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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-135APRIL 14, 2009 09 -135 RESOLUTION (CARRIED 6 -0 LOST LAID OVER WITHDRAWN ) PURPOSE: RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF THE REMOVAL OF PARKING METERS FROM CITY STREETS AND MUNICIPAL PARKING LOTS INITIATED BY: TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT PARKING UTILITY COMMISSION: Approved WHEREAS the purpose of the City of Oshkosh Parking Utility is to manage parking in the downtown and Oregon Street business districts for the public good; WHEREAS parking meters are one tool which the Parking Utility uses to support management and enforcement of parking regulations; WHEREAS the Parking Utility is operating in a financial deficit; WHEREAS the City's annual cost of maintaining and operating parking meters has exceeded the annual revenue that the Parking Utility receives from these meters for several years, and this trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future; WHEREAS the Oshkosh Police Department successfully enforces parking regulations on streets and in municipal parking lots, regardless of whether they have parking meters; WHEREAS the Parking Utility Commission, which oversees the Parking Utility, voted at its April 8 meeting to support "the removal of parking meters from city streets and municipal parking lots, provided that the meters are replaced with appropriate regulations and signage to ensure that municipal parking areas are managed effectively "; and WHEREAS the removal of parking meters from specific streets and municipal parking lots will require amendments to the Municipal Code, which must be approved by the Common Council, NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Common Council of the City of Oshkosh that the Common Council supports the Parking Utility Commission's goal of removing all parking meters from city streets and municipal parking lots. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Common Council encourages the Parking Utility Commission and the Traffic Review Advisory Board to recommend changes to the Municipal Code as needed in order to support management of city streets and municipal parking lots in the absence of parking meters. CITY HALL 215 Church Avenue P.O. Box 1130 Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54903 -1130 City of Oshkosh 0 Of HKOlH TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the Common Council FROM: Christopher Strong, Director of Transportation DATE: April 9, 2009 RE: Removal of Parking Meters from City Streets and Municipal Parking Lots BACKGROUND The Parking Utility for the City of Oshkosh is currently operating in a financial deficit. A review of the Utility was conducted and it was determined that the City's cost of maintaining and operating parking meters has exceeded the annual revenue that the Parking Utility receives from the meters for several years. ANALYSIS The Parking Utility Commission has reviewed the information relative to the maintenance and operation of the parking meters and at its April 8, 2009 meeting voted to support the removal of parking meters from city streets and municipal parking lots, provided that the meters are replaced with appropriate regulations and signage to assure that municipal parking areas are managed effectively. Attached to this memorandum is the information that was provided to the Parking Utility Commission in relation to this issue. The proposed resolution for Tuesday's meeting would indicate the Council's support for the removal of meters from city streets and municipal parking areas and encourage the Parking Utility Commission and Traffic Review Advisory Board to review and recommend changes to the Municipal Code as needed to effectively manage parking in municipal parking areas. FISCAL IMPACT There is no fiscal impact for this resolution, however, if the meters are removed and replaced by signage there would be a fiscal impact from the elimination of one employee position. RECOMMENDATION co I recommend that the Council pass the resolution supporting the removal of meters from city streets and parking lots. PARKING UTILITY COMMISSION AGENDA ITEMS APRIL 2009 UNFINISHED BUSINESS 1. DISCUSSION OF CITY -WIDE REMOVAL OF PARKING METERS At the March 2009 Parking Utility Commission meeting, the Commission discussed a proposal to remove all City -owned parking meters. Commission members raised several questions about this proposal; please see the answers in the paragraphs below. a. How would the parking needs of customers and part-time employees be served? At a high level, the proposal to remove meters called for replacing them with time - restricted parking: 2 -hour parking to replace 2 -hour meters, and monthly unreserved parking to replace 10- hour (blue band) meters. Commission members were concerned that the absence of 10 -hour meters would make it impossible for people who are spending four hours downtown, such as a part-time employee or a customer of multiple businesses, to use municipal parking. We believe there are a few meter -free options that would be viable to address these concerns. One option is to provide longer duration (i.e. 4 -hour) free parking, with this parking located at a greater distance from the destination. This would, in effect, put a higher price on parking spaces which are closest to the destination. One concern with this is that there