HomeMy WebLinkAbout39. 13-218( 0
City of Oshkosh - Transportation Department O ON KD R H
926 Dempsey Trail, Oshkosh, WI 54902 (920) 232 -5342 (920)232 -5343 fax
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mark Rohloff, City Manager
FROM: Christopher Strong, Transportation Director Q,,
DATE: April 17, 2013
SECTION 9: SECTION 27 -48 PERMIT PARKING AREAS
A REQUEST TO CONVERT PERMIT PARKING FROM 6 -DAY ENFORCEMENT TO 6 -DAY
ENFORCEMENT,
This is a citizen request.
Our permit parking areas currently have enforcement from 8 AM to 6 PM daily except Sundays
and holidays. While anyone may buy a permit, the hours of enforcement tend to encourage their
purchase by downtown employees. On Saturdays, many downtown businesses have different
employee and customer patterns such that parking utilization is typically less; therefore, the
value of permit parking on Saturdays is arguably less than on weekdays. Moreover, special
events on Saturdays can bring large numbers of visitors to downtown, sometimes overwhelming
the available capacity for short-term parking. In addition, police staffing needs often means that
enforcement on Saturday is more request -based than it is on weekdays.
This request would change the ordinance language that stipulates the days of enforcement for
permit parking. Instead of enforcement occurring six days a week, the request would change it to
weekday -only enforcement.
It is unlikely that many people currently buy parking permits because of the value of Saturday
parking. In addition, enforcement on Saturdays is less frequent than on other days of the week.
Therefore, the request is unlikely to reduce revenues to the parking utility from either permit
sales or forfeiture. While this request may increase the Saturday demand for downtown parking,
it is unlikely that this demand will overwhelm existing capacity or create excessive problems for
short-term parking. On the positive side, the request may help to resolve some of the issues that
have occurred during special events and with all -day visitorstcustomers on Saturdays.
PASSED BY PARKING UTILITY COMMISSION (3 -0)
SECTION 2: SECTION 27 -48 — PERMIT PARKING AREAS
A REQUEST TO EXPAND PERMIT PARKING AND REDUCE SHORT -TERM PARKING IN
THE WASHINGTON AVENUE LOT.
These are Commission requests.
At its last meeting, the Commission discussed the allocation of parking between short -term and
permit parking spaces in the Washington Avenue lot. Commissioners indicated a preference
toward increasing the number of permit parking spaces in the lot, thereby reducing the number
of free, short-term spaces; and changing the duration of free short-term parking from 90 minutes
to 2 hours. The existing allocation of spaces, along with an allocation suggested at last month's
meeting, are shown in Figure 1.
Background on Item 3
The request to increase the number of permit parking spaces was motivated by concerns
expressed by owners of property near this lot that there is inadequate permit parking for
employees and tenants that is easily accessible from those properties. As discussed at last
meeting, the Washington Avenue lot enjoys the highest percentage of space utilization of any
public lot downtown for Loth short -term usage and permit usage (please see Table 1). The use
of permit parking spaces in this lot, at 86 percent, is just over the 85 percent utilization that is
often used to signify a parking lot being at effective capacity.
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8
9
10
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12
13
14
15
16
17
Washington Ave Lot
As of: October 1, 2010
Space Design ations
1 90-Minute Parking
18 -22: PormitParking
29-30: Han dicapped Parking
ImmImmIImmmmm
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1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Washington Ave Lot
Suggested Layout
Space Designations
1 -12; 2 -Hour Parking
13-28 PermitPaddng
29 -30: Hari dicapped Park g
mmmm�mmmm
Figure 1: Allocation of Spaces in Washington Lot, Existing and Proposed
Table 1: Utilization Rates for Downtown Parking Areas, Spring 2012
Note: Most leased parking areas were converted to permit parking in December 2012.
Leased
_
Free
G rand
Parking Area
Name
Permit
Daytime
Discount
24 -Hour
Reserved
Unrestricted
2 -hour
90 -min
Handicapped
Total
P -15
Washington
86%
67%
20%
67%
P -07
Library
68%
68%
62%
47%
63%
P -10
Otter
36%
65%
0%
53%
P -03
Jefferson
60%
40%
71%
41%
2%
48%
P -16
400 Block West
67%
60%
36%
13%
45%
P -17
Division Street
16%
48%
45%
40%
P -09
Otter East
24%
59%
10%
0%
40%
P -11
Pear]
53%
6%
0%
39%
P -04
Grand
33%
0%
29%
P -14
State
23%
35%
57%
7%
0%
28%
P -01
Algoma
38%
24%
5%
28%
P -12
Rec Lot
19%
11%
0%
15%
P -05
High Avenue
24%
5%
0%
13%
P -13
Riverside
7%
1%
7%
P -02
Ceape
1 %
34%
0%
4%
Note: Most leased parking areas were converted to permit parking in December 2012.
