HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-21-19 Public Comment - K. Wiseman - AC Hotel by MarriottFrom:Kelly Wiseman
To:Agenda
Subject:Application 19078
Date:Monday, October 21, 2019 9:33:06 AM
Dear Commissioners,
As a member of the Parking Commission I would like to emphasize our vote in September of 2019 to
no longer accept long term leases in the Bridger Parking Garage. This surely supersedes any letter of
intent from staff.
My reasons for my vote are as follows:
· We have new software and license plate reading (LPR) hardware that only went live in spring
of 2019. So we have no baseline data to inform intelligent decisions about the use of the
garage. I would argue that before we tie up an additional 80 spaces for 25 years we should
compile and carefully analyze daily counts. Any business downtown compares rolling
monthly sales reports to understand if the business is growing, and to what extent. We
cannot say the growth rate of the garage because we won’t have reasonable data until late
spring of 2020. We paid a lot of money for the LPR, and we should use it.
· In about five months the Etha Hotel is about to open, with 100 leases reserved in the
basement of the garage. This means drivers that currently lease in the basement will be
forced to get permits upstairs. We won’t know the impact of this until, again, spring of 2020.
· The Parking Commission is currently studying creating some kind of parking district on the
streets north and south of Main Street. This is still just an idea, and will be based on LPR
data, but if we do restrict parking on these streets we will likely need the parking garage for
overflow. Tying up spaces for a hotel for decades might not be in the best interest of
shoppers or workers downtown if they can’t park on Babcock, Lamme, Mendenhall, Olive or
other streets.
Finally, in my opinion a key part of addressing our growing need for parking is to require spaces in
these new tall buildings, as was done with 5 West. I know if costs more, but from a parking
perspective it is the most responsible way to make development at least partially pay the costs that
it creates. If six of these buildings each put even 60 spaces in their basements we would get the
capacity of a new garage at no cost to the taxpayers.
Thanks for your time and consideration,
kdw
Kelly Dean Wiseman
402 N. Church
Bozeman
kelly@bozo.coop