is the potential for abuse by employees who could simply move their vehicles during the lunch period, and thus avoid paying for monthly permits. • Another option is to allow businesses to purchase monthly parking permits that are not tied to a specific vehicle. Then, the permit is shared among different customers or employees throughout the day /week as needed. For example, a hair salon could purchase three monthly permits based on having three chairs. As each customer arrives, they would pick up one of the available permits, put it on their vehicle's dashboard, and then return it to the store upon leaving downtown. This may also work for businesses which have part-time employees who work in shifts. We believe this option is feasible. • Another option is to create some sort of daily permit system, where customers or employees are allowed to purchase parking privileges for one -day intervals. These permits could be purchased in advance, and would be displayed on the vehicle dashboard like other permits. A permit fee could be priced at a level (e.g. $2 per day) so as not to compete with monthly permits. This option would introduce some administrative complexity in terms of selling and managing permits, but it would be feasible. There is also the option of retaining some meters. However, there are some issues with this, as will be discussed under the next question. b. Would it be better to reduce, but not eliminate, meters? The City's long -term (10 -hour) meters have built - inflexibility that allows them to be used by short-term customers and/or full -time employees. This flexibility is important in meeting the needs of downtown businesses and residents. Therefore, it was asked whether it would be better to preserve meters as needed, in order to preserve this flexibility. To evaluate this option, we assumed that the existing meter inventory could be reduced by 80 percent, so that meter maintenance and servicing activities could be performed by the equivalent of 20 percent of a full -time position. We assumed that . the City will use the same meter heads it already has, so that no capital costs are incurred. We also assumed that the meters which are kept would be the most lucrative of the City's meters, and might be responsible for 50 percent of the City's non - university meter revenue. (These are arbitrary figures, simply used to illustrate the potential impact of this type of proposal.) With these assumptions, the cost of meter maintenance /revenue collection would be $14,000 per year, while the meter revenue would be $7,500. This option, compared to the "meter -free" alternative, would result in an annual loss to the Parking Utility of $6,500 per year. For this option to be viable, the City would need to find 20 percent of a City employee's time to do this work. In addition, the employee would need to have access to a vehicle, which means that some of the potential cost savings of removing the meters would be eliminated. Contracting out for this maintenance activity could be a potential labor relations problem. C. Would it be an option to reduce the number of meters and replace the old meter heads with newer ones? A variant of the last option, this would seek to reduce the maintenance requirements associated with the existing inventory of parking meters. This would require the purchase of new meters. To evaluate this option, we estimate the cost of new meters at $300 per unit, with an estimated life cycle of 15 years. Assuming that maintenance is reduced, we assume that there would still be the need for 15 percent of a City employee's time to do this work, along with collecting money from the meters. With these assumptions, the cost of meter maintenance /revenue collection would be $10,500 per year. The cost of meter purchase /depreciation, assuming this includes 80 meters, would be $1,600 per year. This would be a total cost to the City of $12,100 per year. The estimated revenue from these meters is still assumed to be $7,500 per year. This option, compared to the "meter -free" alternative, would result in an annual loss of $4,600 per year. As a side note, the cost of upgrading the city's current parking meter inventory is approximately $128,000. d. What are the logistical details of removing the meters? We plan to have the Commission decide upon meter removal one lot at a time, to make sure that the parking needs of property owners, employees, residents and customers are thoroughly considered. Staff developed some detailed proposals on specific lots; these were presented in last month's memo to the Commission. In general, the procedure for removing the meters is as follows: • The Parking Commission recommends the removal of meters, with recommendations on how parking would be managed without the meters (for example, converting 2 -hour meter slots to 90- minute unmetered parking). (If on- street parking is involved, the Traffic Review Advisory Board will need to act as well.) • The Common Council approves the Commission recommendation. • The meter serviceman will coordinate with the Streets superintendent so that meter heads and posts are removed simultaneously, with the post holes being filled. • The sign division will then add signage as needed to inform motorists of the new regulation. e. How has meter removal worked in other communities? Numerous communities have removed on- street parking meters while keeping them in their parking