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3.12. SR 01-16-2007 City of Elk River REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Agenda Section Meeting Date Consent January 16, 2007 Item Number 3.12.* Prepared by Catherine Mehelich, Director of Economic Develo ment Reviewed by Scott Clark, Community Development Director Item Description Consider Approval of Downtown Parking Focus Group Membershi Introduction At its November 20,2006 meeting the City Council approved the downtown parking assumptions and recommendations which included the formation of a Downtown Parking Focus Group. The purpose of the focus group is to review and comment on two main issues: 1) Regulatory & administrative changes to the current parking regulations and permitting process. 2) Transition of employee parking to the periphery of downtown. Group discussions of the above issues will be facilitated by the staff representatives. A report and recommendations will be developed by the focus group for the Council's consideration. Discussion The following membership list was developed to ensure representation from each block downtown of existing businesses and representatives from the new developments: . Brick Block - Keith Holme, Kemper Drug . Brick Block - Tamara Ackerman, Avalon Salon . SE Main St. Block - Fred McCoy, McCoy's . SW Main St. Block - Bill Houlton, property owner . SW Main St. Block - Sue Anderson, Sunshine Depot . Bank of Elk River - Pat Dwyer . First National Bank of Elk River - Dave Rymanowski . Jackson Place & Bluffs - Vem Hanson, MetroPlains . Jackson Place & Bluffs - Denny Walsh, commercial broker . HRA representative - Larry Toth . Staff representatives - Staff representatives - Catherine Mehelich Police Chief Beahen . Attachments . November 20,2006 Staff report re: Downtown Parking Analysis . Staff memorandum dated November 28, 2006 re: Downtown Parking Direction C:\Docurnents and Settings\cmeheIich\Desktop\REQUEST COUNCIL ACTION.l.16.07.doc Action Requested Staff recommends the City Council approve the membership for the Downtown Parking Focus Group as listed above. Council Action Motion by _ Second by _ Vote Follow Up C:\Documents and Settings\cmehelich\Desktop\REQUEST COUNCILACTION.1.16.07.doc Item Description Consider Downtown Parkin Item Number 6.1. A. Prepared by Scott Clark, Community Development Director Reviewed by City of Elk River REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Agenda Section Meeting Date Community Development November 20,2006 Introduction On September 18, 2006, the City Council directed staff to prepare a report on parking issues in the downtown area. Attached is a memorandum dated November 15,2006, which frames the issues and can serve as a discussion outline for the Council. Discussion The attached memorandum identifies three distinct redevelopment time periods that need to be addressed, since each phase generates different policy issues. These phases are: Phase I Present time through the completion of the new redevelopment Phase II The time period running from the opening of the new residential units and leasing of the new commercial spaces, which will put additional pressure on downtown parking Phase III The time period that will run from the construction and opening of any future redevelopment project. The purpose of this meeting is to have the Council establish a "series of assumptions" that will serve as a foundation for future parking recommendations, and then develop a working community focus group to establish working solutions. Financial Impact None established at this time. Attachments . Memorandum dated November 14,2006 . Staff Parking Meeting Minutes-October 19, 2006 · Memorandum from Chief of Police Jeff Beahen to Scott Clark Re: Downtown Parking-October 17,2006 . Memorandum from Heidi Steinmetz to HRA Re: Parking Lot Task Force Recommendations-June 6,2005 . Email to Heidi Steinmetz from Wendy Simenson . Downtown Parking Analysis-October 19, 2006 . Downtown Parking Map-October 2006 Action Requested Staff recommends that the City Council establish an advisory focus group, consisting of both existing downtown business owner, representatives from the new redevelopment project, and staff in order to establish long-term parking solutions. In addition, staff is also recommending that the existing downtown parking policies, regarding enforcement and parking permits, be reviewed with possible modifications. . Council Action Motion by _ Second by _ Vote Follow Up S:\Community Development\Scott Clark\Downtown Parking\ll 2006 cc memo.doc MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: Scott Clark, Community Development Director DATE: November 14, 2006 SUBJECT: Consider Downtown Parking Analysis Recommendations Introduction On October 19th and November 13th, 2006 the following staff members met to prepare a report for the CitY Council on parking issues in the downtown area: Scott Clark, Terry Maurer, Jeremy