Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutPKG UTILITY MINUTES DEC 12_2012 OSHKOSH PARKING UTILITY COMMISSION MINUTES DECEMBER 12, 2012 PRESENT: Chandra Anderson, Deb Allison-Aasby and Mary Murken ABSENT: Jay Ratchman and Timothy Schuster STAFF: Christopher Strong, Transportation Director Jennifer Weigand, Recording Secretary CALL TO ORDER Chairman Murken called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Ms. Allison-Aasby moved to accept the September 12, 2012 minutes. Ms. Anderson seconded the motion. Motion carried (3-0). NEW BUSINESS 1. REQUEST TO ACQUIRE PORTION OF ALGOMA LOT FOR OUTDOOR RESTAURANT SEATING. Mr. Strong gave a brief summary of this request. He noted that as the owner’s proposal would be a long-term use of this portion of the parking area, it would make sense to lease or purchase the property. Because it involves a public parking lot, the Parking Commission needs to make a recommendation to the Council. Mr. Chet Wesenberg, Architect for One Six Eight Enterprises LLC, had initially run the idea past Darryn Burich from Planning Services. He said the concept is in its early stages and this is something they wanted to explore. Their goal is for an outdoor dining area and this would be a good spot for it. They are open to the idea of lease or purchase of the land. He noted the parking lot is presently underutilized. Ms. Anderson questioned who was using the enclosed area with the dumpsters. Mr. Wesenberg replied The Manila Restaurant and some businesses fronting Market Street. Mr. Wesenberg said the outdoor seating area, with the planned kitchen expansion, would allow them to extend the exhaust system out onto their property versus going up, which is much more costly. Ms. Allison-Aasby asked if there were a timeline when the restaurant would want to open this area. Mr. Marlo Ambas, owner of Manila, said there was no timeline at this time. Ms. Anderson said she thought that health code considerations required dumpsters to be at least 100’ away from an area where food is served. She suggested they talk to the Winnebago County Health Department regarding this requ irement.PARKING UTILITY MINUTES Page 2 December 12, 2012 Ms. Murken questioned how this request would dovetail with the recently razed Gunderson building, and potential improvements to the parking lot. Mr. Strong replied that funding will not allow the Algoma Lot to be addressed for a while. He said the proposed outdoor seating area doesn’t seem to harm how the lot currently operates; it seems like it would fit in very well. Ms. Murken would like to see the seating area tie in with whatever aesthetic theme is used for the Algoma Lot improvements, as was done in the Jefferson lot. Mr. Strong said this lot was considered a priority candidate for reconstruction based on its pavement condition, but that no date for reconstruction has been set. Ms. Allison-Aasby feels this request fits in with the overall vision plan for the City. Ms. Anderson thinks this a great idea. Mr. Wesenberg said another idea could be to convert the off-street parking in front of the restaurant for outdoor seating. Ms. Anderson said this this is a state highway and could get very costly. Ms. Murken said she is more inclined toward a long-term lease. Ms. Allison-Aasby said that was her initial reaction to have a long-term lease. She would like to have this move along as quickly as possible. Ms. Anderson questioned why the other Commission members preferred long-term lease over the sale of the property. She would like to see the chunk of property sold, so it could stay with the building. She suggested that, if she were the building owner, she would be scared to sink in that much money for improvements and not have it hers. Ms. Allison-Aasby was concerned about what happens if, after three years, the business closes and the building stays vacant. The land could then go back into parking spaces. She is open to leasing or selling but we can’t forecast the future. Ms. Anderson pointed out that these would be permanent alterations being made. It would be up to the owner if he would like to purchase the property to guarantee his changes to his property. Mr. Wesenberg inquired about the ability to make changes to the dumpster area. Mr. Strong said he understood that the enclosure was paid for by the BID, so that decisions would likely be made by the BID and the Council regarding this area. Mr. Strong said this is something that should be run through the Site Plan Review Committee to make sure this would be a doable plan. Ms. Anderson