lots. There are some communities that have removed meters altogether. • Kenosha. The City of Kenosha used to have parking meters on streets and in some of its municipal lots. These were removed in the 1980s or 1990s. There were two main reasons why the meters were removed. First, there was a reduction for demand in downtown parking, which meant that meter revenues were not enough to recover the costs of maintaining meters. Second, downtown merchants expressed concern that metered parking made it hard for them to compete with shopping centers which had free parking. On- street meters were removed in favor of having time - restricted parking. Initially, there was some challenge in employees leaving unmetered spaces available for customers; over time, this problem was corrected. While the on- street meters were removed immediately, some other meters were kept in lots for a while. In parking lots with high usage, the meters were eventually replaced with entry gate systems. There are now no parking meters in the city. The city has parking capacity challenges primarily near its railroad station, but a parking structure was built by the Public Safety building which is easing those challenges. While downtown Kenosha is re- developing which could bring additional demand for parking, there is no expectation that meters will be reintroduced in the near future. Janesville. Janesville has no parking meters, and no parking utility. They do lease parking spaces within municipal parking lots, the revenue of which goes into the general fund. All expenses related to parking, whether maintenance or capital improvements, are paid for in the general fund budget. The city is in the process of designing a new parking structure, which will be paid for out of the general fund. Enforcement costs and revenues are also out of the general fund. A parking assessment district was established in the 1960s in which property owners in the downtown area were assessed money in order to support downtown parking. This assessment no longer exists. (An assessment policy exists in both La Crosse and Sheboygan, but those communities also have meters.) There has been discussion of forming a business improvement district (BID), but there has not been a successful vote to date. Downtown property owners maintain that parking availability and supply is an issue, but biennial utilization studies by the city have shown that there is adequate availability and supply. • Baraboo. The City of Baraboo used to have parking meters on streets in its downtown area. These were removed in the mid -1980s due to concerns over the cost of maintenance. (We contacted Baraboo through the city's web site for more information but were unable to get additional details.) • Lemoyne (PA). This small suburb of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania voted to remove 100 meters about a year ago from on -street parking. The meters were collecting about $7,500 per year in revenue. According to newspaper reports, they were recommended for removal because "they discourage business and are difficult to enforce, unfriendly and unsightly." In place of meters was two -hour, unmetered parking, which was enforced through tire chalking. Shortly after the meters were removed, there was mixed opinion from locals. Most business owners supported meter removal, said that meter removal would "keep businesses in here and keep our customers coming back." Some were concerned that enforcement wouldn't be adequate. f. Would assessments be an appropriate tool for'Oshkosh to consider? We're aware of two communities (La Crosse and Sheboygan) which use property assessments to pay for municipal parking. Both communities also use metered parking. Therefore, there doesn't seem to be a connection between meter removal and the use of assessments. Each community structures its parking utility differently than Oshkosh. In La Crosse, all of the City's parking ticket revenue goes into the Parking Utility; while in Oshkosh, only the parking ticket revenue collected from municipal lots and downtown streets goes into the Parking Utility fund. La Crosse's ticket revenue is over $700,000 per year, which allows the utility to pay for all of its costs, and even pay some money to the transit system each year. The assessments represent less than 10 percent of the utility's approximately $1 million budget, with meters providing less than 1 percent of revenue. In Sheboygan, the costs and revenues (meter and permit) associated with each parking lot are tracked individually. Property owners are then assessed based on the difference between costs and revenues for the lot adjacent to them. About 60 percent of the utility's $560,000 budget comes from the assessment districts. Unlike 1a Crosse, Sheboygan also has a business improvement district (BID). It is unclear how the combined assessment and BID levy rate would compare with the BID levy rate in Oshkosh. More detail on these cities' parking utilities was provided in the staff memo at the January Commission meeting. There is some important local history regarding parking assessments. The downtown BID district formerly paid the Parking Utility over $50,000 per year in order to have meters removed from Main Street. This payment was to compensate the Utility for lost meter revenue. This agreement was restructured over time, since the BID found it was spending most of its money on paying the Parking