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City
Council Report |
City Council Meeting: May 11,
2010
Agenda Item: 8-C
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Carol Swindell, Director of Finance
Eileen Fogarty, Director of Planning and Community
Development
Subject: Resolution establishing new parking rates
for Downtown Structures 1-9, Main Library, Civic Center Parking Structure, and
Civic Auditorium Lot.
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that
City Council adopt attached resolution (Attachment A) establishing new parking
rates for Downtown Structures 1-9, Main Library Structure, Civic Center Parking
Structure, and the Civic Auditorium Lot, as a first phase in implementing the
Walker Parking Study recommendations.
Executive Summary
Pursuant to the direction of
City Council at the September 8, 2009 Council meeting, staff proposes
changes to parking rates in Downtown City-owned parking structures, consistent
with recommendations of the Walker Parking Study. The proposed rate changes
included in this report were developed through additional study of rates in
comparable areas and ongoing consultation with the Bayside District
Corporation. The Bayside District generally supports the Walker Study
recommendations. After lengthy discussions with the Bayside District Parking
Committee and members of the public, staff recommends that the decision to
reduce “two hours free” parking in the Downtown be deferred until a later time.
This report details the proposed rate changes. The proposed rate changes for
this first phase are as follows:
1) Increase the maximum daily rate
in Downtown Structures 1 through 9 from $7.00/day to $9.00/day and the Civic
Center maximum from $8.00/day to $9.00/day.
2) Increase the monthly rate for Structures
1 through 9 from $82.50/month to $121.00/month.
3) Increase the evening flat rates
in Downtown Structures 1 through 9 from $3.00 to $5.00 and implement new
evening maximum rates for the Main Library Structure, Civic Center Parking
Structure, and Civic Auditorium lot at a lower rate of $3.00.
The recommended changes provide
lower cost parking options during evenings and weekends in peripheral
locations. Furthermore, the recommended
changes provide lower cost monthly parking rates outside of the Downtown
core. These recommended changes are also
consistent with the policy objectives of the LUCE in terms of improving the
management of parking resources as a part of the City’s overall transportation
system. The implementation of the rate changes proposed herein will provide
additional revenue, a portion of which can be used to finance the
reconstruction of Parking Structure #6.
Full implementation of the Walker Parking Study recommendations will
provide additional revenue.
Background
The Walker Parking
Study, endorsed by Council on September 8, 2009, was a follow-up to the
Downtown Parking Program, adopted by Council on May 9, 2006. The Walker Parking Study
evaluated parking operations and market conditions in Downtown Santa Monica and
analyzed revenue opportunities from parking rates, in-lieu fees, property-based
assessments and other sources as a means to fund recommended improvements. Walker’s overall recommendation was that
other than the additional 576 parking spaces planned in the reconstruction of
Parking Structure Nos. 1 and 6, Downtown Santa Monica does not need additional
public parking at this time. Rather, in
coordination with the citywide Transportation Management Strategy identified
for implementation in the Circulation Element of the LUCE, Walker recommended
implementation of several actions to support access to Downtown. These actions included:
·
Strategically increase on-street and off-street public parking
rates in the Downtown core to more efficiently and effectively utilize existing
public and private parking resources to meet parking needs, thereby creating
greater availability of parking for visitors to Downtown;
·
Use increased parking revenues to fund additional programs to
support employee access to Downtown by transit, bicycle and carpooling;
·
Use increased parking revenues to support shuttle service to
outlying parking resources, including the Civic Center Parking Structure during
parking structure reconstruction;
·
Use parking revenues to enhance parking operations, parking
technology, wayfinding, parking occupancy assessment and capital replacement
and repair;
·
Implement a centralized valet operation to access private parking
spaces during off-peak periods, supplemented by agreements with office building
owners to make empty spaces available to the public on evenings and weekends;
and
·
Regularly review parking occupancies and adjust parking rates to
encourage optimal use of public parking resources.
At its September 8, 2009 meeting, City Council directed
staff to return with actions necessary to implement the recommendations of the
Walker Parking Study. On February 23, 2010 staff presented an
implementation plan for the recommendations of the Walker Parking Study. At that meeting, staff noted that that in
order to implement the pricing recommendations of the Walker Study, a phased
approach would need to be developed. Certain recommendations, such as changes
to parking structure rates, are relatively easy to implement and require little
or no capital costs. Other recommendations, such as changes in parking meter
technologies, require more time and substantial capital investment. Therefore, actions proposed by staff related
to the Walker Study recommendations will occur in a phased manner. The first
phase is recommended to be proposed rate adjustments for Downtown parking
structures.
Discussion
At the February
23, 2010 Council meeting, staff stated that a rate
study would be completed prior to implementing any of the rate changes proposed
by the Walker Parking Study. In addition
to conducting the rate study, staff worked directly with the Bayside District
Corporation through regular monthly Parking Implementation Committee meetings
to refine the proposed rate changes. The
following sections describe the rate study, the development of the proposed
parking rate changes in coordination with the Bayside District Corporation,
public outreach, and the proposed rate changes.