moved to recommend whatever One Six Eight Enterprises prefers. Motion lost for lack of second. Ms. Allison-Aasby asked Mr. Ambas what his preference was. Mr. Ambas replied he would like to purchase the land. Ms. Allison-Aasby moved to accept a preliminary offer to purchase and preliminary design so they can move forward to the next step. Ms. Murken seconded the motion. Motion carried (3-0). Ms. Allison-Aasby noted there will be different areas involved with this request. She suggested that Mr. Wesenberg get in touch with Kelly Nieforth, the Economic Development Specialist for the City, to help streamline this process. PARKING UTILITY MINUTES Page 3 December 12, 2012 Ms. Murken said she wants to make sure the lighting for future Algoma Lot improvements tie in with these improvements. FINANCIAL REPORTS Mr. Strong noted the numbers are getting closer to budgeted expectations. STAFF STATEMENTS • None AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING Ms. Allison-Aasby noted a woman had spoken at the December 11 Council Meeting regarding downtown parking, with some concerns about the inadequacy of short-term parking downtown. Ms. Anderson said 2-hour parking is challenging if you want to shop downtown or get your hair done. She questioned if 3-hour parking would be a possibility. Mr. Strong noted presently that where there are no meters, the enforcement officers must come by to mark when cars have arrived in spaces, and when they have stayed too long. Since a car may have parked well before an officer chalks the tires, a 2 hour parking space can become 4 hour parking. Ms. Anderson feels there must be some solution. Ms. Murken feels our downtown is not user friendly. Mr. Strong noted the daily permit provides a gap for this. However, it is not a good scenario for spontaneous shoppers. Ms. Anderson says this would require the out-of-town shopper to ask the businesses if there were long-term parking permits available. However, this does not happen. She suggested sporadic long-term meters be placed throughout the downtown area. Mr. Strong noted one multi-space meter costs $15,000. Ms. Murken feels the downtown demographics are more different than before. She doesn’t wasn’t to compare ourselves to Appleton but people there have no problem plugging meters. Ms. Allison-Aasby said having had a business on N. Main Street, parking is challenging. The parking meters were removed because the payroll was more costly than the revenues collected. She said that, with the budget challenges we have, it would be a difficult case to re-instate meters because we can’t go backwards. She suggested possibly leaving 2 hour parking on Main Street and possibly 3 hour parking in some of the back lots. Mr. Strong said it may push the people who are currently buying permits to go ahead and “game” the system. That is the concern we have had in the past. Ms. Anderson said if you would put a post regarding parking on Facebook and just hear the comments that would come back from it. PARKING UTILITY MINUTES Page 4 December 12, 2012 Ms. Allison-Aasby said maybe we need to have a parking study done in the BID area in collaboration with the City, Convention and Visitors Bureau and BID on how to deal with the parking issues. We are not the only ones that have this situation. We have been circling the wagon and have no solutions. We may need to ask for help. Mr. Strong said there has been talk before about a visioning study and to try to find a vision for downtown parking. He said that an outside perspective by a firm that has done this before, and knows how to engage the stakeholders with the questions asked, is a great idea. He said it could be really challenging in defining what we are looking for the consultant to do. Ms. Allison-Aasby said they may have things we have never thought about or don’t think is feasible but we take it a step further. If there is a viable solution and it takes some investment in the future, the Council would than look at it. Ms. Anderson said the BID is currently talking about doing strategic planning for five years out and this would be a good time to partner with them. Ms. Anderson said parking is key to a thriving downtown. If people get upset about parking, it is almost enough for them not to come back downtown. Mr. Strong said he knew some consultants and he would ask them some questions about this. ADJOURNMENT There being no other business to come before the Parking Utility Commission, and upon being duly moved and seconded (Anderson, Murken), the meeting adjourned at 5:15 p.m.