Utility. Now, the BID pays approximately $20,000 per year to the Parking Utility as a revenue guarantee for TIF District 10. Conclusion In our review, we have not identified any factor that demonstrates the need to keep parking meters in the downtown area. There are multiple methods to meet the parking needs of customers and employees without the use of meters. Suggestions for keeping some meters would result in additional cost to the utility. Other communities have successfully removed parking meters. As was noted to the Commission previously, the effects of meter removal on specific lots and streets needs to be carefully considered. City staff believes that these issues can be resolved such that all meters can be removed. As such, we propose the following recommendation to the Commission for its vote: The Parking Utility Commission supports the removal of parking meters from city streets and municipal parking lots, provided that the meters are replaced with appropriate regulations and signage to ensure that municipal parking areas are managed effectively. This recommendation will give City staff direction to submit proposals for meter removal on specific lots and streets, which the Commission can consider in subsequent meetings. If the Commission approves this recommendation, City staff will forward it to the Council as a resolution for their support. 2. REPEAL PARKING UTILITY COMMISSION BY -LAWS Last month, the Commission considered a recommendation to repeal the by -laws of the Parking Utility Commission. The by -laws were created at the inception of the Commission in the 1970s and, to our knowledge, have never been amended. Staff had recommended the repeal of the by- laws by amendment, which would means the Commission would function solely under Sections 2 -36 and 2 -50 of the municipal code. The existing by -laws, along with these sections of the municipal code, are included as attachments to this memo. A staff review concluded that most of the language in the by -laws is covered by existing state statute or municipal code language. Some language does not agree with the current practice of the Commission, while other language disagrees with existing municipal code'. City Attorney Lynn Lorenson will be at this meeting in order to review the by -laws with Commission members. The Commission's by -laws state: "The By -Laws of the Utility Commission may be amended with the approval of at least three (3) of the members of the Utility Commission at a regular or a special meeting. "Except by unanimous consent of all the members, no proposed amendment to the By- Laws shall be voted upon until the same shall have been reduced to writing, filed with the Secretary, and read at the regular meeting immediately preceding the meeting at which the same is voted upon." Since this was discussed at last meeting, the Commission can vote on this item at this meeting. The by -laws can be repealed without amending the ordinance, and the Commission will be able to carry on its business just as it has in recent years. At a future meeting, the Commission can re- examine and potentially recommend updates to Section 2 -50, to make sure that it reflects current practice and the goals of the Parking Utility. I recommend approval of this request. ' A voting majority as defined in the Commission by -laws is more stringent than it is in the municipal ordinance. It is not clear how this conflict arose. Chapter 2 of the municipal code was last re- vamped in the late 1990s; an attachment is included which describes the changes that were made at that time. 01HK01H .City of Oshkosh - Transportation Department ON THE WATER 926 Dempsey Trail, Oshkosh, WI 54902 (920) 232 -5342 (920)232 -5343 fax MEMORANDUM TO: Members of the Parking Utility Commission CC: Mark Rohloff, City Manager FROM: Christopher Strong, P.E., Director of Transportation Peggy A. Steeno, Director of Finance Scott Greuel, Chief, Police Department DATE: March 3, 2009 SUBJECT: PROPOSAL TO REMOVE PARKING METERS At the January 2009 Parking Utility Commission meeting, the commission voted in favor of removal of a select number of on- street parking meters. After further discussion, we are now recommending the removal of all parking meters maintained and operated by the City. The following are key reasons in support of this: • The Parking Utility has an operations budget deficit that cannot be sustained, in that its expenses exceed its revenues by a significant percentage. This represents the biggest single opportunity for reducing the Parking Utility's operations deficit, as the costs of meter maintenance far outweigh meter revenues. • It is unlikely that increased usage of metered spaces will compensate for this revenue shortfall in the next few years. • Improved revenue collection technology could increase parking meter revenue and decrease meter maintenance costs, but we do not believe that this will be enough to make meter revenue collection self - sufficient. • From a congestion perspective, usage levels for most metered spaces do not indicate a level of demand that could support the costs of new revenue collection equipment. • The Police Department is able to successfully enforce current parking regulations without the use of parking meters, as this is already done in several off - street parking lots as well as in signed, non - metered on- street parking areas. While the proposal is self - explanatory, we recognize there are a number of questions this introduces. This memorandum seeks to address these questions, in order to help the Commission City of Oshkosh — Transportation Department Proposal to Remove Parking Meters /March 2, 2009 to understand how a non - metered parking. environment would function. 