Barnhart, Jeff Beahen, Cathy Mehelich and Heidi Steinmetz. (:Minutes attached) . In discussing parking issues there are three distinct redevelopment/ development phases that need to be addressed. These are as follows: (a diagram map illustrating the same is attached.) . Phase I-present time through next summer/fall when all of the existing new construction is complete. The City is currently having all contractor parking occurring on the north side of Highway 10 which appears to be working well. The primary parking stress appears to be on employee parking and from time to time, contract parking, but overall customer parking seems to be adequate. . Phase II- this time period will run from the opening of the new residential units, and more importantly, the opening of the new commercial spaces in the Jackson Place and the Bluffs of Elk River projects ( summer of 2007 running until full lease up which could take two years). As this time period progresses new customer and residential parking demands will compete with the existing commercial and office employee parking demands. The lots across from Highway 10 will be open at this time to customer and employee parking. . Phase III-this time period will run from the construction and opening of any future redevelopment project (which could be new construction or the repositioning of an existing business into a more intensive land use from a parking perspective.) Downtown Parking Recommendations November 15, 2006 Page 2 Phase I Issues Current issues center on parking enforcement policies and the strong demand for employee parking permits (currently approximately 340 active permits are in place for the available 87 King Ave. employee parking stalls). It is anticipated that the Bank of Elk River parking lot could be complete by early 2007 which would free up some demand in the King Ave lot. StatfRecommendations 1) Immediately stop issuing any more employee and resident parking permits for the King Ave. lot until #2 below is completed. 2) Chief of Police Jeff Beahen lead a team (composition to be determined) to review existing policies (specific to enforcement and permitting) and develop advisory modifications to the same. As part of this meeting's discussion staff is seeking Council's desire to review these items and to establish any broad guidelines that should serve as a framework for discussion (e.g. abandoned vehicles and level of enforcement). Phase II Issues Staff is of the opinion that before any solutions for future physical parking modifications, infrastructure improvements, or related parking concerns can be developed, key assumptions need to be agreed upon. Put in another way, the City council needs to agree on what problems needs to be solved for. The following is a list of issues and observations that the group discussed that can serve as a source of reference for the Council's discussion. The central policy issue for the Council is "what is the City's obligation to provide public parking, at what cost, where, what percentage, etc.?" based on the changing demands. 1) The demand on downtown parking has shifted from a high demand for customer parking to employee parking. This has been caused by a number of past customer driven businesses, i.e. grocery, hardware, theatre, and variety stores being "replaced" by office users such as financial centers, banks and conversions of buildings to small office space. 2) Due to the phenomena listed in item #1 the King Avenue parking lot has become primarily an employee lot with a ratio of 1.5 employee stalls for every customer stalls. (In addition, there are nine residential stalls for a grand total of 151 stalls.) 3) In most downtowns, a centrally located public parking lot is usually held for customer usage and employees park on the periphery of downtown. Does the council agree that this should happen and be a primary focus for future parking modifications? During Phase II the lots located north of Hwy 10 will be freed up from contractor parking. If the Council desires to move employees to the north side of Hwy 10 safety considerations and modifications will need to be made (Historically, the City once sold parking permits to downtown employees to park in this location). S: \Community Development\Scott Clark\parking paper. doc Downtown Parking Recommendations November 15,2006 Page 3 4) There is an expectation by downtown merchants that customers should be able to park near their establishments. As the vitality of downtown increase this expectation does not seem to be a realistic goal. 5) There are a number of dynamic tensions that results in parking frustrations, some of these can be addressed and some cannot. An example of this principle is that some businesses have private parking and others do not, meaning that they have to rely on the City "providing" parking for their customers, as opposed to those who pay to access private lots (i.e. Sunshine Depot block). 