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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParking Engagement Summary InformationPage 1 of 4 MEMORANDUM Date: March 9, 2021 To: Bozeman Parking Commission From: Mike Veselik, Interim Parking Manager Re: Community Engagement Sessions In January 2021 and early February 2021, the City of Bozeman Economic Development Department hosted a series of community engagement meetings to build trust between the City and residents, increase utilization of the Residential Parking Permit Districts, and to solicit input from stakeholders on the remaining strategies of the 2016 Downtown Strategic Parking Management Plan. Also, staff hoped to surface any additional problems stakeholders are experiencing. The engagement session was undertaken at the direction of both the Parking Commission and the City Commission. Three separate sessions focused on different stakeholder interests were hosted to present the community values and guiding principles behind the City’s approach to parking management in residential areas and in Downtown Bozeman. Many similar themes arose in the session focusing on residential parking near downtown and the session focusing on parking in the downtown area (or B-3 zoning district). As a result, the second series of conversations to present solutions based on stakeholder feedback combined downtown residential and business owner recommendations into one session. On March 3rd, staff presented solutions to residents of the University RPPD and on March 8th, did the same for downtown residents and business owners. Staff informed attendees that the solutions presented would be shared with the Parking Commission and the City Commission along with any additional feedback from attendees at the meetings. Below the memo is divided into an RPPD section and a Downtown section. This highlights the difference between the recommendations and the feedback received. Residential Parking Permit District (RPPD) In the initial engagement session, residents raised several concerns with the operations of the RPPD including:  A difficult process for updating visitor permits  Lack of transparency in the RPPD’s budget, unclear why the City does not use fines to offset costs  A lack of consistent enforcement Page 2 of 4  The need to add safety to the values in parking handbook  No collaboration with University on Greek life houses and game days Proposed Solutions The City of Bozeman Economic Development staff worked with consultants at Rick Williams Consulting to develop solutions based on: stakeholder feedback, staff, program, and administrative capacity, and parking management guiding principles and strategic plan values. Rick Williams provided expertise on best practices that other cities follow. City staff tailored proposed solutions to align with the above criteria and issues unique to Bozeman... Below are the solutions that were shared with residents:  Neighborhood focus group to improve online visitor permit system (6-12 months) Staff  Allocating revenue from permit sales to cover the administrative costs of running the district. Setting up enforcement as a separate cost center, i.e. citations will pay for enforcement (6-12 months) Staff/Parking Commission  Staff will improve communication on enforcement schedule and responsibilities (6-12 months) Staff  Add safety as a value in the Parking Handbook (6-12 months) Staff  Do not create a new RPPD or expand current ones. Any new residential districts should follow the model laid out in Ordinance 2033. (6-12 months) Parking Commission/City Commission  Collaborate with MSU and BHS to develop realistic solution for Greek Houses and on special events at either location (12-24 months) Staff  Collect occupancy data to inform decisions. Make data available and transparent (12-24 months) Staff  Consider holistic solutions to manage diverse needs. (12-24 months) Staff/Parking Commission Feedback Residents emphasized a need for transparency in the budget. Residents want clear documents highlighting why permits cost what they cost. Several attendees raised continued concerns about maintaining the character of the neighborhood and granting people access to the street. Residents had questions about what could be accomplished in a discussion about visitor permits. Finally, residents would like more consideration of multimodal uses in the area. Downtown Parking In the initial engagement, attendees raised several issues that were unique to the downtown parking environment including: Page 3 of 4  City needs to invest in alternative modes  Data needs to drive decisions and to be accessible to residents, business community, and development community  Prioritize residential parking and on-street customer parking  Manage employee parkers who may be utilizing spaces that should be prioritized for customer spaces or residential areas at times Proposed Solutions The City of Bozeman Economic Development staff worked with consultants at Rick Williams Consulting to develop solutions based on: stakeholder feedback, staff, program, and administrative capacity, and parking management guiding principles and strategic plan values. Rick Williams provided expertise on best practices that other cities follow. City staff tailored proposed solutions to align with the above criteria and issues unique to Bozeman. Below are the solutions that were shared during the downtown sessions:  Integrate parking management into broader transportations planning to improve access via all modes to downtown. (6-12 months) City Commission/Parking Commission/Staff  Collect data to clearly convey the parking demand situation and inform code required parking minimums conversation. (6-12 months) Staff  Educate business owners and employees regarding the importance of customer parking and provide alternative parking options through shared use of private lots and garage permits. (6-12 Months) Staff/business community  Identify employee access opportunities, recognize that some employees live far from downtown so they can afford their housing. (6-12 months) Staff/business community  Consider paid on street parking when the following three conditions are met: o Employer and employee outreach is insufficient o Occupancy data shows demand is above set threshold o Parking turnover data shows turnover is frequent enough to accommodate the cost of a paid on-street system. (1-3 years) Staff/Parking Commission  Protect neighborhood parking if resident support it and occupancy data warrants it, then create a PBZ. o Determine minimum PBZ size and occupancy levels. (1.5-3 years) Parking Commission/City Commission  Continue to use the garage to its highest and best use o Create understanding of current garage utilization o Maximize its use 24/7 Page 4 of 4 o Convey the ultimate long-term intent to ensure customer and visitor parking (1.5-3 years) Staff/Parking Commission  Explore funding options for future supply o Use data to determine need for 330 stall, $18 million parking garage o Define a strategic package of funding options for any future parking structures or lots (1.5-3 years) Staff Feedback Attendees generally agreed with most ideas proposed. Continued concerns among residents near downtown included ensuring that residential areas are protected from parking overflow from intensification of development in and around downtown. Some neighborhood stakeholders also continue to be concerned about the impacts of reducing parking requirements for developers. Several stakeholders from the neighborhood, business community, and development community encouraged the City to invest more on Streamline, bike lanes, and pedestrian friendly infrastructure to increase access to downtown. Many stakeholders agreed that utilizing existing capacity (public on- and public/private off-street) and adding capacity through alternative mode infrastructure should be considered before another garage. Attendees also want the city to find a way to use the Bridger Garage 24/7. Residents and attendees believe the current city assets are underutilized. Attendees encouraged the city to act on these proposed solutions. They believe City staff and the Parking Commission have been slow to take bold action. Attendees encouraged the City to center data in decision making about parking management and to provide access to existing and new data but not get caught up in “analysis paralysis” and let data slow down progress. Attendees believe the City needs to do a better job of communication and transparency - getting its message out and to share data, plans, and other information with residents and business owners well ahead of any decision. Finally, attendees believe the City could have better wayfinding for parking. Next Steps Staff will work with the consultants to draft a final report. Staff will share the report with the Parking Commission and the public and present it to the City Commission in early April. At the April Parking Commission meeting, we will have a robust work session to send an agenda for the coming year. Parking Commission will have plenty of time to discuss. Ahead of the meeting, staff will provide Commissioners with background information about the history of the downtown strategic plan and what has been completed to date.