1. What would be the financial impact of the removal of parking meters? From the revenue side, parking meter revenues in 2008 totaled $19,496. This includes regular coin meters, as well as a portion of revenue from pay and display systems near the University. By our agreement with the University, we currently retain 25 percent of pay and display revenue. Under this proposal, all revenue except for this pay and display revenue would be lost. This would amount to a loss of about $15,000 per year. The Police Department does not believe that the removal of meters would reduce ticket revenue, since they currently enforce parking time limits through other means in non - metered areas. From the expense side, we have one (1) full -time employee dedicated to parking meter maintenance and servicing. Without the need to service meters, the utility can also forgo the expenses associated with this employee and a vehicle. Consequently, removal of meters would reduce expenses to the utility by about $70,000 per year. We do not believe that any other revenue or expense items would be affected by this proposal. Consequently, we estimate that this proposal would provide a net annual savings to the Parking Utility of $55,000 per year. 2. Don't parking meters serve a useful function in the downtown environment? The purpose of parking meters is to allocate the supply of parking to meet the needs of businesses and customers. In addition, the parking meters can generate revenue that can be used to manage or improve the supply of parking. Based on the 2008 utilization study, we don't believe that there is a problem with parking supply in the downtown environment. Utilization rates show that there is adequate parking at most parking lots at nearly all times. This may not have been true in past years, but it is true now. With there being no net revenue benefit from the meters, it does not appear that there is a function for the parking meters in downtown Oshkosh at this time. It may be appropriate to consider metering parking in the future if there is increased demand for parking in these areas. Given that our meter heads are 20 -50 years old, we would likely want to replace the meters with newer technology (e.g. electronic meters, pay and display, pay by space). 3. What will happen to the parking meter serviceman position? The serviceman would be necessary to remove.the on- street meters, as well as to dispose of the old meter heads and poles (through re -sale, salvage and/or donation). Once the meters are removed, this position would no longer be necessary. The person in this position is represented by a union, and has been notified that this position is at risk of being eliminated. City of Oshkosh — Transportation Department Proposal to Remove Parking Meters / March 2, 2009 4. How will parking be managed in the absence of the parking meters? Decisions on how to allocate and manage specific parking areas are under the responsibility of the Parking Utility Commission (and, in some cases, the Traffic Review Advisory Board). The following are suggestions which would need to be reviewed and approved by the appropriate citizen board, and in most cases by the Council, before implementation. a� On -street parkin On -street metered areas are described in Section 27- 23(A -3) of the Municipal Code. The following sections are listed as metered areas in the code': Two hour metered streets. Ceape Avenue both sides from State Street to Court Street Currently, there are twenty -six (26) 2 -hour meters with no usage. Usage should increase with the re- opening of the Convention Centre. We propose to change these to two -hour unmetered parking spaces. This should be a reasonable approach until there is more experience with Convention Centre- related traffic. Mt Vernon Street east side from Washington Avenue to 107 feet north Currently, there are four (4) 2 -hour meters in this area across the street from the Public Library. This is just outside the BID area, and consequently was not included in the parking utilization study. Anecdotally, these spaces appear to have little usage, which would make sense given the low usage of the two - hour metered spaces on Washington Avenue in the same area. We propose to convert these to two -hour unmetered parking spaces. Ten hour metered streets. Brown Street from Algoma Boulevard to High Avenue Currently, there are eighteen (18) 10- hour meters with some limited usage. To promote consistency within the BID, we propose that these spaces be converted to two -hour unmetered parking spaces. If there is a need for long -term parking, there is available capacity within the Algoma lot. Jefferson Street from Washington Avenue to Merritt Avenue Currently, there are six (6) 10- hour meters which receive heavy weekday usage. To promote consistency within the BID, it would be best to convert these spaces to two -hour unmetered parking spaces. However, given the usage of these spaces, we recommend that they be designated as monthly unreserved parking. Mt Vernon Street from Washington Avenue to Merritt Avenue Currently, there are six (6) 10- ' The Commission recommended removal of meters on'the following sections of street at its January 21, 2009 meeting. • Court Street, both sides, from Washington Avenue to Waugoo Avenue • Otter Avenue, both sides, from State Street to Court Street • Washington Avenue, south side, from State Street to Court Street • Waugoo Avenue, both sides, from State Street to Court Street Removal will be voted upon by the Common Council at its March 10, 2009 meeting. City of Oshkosh — Transportation Department Proposal to Remove Parking Meters / March 2, 2009 hour meters with heavy weekday usage. We recommend, as was done for Jefferson Street, that these be converted to monthly unreserved parking. Short -term (30 minutes or less) meters There are five sections of short-term (15- or 30- minute) on- street meters in the City, all of which are on the UWO campus: • Elmwood Avenue, east side, from Irving Avenue to 207 feet north of Irving Avenue (eight [8] 30- minute meters). • Irving Avenue, south side, from 132 feet east of Elmwood Avenue to 216 feet east of Elmwood Avenue (four [4] 30- minute meters). • Algoma Boulevard, east side, from 588 feet north of Elmwood Avenue to 646 feet north of Elmwood Avenue (three [3] 15- minute meters). • Algoma Boulevard, east side, from 1,187 feet north of Elmwood Avenue to 1,251 feet north (three [3] 15- minute meters). • Algoma Boulevard, east side, from 715 feet south of Woodland Avenue to 839 feet south (four [4] 15- minute meters). All of these areas lie within the campus boundary; consequently, University officials have the strongest interest and likely the best ideas on how to manage these areas without meters. Preliminary contact with University officials indicate that they support meter removal so long as a similar short-term duration parking scheme can be established. b) Off - street parkin Sections 27 -45 and 27 -48 of the ordinances designate certain parking lots and spaces as 2 -hour and 10 -hour (respectively) parking meter zones between 9 AM and 6 PM daily except Sundays and holidays. Each type of metered space charges the same hourly rate. However, the 10 -hour spaces allow for a longer duration of metered parking, which is beneficial for some motorists who may need a parking space for longer than two hours. In general, it makes sense to re- designate the 2 -hour metered spaces as 90- minute parking spaces, and the 10 -hour parking meters as monthly unreserved parking areas (i.e. they may be used by vehicles with monthly parking stickers but spaces are not reserved for specific vehicles). However, this will probably need to be modified slightly to accommodate some of these longer term parking needs. In some lots, it may be appropriate to create some 4 -hour parking spaces. Ceape Avenue (P -02) Currently, the lot is filled with 10 -hour (blue -band) meters. Lot utilization is quite low, except with larger events at the Convention Centre or the Leach Amphitheater. It makes sense to designate the spaces as allowing monthly unreserved parking and overflow parking for Convention Centre events. Jefferson (P -03) Currently, this lot has approximately fifty (50) long -term (10 -hour and 12 -hour, blue -band) meters, which permit hourly parking as well as monthly parking. These spaces generally receive City of Oshkosh — Transportation Department 4 Proposal to Remove Parking Meters / March 2, 2009 good utilization. We propose to convert these spaces to monthly unreserved parking. It should be noted that this lot's reconstruction in 2009 will result in the dedication of 16 spaces to specific properties (i.e. monthly permit parking). The assignment of these spaces may impact the number of spaces where monthly unreserved parking is permitted. High Avenue (P -05) Currently, this lot has thirty -four (34) 10 -hour parking meters on the perimeter. These spaces have approximately 20 percent occupancy. We propose to convert these spaces to monthly unreserved parking. Library (P -07) Currently, this lot has thirty-six (3 6) 10 -hour parking meters on the perimeter. These receive some pretty heavy usage, probably by employees /volunteers at the Library. Current revenue is $13.13 per space per year; this low per -space revenue confirms that most of the usage is due to monthly sticker holders. Therefore, we propose to convert these spaces to monthly unreserved parking. Otter East (P -09) Currently, this lot has sixty -three (63) 10 -hour parking meters, which permit hourly parking as well as monthly sticker parking. The lot also has four (4) 30- minute meters. The 307-minute meters are seldom used; the 10 -hour meters receive moderate utilization. Revenue is only $2.32 per space per year, which suggests that the meters are used primarily by monthly sticker holders. We propose to convert the 10 -hour stalls to monthly unreserved parking. The existing 30- minute meters are the only off-street spaces of this type in the downtown area. For consistency, it would make sense to convert them either to 90- minute stalls or to monthly unreserved parking. Otter (P -10) Currently, the lot has six (6) 10 -hour parking meters, which permit hourly parking as well as monthly parking. The rest of the lot is 90- minute, unmetered parking. The 10 -hour spaces receive heavy usage, while the 90- minute spaces receive moderate usage. The revenue per space is $40.67 per year. We recommend that the existing 10 -hour stalls be converted to monthly unreserved parking. . In the future, it may