notice, thelanguage on the application states that the permit is governed by the lease policy and the leasepolicy addresses the ability of the City/Parking Commission to manage the monthly permits.Mr. Meece stated he has been in conversation with the legal department about how tostrengthen the policy and make the language more clear.Commissíoner Ness stated the BPC needs a policy on how this will work, like last in, first out.Ms. Clark added that since we have moved to T2, not allof the new permit holders have filledout any kind of lease agreement. People on the waiting list are notified through email and theycomplete the process electronically, so there are no documents currently signed and receivedby anyone.Commissioner Bryan asked for public comment.Cory Lawrence, Etha hotel. Cory stated that he reviewed the data and took all the non-hotelleases (398) and level of use on peak numbers and found 18% use rate. Mr. Lawrence foundfor hotel permits there are a total of (206) leases and of those there were 15 used which is7 3%use rate. He feels those numbers are low and in thinking about the ratio of the factor of 5X forhotels vs non-hotels, you don't see that betweentheT.3% and I8%. He stated effectively withthis 50% factor, lets hold L08 spaces for transient parkers patronizing businesses downtown,and for those 108 spaces we have 132 transients, so that is 1.22% of stated use and that isworrisome. He feels it is something to really think about. He stated that he pulls hotel statisticsregularly and he would be happy to provide that to the BPC. Cory stated lastly the answer toall this is simple, more spaces, and he encourages the BPC analysis of that with this data.Ashley Ogle- 5 E Lamme, Kenyon Noble, Element Hotel. She agrees with CommissionerWiseman about the data taken in April. lt is a slow time for downtown and she worries aboutthat from a hotel perspective. She stated that the Element leases their back lot, and there is a
lot of parking that occurs back there both from employees and guests. She stated theemployees get to park for free, so they have issued 50 permits alone, just for them. Theyhave a high number of guests who park back there as well. She added that downtown sees alot of mid-day parkers who stay for long periods of time and worries about that in thesummer months.Chris Naumann- Downtown Bozeman Partnership. He stated one thing that hasn't beendiscussed about the data, and how it is used in the current version of the calculation, whichwe keep hearing we all of a sudden have data, yet data from December is being used. Thedata collected in December is sound, but his point is, with his limited knowledge of practicesin parking management, there are veryfew instances, aside from perhaps a mallor big boxstore that manages parking for the peak hour of the year, which is how the garage is currentlymanaged. lt is based on Christmas stroll as a peak hour at the garage. He stated that as arepresentative of the Urban Renewaldistrict (URB)which is looked upon to primarilyfundparking, the URB cannot build out to a peak hour in the year for parking demand. He saidwhile the April data, is April data, there is a case to be made that the data being usedcurrently being December L't during Christmas stroll is not a good data point either. Chrisstated as the BPC moves forward in deciding on how to use what data, he would also like topropose that when looking at peak hour of any month, that if that coincides with a hugecommunity event, you throw that data piece out. He said would like love to hear RickWilliams's thoughts on that as well.Allen McCollum- L849 E Cameron Bridge Rd. Mr. McCollum asked if Mr. Williams could sharewhat he learned when he was here doing his research and was interviewing with the hotels(Element and the Lark). He feels it would be helpful if he shared what he learned about staypatterns from the management from those hotels. He feels that would be good informationfor the BPC to understand.Commissioner Bryan closed public comment.Mr. Meece stated he wanted to make just a couple quick clarifications. He advised that heknows they have had a lot of comments made today, but he wanted to reiterate the fact thathe is not going to base the number of permits sold on an entire year, or a quarter, or 6months, or on one particular day, but he does have to start somewhere. We now have agood data point for April, and, he and Mr. Williams discussed several different methods onhowto balance the data. Mr. Meece stated it willcontinue to evolve. Mr. Meece stated theother clarification goes back to Mr. Lawrence's comments. He stated we had 132 transientvehicles parked in the peak hour on that day in April and the l-08 are a potential for l-08 newpermits that could be issued; so they are not the same thing. Mr. Meece advised he will gettogether with Mr. Lawrence and talk about that further.Mr. Williams stated we are going to have 7 days a week, l-2 months a year of data movingforward, so he thinks each month can be evaluation in and of itself and then theycan beevaluated in relation to the rest of the year. He thinks that if the BPC reviews quarterly or bi-yearly, the BPC will see the patterns themselves. He reiterated this data will evolve and helikes Mr. Meece's point about the potentialto average. Rick stated the key is to manage