It has been suggested that some of the high utilization of the short-term spots may be due to all -
day parkers who move their vehicles on a routine basis. Staff did a license plate survey three
years ago in several downtown lots (400 West, Division, Jefferson and Washington) to
determine how long specific vehicles were parking in free, short-term spaces in specific lots. if a
vehicle was identified in a particular lot during three consecutive hourly observations, it was
assumed that the vehicle was violating the free short -term parking rule.
The results of this study are shown in Table 2. It should be noted that the number of vehicles in
apparent violation of short -term parking rules was 13 percent in the Washington Avenue lot. The
two lots with the highest percentage of "violations" were the Division and Jefferson lots, both of
which had two hours of free parking at that time. The 400 West lot was converted to two -hour
parking shortly after this study was completed; no subsequent studies have been completed.
Table 2: "Violations" of Short -Term Parking in Four Downtown hots, March 2010
Parking Lot
Number of
Spaces
Number of
Vehicles
Number of Vehicles
Parked for 3+
Consec. Hours
Percent
400 Block West
114
183
11
6%
Division Street 1
21
46
13
28%
Jefferson (400 Block East)
34
68
11
16%
Washin ton Avenue
23
38
5
13%
It may be expected that increasing the availability of one type of space will potentially create a
shortage of another type of space. In this case, an increase in permit parking may result in
higher utilization of short-term spaces, which would force this parking demand to seek other
parking alternatives. Such a shift, if it occurred, would likely move customer and client parking
farther away from their destinations. This could be a special concern in a lot where the use of
short-term spaces is already high, and would differ from how the commission has approached
discussions of parking needs elsewhere in the downtown area.
Table 1 shows that the State Street lot, which is very close to the Washington Avenue lot, has
relatively low utilization of its permit parking spaces. The spaces which are most frequently used
are in the western portion of the lot. One option that the commission could consider to address
the current issue in the Washington Avenue lot would be to convert some of the permit spaces in
the eastern part of the State Street lot to free, unrestricted parking. This has been done
successfully in the Ceape lot, and was considered under item 2 earlier for the High Avenue lot.
This is consistent with a "satellite parking" idea that has been advocated by some on the BID
Board. However, this may be too close to the paid parking within the same lot, and could thereby
reduce revenue to the parking utility.
Background on Item 4
The primary motivation for this request relates to consistency between lots, with the goal of
improving customer service. In some cases, the additional time may help some customers to
complete their business with less risk of violating the parking ordinance.
Until recently, the general rule in downtown parking has been 2 -hour free on- street parking and
90- minute free parking within off - street lots. As seen in Table 1, all but three downtown lots
currently have 90- minute parking restrictions: the Division Street lot, the Jefferson lot, and the
400 Block West lot. The Division Street lot has had 2 -hour parking from its inception. The
Jefferson and 400 Block West lots were converted to 2 -hour parking in November 2009 and
April 2010, respectively.
In the past, commission members have expressed concern that longer durations of free parking
may make it easier for people who "should" buy permits (based on their work hours and location)
to instead rotate their vehicles between spaces, and avoid buying permits. Table 2 (earlier)
attempted to quantify the frequency of this phenomenon, based on data collected three years
ago.
At last month's meeting, commission members seemed to favor an across -the- board conversion
of the free short -term spaces to 2 hours. This potentially could affect both permit and
enforcement revenue, both of which are central to the parking utility's financial model. Therefore,
the Police Department has been asked to provide their input on the advantages /disadvantages
of 90- minute versus 2 -hour parking from an enforcement perspective.
If the commission wishes to pursue this on a larger scale, then it may be appropriate to consider
changing the duration of free parking downtown, perhaps having 90- minute on- street parking
and 2 -hour off - street parking. The higher turnover of on- street parking spaces can increase the
likelihood of car doors colliding with moving traffic. At the same time, it is reported (though not
confirmed) that some on- street spaces in front of storefronts, which are likely very attractive to
customers, are occupied by proprietors. A shorter on- street parking duration would free up more
of these spaces for customers. Such a policy change would require additional input from the
Police Department, as well as action from the Traffic Review Advisory Board and the Common
Council.
PASSED BY PARKING UTILITY COMMISSION (3 -0)
SECTION 3: SECTION 27A -11— PARKING REGULATIONS
A REQUEST TO CONVERT SHORT -TERM PARKING IN THE WASHINGTON AVENUE LOT
FROM 90 MINUTES TO 2 HOURS.
See previous explanation for Section 2.
PASSED BY PARKING UTILITY COMMISSION (3 -0)