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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPARKING UTILITY MINUTES NOVEMBER 2014 Please contact the Parking Utility Commission at PUC@ci.oshkosh.wi.us with questions or concerns. PARKING UTILITY COMMISSION MINUTES NOVEMBER 12, 2014 PRESENT: Chanda Anderson, Steve Herman, Mary Murken, Timothy Schuster, Jay Ratchman STAFF: Jim Collins, Transportation Director Lynn Lorenson, City Attorney Marlene Binder, Secretary CALL TO ORDER Tim Schuster called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES Ms. Murken moved to accept the minutes from the previous, October 8, 2014, meeting. Mr. Herman seconded the motion. Motion carried (5-0). NEW BUSINESS 1. OVERNIGHT PARKING Mr. Collins said he worked with the Planning Department and GIS to create a map of each parking lot. Each colored map shows all the parking stalls within it and each are numbered which will help to clarify exactly which parking space is being discussed. He says he has also been working with city attorney Lynn Lorenson to make the ordinances more consistent throughout the city. Presently overnight parking is addressed in the Municipal Code in the section for city lots with parking for two hours or less where it states it is prohibited. However the 8th Avenue and High Avenue parking lots have two hour parking but overnight parking is not addressed. The Ceape Avenue lot has signs prohibiting parking from 2:00 a.m. to 5 a.m. but there is not an ordinance stating this. He said he and the attorney thought for consistency one ordinance prohibiting parking from 2:00 a.m. to 5 a.m. for all city parking lots would be less confusing than present ordinances. Vehicles in leased or permitted parking spaces would be able to park overnight. Ms. Lorenson said she had discussion with other staff about a scenario where someone had too much to drink and needed to leave their vehicle parked overnight. It was also mentioned that a tenant in a residential unit downtown may have a guest stay through the night and they would need to park their car overnight. She also said that parking spaces that have permits or are leased should be more protected than free parking areas. Mr. Ratchman said he is in favor of the no parking 2:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. because when a plow has to plow around a car left in the lot, the deep snow left there will stay there. The plow does not come back till the next snowstorm and in the meantime no one will park in that space. Mr. Herman asked if during a snow emergency if people were directed to park in a public lot. Ms. Lorenson responded that she thought that one night parking was allowed on the even house numbered side and the next night parking was allowed on the odd numbered side of the street. Mr. Schuster said that police have not been real aggressive with ticketing and towing during snow emergencies in recent years but did recall in the 90's when they had all available wreckers towing cars. PARKING UTILITY MINUTES 2 November 12, 2014 Please contact the Parking Utility Commission at PUC@ci.oshkosh.wi.us with questions or concerns. Mr. Herman agreed for consistency it would be best to prohibit overnight parking in all city lots. Mr. Collins said most of the lots are already posted and if someone has a need to park overnight they can obtain a permit and be allowed overnight parking. Mr. Schuster inquired the cost of a parking ticket. Mr. Herman replied a parking ticket costs $15.00. Mr. Ratchman inquired if bar owners could purchase parking permits for their patrons that had overindulged. Mr. Schuster confirmed that someone able to drive could park the vehicle in a leased space. Mr. Herman suggested that this might be communicated to bar owners through the BID. Ms. Lorenson stated she and Mr. Collins will draft an ordinance and bring it back for a vote, but they wanted the Commission to have input. 2. FOLLOW-UP ON FREE PARKING IN PERMIT PARKING STALLS ON SATURDAYS IN ADDITION TO NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS Mr. Collins says the municipal code says permit parking is enforced daily except weekends and holidays. Mr. Schuster asked when the weekend starts. Mr. Collins clarified that the weekend starts 6:00 pm Friday night and ends 9:00 am Monday morning. He said this ordinance is already in place, the department will need to change the existing signs. 