make sense to .convert some of the 90- minute parking to monthly unreserved parking, based on demand for long -term parking at the Pearl lot. Pearl (P -11) Currently, the lot has twenty -two (22) 12' -hour parking meters, which permit hourly parking as well as monthly parking. The rest of the lot is 90- minute, unmetered parking. The parking lot as a whole is well - utilized; the revenue per space is $93.68 per year. We propose to convert the 12- hour stalls to monthly unreserved parking. Riverside Park (P -13) Currently, this lot has over one hundred (125) 10 -hour parking meters. Lot utilization is primarily tied to the Convention Centre, the Leach Amphitheater and outdoor recreation. For none of these City of Oshkosh — Transportation Department Proposal to Remove Parking Meters / March 2, 2009 uses would it be appropriate to have any time duration on the parking spaces. Therefore, we recommend conversion of these spaces to unrestricted parking, similar to what currently exists elsewhere in the same lot as well as in the Riverside Park East (P -18) lot. State (P -14) Currently, this lot has forty (40) 10 -hour parking meters, located on the eastern half of the lot and in the northern row of the center aisle in the western portion of the lot. The spaces in the eastern portion of the lot receive little use, while there is some use of the spaces in the western portion. We recommend conversion of all of these spaces to monthly unreserved parking. In the future, it may make sense to convert the monthly permit parking areas in the western portion of the to monthly unreserved parking as well. This would help to make the parking lot layout easier for citizens to understand. 400 Block West (P -16) Currently, this lot has twenty -four (24) 10 -hour parking meters, scattered in various locations of the parking lot: four on the west edge, six on the northern edge, eight around the southern perimeter, and six in some of the interior parking areas. These spaces receive $80.70 in revenue per space per year. The 10 -hour metered spaces have the highest level of utilization in the parking lot. It is likely that much of this usage is related to monthly sticker holders. Therefore, we recommend conversion of all of the 10 -hour metered spaces into monthly unreserved parking areas. In the future, it will make sense to try to reallocate the time parking restrictions on spaces in the lot in a more user - friendly way. 8th Avenue Lot Currently, this lot has four (4) 2 -hour meters, with a very low utilization level. Revenue is $17.80 per space per year. We propose converting these spaces to 90- minute unmetered parking. 9 th Avenue Lot Currently, this lot has twenty -one (21) 2 -hour meters, which receive an average of $52.24 in revenue per space per year. Utilization rates are around 20 percent. We propose converting these spaces to 90- minute unmetered parking. One hope of this is that it would pull some of the on- street parking on Oregon Street behind the buildings, which could improve sight distance on Oregon Street. 5. How long will it take for this proposal to be implemented? If the Commission supports this idea, it will be necessary to carefully consider the impacts of this proposal on specific lots, and the businesses, customers and residents that depend on them. Therefore, we do not recommend that this proposal be implemented in one quick stroke. However if the Commission decides to go down this road, it would make sense to implement it quickly. There will be some fixed costs associated with any revenue collection equipment, and having a larger equipment inventory would help to reduce these average costs. Therefore, the City of Oshkosh — Transportation Department Proposal to Remove Parking Meters / March 2, 2009 significant cost savings will come only when this whole method of revenue collection is abandoned. If the Commission supports this proposal, we foresee the following schedule for addressing specific metered parking areas. a) Removal of remaining on- street meters (except in UWO area April 8, 2009 Parking Utility Commission vote April 14, 2009 Traffic Review Advisory Board vote on replacement regulations for on- street parking May 12, 2009 Common Council vote b) Removal of meters and reallocation of spaces in 8th Avenue, 9th Avenue, Ceape Avenue and Riverside Park lots April 8, 2009 Parking Utility Commission vote May 12, 2009 Common Council vote c� Removal of meters and reallocation of spaces in Jefferson, Library, Otter, Otter East and State lots April 8, 2009 Parking Utility Commission discussion May 13, 2009 Parking Utility Commission vote June 9, 2009 Common Council vote d) Removal of meters and reallocation of spaces (as needed) in 400 Block West, High Avenue and Pearl lots May 13, 2009 Parking Utility Commission discussion June 10, 2009 Parking Utility Commission vote July 14, 2009 Common Council vote ee) Removal of on- street meters in UWO campus area May 13, 2009 Parking Utility Commission vote on removal of on- street meters in UWO area June 9, 2009 Traffic Review Advisory Board vote on replacement regulations for on- street parking July 14, 2009 Common Council vote on removal of on- street meters in UWO area This schedule assumes immediate, affirmative votes at each stage. Meters will be removed and signage will be modified as soon as possible after affirmative votes- from the Common Council. City of Oshkosh — Transportation Department 7