Rate Study
A summary of the rate study completed by staff is attached to this
staff report (Attachment B).
Bayside District Corporation Input
The proposed Implementation Plan was endorsed by the Bayside
District Corporation’s Parking Implementation Committee on January 12, 2010 and
the Bayside Board on January 28, 2010. Following support of the Implementation
Plan, staff met with the Bayside District Corporation’s Parking Implementation
Committee on February 8, 2010 and March 9, 2010 to refine the proposed parking
rate changes. On March 25, 2010 the
proposed rate changes were supported by the Bayside District Corporation Board.
The Bayside District Corporation did not endorse the initial
recommendation in the Walker Parking Study to reduce the existing “two hours
free” parking for Downtown Structures 1-9 to “one hour free.” As noted in the
rate study, the majority of destination retail areas in the greater Los Angeles
area provide some form of “free” parking for patrons; therefore, staff
recommends maintaining the existing “two hours free” parking until a viable and
effective alternative system, such as validations, can be identified.
The Bayside District Corporation also advocated for reduced-cost
monthly parking at selected City-owned facilities for employees who work in the
Downtown area. For this reason, staff recommends maintaining the existing
monthly parking rates at the Main Library Structure, Civic Center Parking
Structure, and Civic Auditorium lot, while also recommending an increase in the
monthly parking rate for Downtown Structures 1-9. In these cases, the Walker Study recommended
an increase in monthly parking rates for all City-owned facilities.
Public Outreach
During the development of these proposed rate changes, staff heard
input from the public through public comment at Bayside District Corporation
meetings. Additionally, staff met with the Chamber of Commerce shortly after
the Council’s September action to gather input on the Walker Study and
potential implementation plans.
Proposed
Rate Changes
The proposed rate changes are as follows:
Downtown
Structures (PS1 - 9):
·
Maintain existing “2 hours free” parking in Downtown Structures
(PS 1-9)
·
Maintain existing rates (8:00 AM to 6:00 PM) at $1.00 per 30
minutes
·
Increase evening flat rates (after 6:00 PM) from $3.00 to $5.00
·
Increase daily maximum rates from $7.00 to $9.00
·
Increase monthly parking rates from $82.50 to $121.00
Main Library Structure:
·
Maintain hourly rates at $0.50 per 30 minutes, or $1.00 per hour
·
Maintain daily maximum rates at $10.00
·
Maintain weekend (Saturday and Sunday) and holiday daily flat rate
at $3.00
·
Implement new evening maximum rate (after 4:00 PM until 11:00 PM)
at $3.00
·
Maintain monthly parking rate at $82.50
Civic Center Parking
Structure and Civic Lot:
·
Reduce hourly rates from $1.60 per 20 minutes, or $4.80 per hour, to $1.50 per 20 minutes,
or $4.50 per hour
·
Increase daily maximum rates from $8.00 to $9.00
·
Implement new evening flat rate(after 6:00 PM until 6:00 AM) at
$3.00
·
Maintain weekend (Saturday and Sunday) and holiday daily flat rate
at $3.00
·
Maintain monthly parking rate at $82.50
·
Implement daily flat rate up to $15.00 for event days, with
approval of the City Manager.
Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
The
Walker Parking Study recommends using the changes in parking rates as a means
to manage traffic and parking and also as a funding mechanism to implement
parking programs. The Parking Structure 6 staff report, agenda item 8-D, also
identifies funds generated from this recommendation as one of the sources to
fund that project. Finance staff is scheduled to bring forward a financing strategy
for the Walker Study recommendations in early fall, following completion of a
comprehensive organizational review currently underway. The recommendations in
this report would generate approximately an addition $175,000 per month or
$2,100,000 annually in revenue. The financing of the reconstruction of Parking
Structure 6 is consistent with the Walker recommendations and would leave
approximately $1,500,000 annually to fund other study recommendations.
Since
the rate changes at the Civic Center Parking Structure and Civic Auditorium Lot
would only be effective on non-event days, no change in event-related parking
revenues is anticipated. Community and
Cultural Services Department staff estimate $32,587 in additional event-related
parking revenues for FY2010-2011
Community
and Cultural Services Department staff estimates a loss in revenue of
$10,918.80 (based on 2009 parking sales data for the Civic Auditorium lot) due
to the proposed reduction in hourly rates.
Due to the proposed new rates, a net increase in parking revenue
of $54,959 is estimated for FY2010-2011.
Prepared by: Sam Morrissey, P.E., Principal
Transportation Engineer
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Approved: |
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Forwarded to Council: |
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Carol Swindell Director of Finance ________________________________ ________________________________ Eileen Fogarty Director, Planning and Community Development |
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Rod Gould City Manager |
Attachments: