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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-27-2020 Public Comment - C. Herrick - Parking Benefit DistrictsI would like comment on the Downtown Parking Management District (PMD) and the Parking Benefit Zones (PBZ’s) proposed within the PMD. I attended the City Commission meeting on February 3, 2020 when Mr. Meese, manager of the Parking Department, presented the idea of creating a PMD and PBZ’s. I also attended a meeting sponsored by the Parking Commission at the Beall Park Arts Center in May, 2019 at which Mr. Meese discussed the idea and fielded questions. I live on the corner of N. Black and E. Villard, which puts me one block away from the B-3 zoning district. To date, I don’t see a parking problem in my area. There are some people who do park across the street at Beall Park or along N. Black and walk, or ride a bike to downtown for work. I believe there may be the occassional student who parks in the neighborhood and uses the Streamliner to go to MSU. I have off-street parking for one vehicle (my wife’s), consequently I park on the street. It chaps my hide when someone parks in the spot I have traditionally used. We have owned the house for nearly 30 years. I realize its not a right to have a parking spot for my vehicle in front of my house but I certainly feel I’m entitled to it. If I’m a resident in a PBZ I don’t think I should have to pay for a permit, no matter whether it’s at a reduced rate or not. Commuters are coming into the neighborhoods and bidding for resident’s parking spaces. There should be a priority and residents should be at the top. There are a number of residence’s in the neighborhood who don’t have any off-street parking. Some of these are corner lots (like mine), or don’t back up to an alley where there’s a garage, or are high density units (300 block of N. Montana and corner of N. Montana and E. Lamme). Mr. Meese referenced one source as the most highly regarded method to manage parking. How many municipalites have incorporated this method and how successful were they? What time frame did it take for them to completely “get it right”, if there is such a thing? How many of these cases are representative of a parking situation similar to Bozeman’s. I lived in Seattle for nearly 10 years and there were areas surrounding neighborhood shopping/business districts that had parking restrictions. Most of the parking was dedicated to the residents, by permit, and visitor/commuter parking was metered. Seattle of course has an extensive public transportation system which helps alleviate some of the parking issues. This scenario closely mimics Bozeman’s situation. Mr. Meese talked about starting with small PBZ’s and going bigger from there. I contend that commuters will be more creative with their parking options and choose to walk an extra block or two to avoid parking within the PBZ. Some may even park further away and ride a bike. Therefore, I don’t think the target occupancy will be achieved and it will primarily be the residents parking in the PBZ. Will making the PBZ larger solve the problem? Not likely because the target occupancy still won’t be met and permit rates will be increased to cover operating expenses. The issue of permit pricing in the PBZ’s is very much an unknown. The PBZ size will certainly have an impact on the pricing since more resources will be utilized to manage a larger area. As mentioned during the February 3 meeting, the PBZ’s could be changed at 6 month intervals. Does this mean signs indicating what is in the PBZ will have to be placed, and/or removed every 6 months as well? If notification is done via a website that won’t sit well with those not informed about that resource (until after they’ve gotten a ticket). I don’t like the idea of having a moving target pricing scheme. It may never stabilize as the parking situation fluctuates, both seasonally and over the long term. As I said, I currently don’t see a parking problem in my neighborhood. All this is going to change once the hotel at the corner of Mendenhall and N. Tracy is built. I didn’t agree with the decision of changing the zoning of the parking lot west of the Medical Arts Complex from R-4 to B-3 since that would displace all those vehicles onto the street. That lot is nearly full everyday. When the City allowed the hotel to use this parking lot all they did was kick the can down the road. It will only be a matter of time before that property is more valuable with a building on it. How will the City handle this situation? Where will the hotel guests park? I really feel the parking requirements for these new developments have missed the mark and they should be changed. The parking credits for bike racks, ride share and proximity to the bus terminal are a joke. Except for some very hardy souls, bike riding in Bozeman is still very much a seasonal thing. Ride share in Bozeman has a long way to go before it is accepted. The Streamliner system works on a very limited basis but isn’t a full fledged transportation system for people to utilize. The assumption of vehicles per unit in these infill high rises are low. The developers should be required to provide on-site parking for all residents’ vehicle. I read that article in the Chronicle several years ago about a parking space on site having a value in the neighborhood of $12,000. Since people are shelling out some hefty sums of money for these high rise units I don’t think they would have a problem with the cost of a parking space tacked onto the unit asking price. This is a common situation in the metropolitan areas around the country and its not uncommon to have several floors of parking for a building. Very similar to what should happen here in Bozeman. To summarize: Am I opposed to the Parking Management District? No. To date I don’t see a parking problem and I live one block away from the B-3 zone, where there are no parking regulations. Am I against the Parking Benefit Zones? Yes, as proposed. I don’t feel I should have to pay for parking. It may not be a right but if I’m forced to pay for parking I want a guaranteed spot in front of my house. Yes, because the fees are not known and conceivably would be variable. Should the current parking regulations required by the City on new development be changed? Absolutely, yes. These infill high rises need to be responsible for on-site parking of all residents’ vehicles and not produce a burden on parking in the surrounding neighborhoods. Did the City make a mistake by rezoning the parking lot west of the Medical Arts complex from R-4 to B-3. Yes they did. Because in the future this will rear its ugly head. This is going to be a contentious issue in the future when a developer wants to put a building on it. If it had remained R-4, this property would have been a great step in moving forward with affordable housing in Bozeman. I realize that I may have digressed from the PMD/PBZ topic but past Commission decisions are the reason it is being discussed now. I believe the City needs to take a step back and evaluate how they got to this point, how to stop the unchecked development and make the developers responsible for on-site parking for all of the residents. This will alleviate part of the problem. More creative parking solutions should be explored rather than letting it overflow into the neighborhoods (i.e. carpools, remote parking and providing transportation to downtown, another parking structure…). I’m not a parking guru but I don’t see the PMD/PBZ concept working very well. Thank you. Crowell Herrick 401 N. Black