3. FOLLOW-UP ON PARKING TIME LIMIT ENFORCEMENT Mr. Collins says the time limit parking is enforced 7:00 am to 6:00 pm daily except Sundays and Holidays. He thought businesses would want enforcement on Saturday because someone could park all day. Mr. Ratchman said the signs say 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. Ms. Anderson expressed that she does not want enforcement on Saturday in the downtown parking lots. She went on to say that there is no one designated to enforce at that time anyway. Mr. Ratchman said he received complaints from customers that do not go to the Farmer's Market. He said that vendors for this event park from 7:00 am to 2:00 pm. He explained enforcement should be consistent throughout the day and not begin after the Farmer's Market ended, hence penalizing customers of the businesses. Mr. Collins said he and Ms. Lorenson will draft an ordinance and bring it back for a vote. 4. PERMIT LOCATION Mr. Collins said the monthly leased permits are placed in rear window, monthly permit placed on driver's side rear bumper, yearly permits placed in driver's side rear window, daily permits go in the front. He said he would like to standardize placement of all permits. He explained that it will take time to phase in the new and phase out the old. Mr. Herman suggested color coded permits that could be placed on the rearview mirror so it is visible even if the vehicle is backed into the parking space and hence make enforcement easier. Mr. Ratchman pointed out that some revenue may be lost due to the fact that one can move it from vehicle to vehicle where previously a permit needed to be purchased for each vehicle. Mr. Collins said the daily permits would remain as is but the other permits would be the new design and it would take some time to cycle through. We would need to pick a date to issue the new permits and change the municipal code regarding the placement. PARKING UTILITY MINUTES 3 November 12, 2014 Please contact the Parking Utility Commission at PUC@ci.oshkosh.wi.us with questions or concerns. STAFF STATEMENTS Mr. Collins said last month the Commission asked him to check the cost of an overnight parking permit. He learned that the only overnight permit is sold by the Police Department for $10.00 per month. Annually the revenue from these overnight parking permits is about $19,000.00. He says Neenah has seasonal parking and does not charge for overnight parking and Appleton has no overnight parking. Mr. Collins said city manager, Mark Rohloff, and he are planning to attend the next BID meeting. He explained the main issue is the Parking Utility is not financially sustainable. The BID initially contributed $40,000.00 annually to the Parking Utility to support the free parking, which in recent years has been down to $18,000.00. This year the BID has proposed to pay $15,00.00, in exchange for 1,000 permits. He said the BID’s reasoning is they contributed $5,000.00 for the parking study, and maintain the planters downtown. Mr. Collins said the permits were to be used by customers only but explained that it would be difficult to identify whether or not these permits were actually being used by customers. The needs of the parking lots, their reconstruction and maintenance, are not going to go away so we need some support from the BID. Ms. Murken said pay and display would be an option and Mr. Herman added that selling the parking lots is another option. Mr. Collins said after the parking study is completed the City will look for a long term solution. He went on to say that over the past couple years the City has spent about $2,000,000.00 on parking lots, with approximately $800,000.00 spent on the Riverside Lot. He said next year there is another $500,000.00 in the capital improvement plan for parking lots. He pointed out the City has continued to invest in parking and that because the Parking Utility is not sustainable; the City has been using its general fund to pay on the debt service for these improvements. Ms. Anderson pointed out there was no need to be concerned about the number of permits issued the BID because the BID will sell these to the businesses. Mr. Herman added that this is a contentious issue with the Council because the businesses that purchase these from the BID already paid for these permits through their assessments to the BID. Mr. Collins said there will be more discussion about this with the Planning Department before the BID meeting. Mr. Herman said there has been a lack of communication between the City and the BID in the past. He went on to say that going forward the City and the BID need to work together with the Convention Center, Visitor's Bureau, and Grand Opera House to promote downtown Oshkosh and plan for integration of business, professional development, and residential units. ADJOURNMENT There being no other business to come before the Parking Utility Commission, and upon being duly moved and seconded (Murken, Anderson), the meeting adjourned at 4:58 p.m.