those 206 stalls in the peak hour, and fillthose with revenue producing stalls with theflexibility to change in the future.Commissioner Bryan asked is there anyone on the BPC willing to suggest and offer someadditional number of new permits for sale now, perhaps not 62, knowing that the data isgoing to evolve over time, or to hold off on making any decision until the July meeting.Commissioner Winston asked if the staff would feel comfortable if we release a number ofpermits now that we could we re-adjust if we end up having a very different summer patternthen we have noted here.Mr. Meece stated that he does feel comfortable with that scenario. He stated we could pullsome permits back.Commissioner Ness made a motion to release 62 new permits in the parking garage.Commissioner Ness advised that because there is availability in the garage and we havepeople on a waiting list, and as the data comes in and the BPC learns more, they can makesome adjustments, he is comfortable selling those permits as the garage has room for themCommissioner Lloyd stated that it is his goalto maximize the use of the parking garage. Hefeels like we are over selling right now and he doesn't want to take permits away fromanyone. He wants to see a smaller number than 62.Commissioner Neubauer stated that it looks like we are struggling to get the 62 through soasked if Commissioner Ness would consider suggest¡ng a new number.Commissioner Ness questioned if there were more than 46 people interested in parking in thegarage that clearly aren't on the list because of the amount of people already on the list. Hestated he doesn't want to create a bad experience in the garage, so that's the reason hesuggested 62 because he feels there are more than just 46 people who want to use thegarage. -Commissioner Winston stated she hopes the BPC can move towards using the data and limitcalculator results because she feels this is going to be very important for our management ofthe parking garage.Ms. Clark stated that since December the Finance office has seen at least 15 permits attritiondown.Mr. Ness stated that he thinks it will be easier to issue more permits than its going to be toroll them back, even as we lose some to attrition.Commissioner Neubauer stated that he supþorts issuing permits, he is even tempted with the62.Commissioner Winston asked if the permits expire
Mr. Meece stated yes, and advised that even if we do issue the 62 permits, ít doesn't have tobe tomorrow, and he will make sure the language on the permit would allow the BPC to recallthem before we even issue them.Commissioner Winston asked if the language is there.Mr. Meece stated the language is there but it could be stronger.Commissioner Winston asked Mr. Meece if we could change that without the BPC.Mr. Meece stated he thinks he can, but that if he cannot, then he would not issue permits.Commissioner Bryan asked if any permits sold now would have to renew at the l-'t of theyea r?Ms. Clark stated people have the option to paythrough the end of the year, or pay month tomonth. She also stated that permit holders are sent an invoice, and if they paythey areautomatically renewed for the next month or year.Commissioner Bryan stated if there are no further comments or concerns she would like tocall for a vote on the motion, and have Commissioner Ness restate the motion.Commissioner Ness stated the motion is to increase the number of leases to sell as per thecalculator, a number of 62. Commissioner Winston seconded the motion. Motion carriedwith Commissioners Wiseman voting against.Committee Member - James Ness: MotionCommittee Member - Shasta Winston: 2ndMavor - Cvnthia Andrus:AbsentCommittee Member - Ben Lloyd: ApproveCommittee Member- Paul Neubauer: DisapproveCommittee Member - James Ness: ApproveCommittee Chair - Pamela Brvan: ApproveStaff - Ed Meece: N\AGiven time limitations, the BPC decided to table the new parking capacity initiatives updateand Parking Program Managers report to the July BPC meeting.l. Adiournment.Commissioner Bryan adjourned the meeting.
J.Upcominq lssues (Tentative):July 2019:*Election of new offrcersThe next Bozeman Parking Commission meeting will be held July 1l,2019,7:30 am, at City Hall.Bozeman Parking Commission meetings are open to all members of thepublic. lf you have a disability that requires assistance please contact ourADA Coordinator, Chuck Winn 582-2307 .