6) The creation of the new commercial spaces (20,000 sq. ft.) will result in not only an increased demand for parking but potentially could create relationship issues between existing owners and new owners. The two new projects are projected to have. only about 40% of their commercial parking needs met on site. Staff views that it is critical to factor in a future parking load demand not only for the commercial but also the residential. With almost 100 new residential units (built at 50% on site parking per the City's old zoning requirements but reduced to 1.25 per new standards) it seems reasonable to expect that some type of overnight public parking will be needed, from time to time, for guests. 7) Parking demands at times will spike during the evenings or on weekends depending on activities at the new park. 8) What is the proper number of parking stalls for downtown? Should the City's goals be to satisfy only a "full capacity" factor, or should the City have a "bounce factor", e.g. 25% over a typical full capacity to ensure adequacy for special events, perception and allowance for new business and other market opportunities? StatfRecommendations 1) Council's modifications and agreement on the above assumptions. 2) An advisory focus group be assembled to discuss the actual solutions and develop recommendations to the City Council. Staff further recommends that the advisory group consist of both existing downtown business owners and representatives of the new redevelopment projects, and staff. The group's singular task would be to develop parking solutions based on the Council's assumptions, and eventually to have the same incorporated into the Comprehensive Downtown Redevelopment Plan, for Council's future action. Phase III Staff has explored the preliminary design and cost for a parking ramp to be constructed at the King Ave lot. City Engineer Terry Maurer estimates a parking ramp could cost in a range of $15,000 to $20,000 per stall. Additional factors to be considered: cost to acquire, S: \Community Development\Scott Clark\parking paper.doc Downtown Parking Recommendations November 15, 2006 Page 4 relocate and remove existing businesses and buildings in order for a ramp to be designed efficiently. Staff Recommendations- Phase III issues can be addressed through: 1) The Downtown Redevelopment Plan Task Force that is currently being supported by the City Council and the Housing and Redevelopment Authority. 2) The specifics of future redevelopment agreements, modifications to City regulations and/ or conditions attached to a land use planning application. S: \Community DeveIopment\Scott Clark\parking paper.doc MEMORANDUM TO: Lori Johnson, City Administrator FROM: Scott Clark, Community Development Director DATE: November 28, 2006 SUBJECT: Downtown Parking Direction Based on the direction from the City Council's November 20,2006 meeting regarding "downtown parking" staffhad intended to proceed as follows, unless modifications to the same are presented back to staffby the Council: 1) Establish Cathy Mehelich, Economic Development Director, as staff lead for a downtown focus group. 2) Establish a focus group consisting of both existing downtown merchants and representatives from MetroPlains (staffwill be attempting to get representatives from each block). 3) Focus group membership would be confirmed by the Council via a consent . Council action item. 4) The focus group would review and comment on two main items. The first, regulatory and administrative changes to the current parking regulations and permitting process. These changes would be presented to the group by Jeff Beahen, Chief 6fPolice, and it is anticipated that these could be brought back to the Council in a February/March time period. 5) The second focus would be on the transition of employee parking to the periphery of downtown. The assumption of the group (based on Council direction) is that the transition would not have to occur for a minimum of 18 months and that the dynamic, causing the change, will be the additional employee and customer parking demand placed on downtown by the new Jackson Place and the Bluff of Elk River commercial space lease-up. Since this is not an immediate "time- sensitive event" it was anticipated that solutions for this transition would come back to the Council in a Marchi April time period. 6) In addition to employee parking the focus group would look at potential issues associated with overnight parking for residents and guests associated with the new developments. 7) Additional information regarding parking ramp costs will be developed, but based on Council discussion, a ramp would not be considered as an intermediate S:\Community Development\Scott Clark\2006 CC memos\Parking Memos.doc solution (2 to 4 years out) but rather a potential solution at the time that downtown becomes more fully redeveloped. It will be the intention of the "solutions report" to identify all of the issues associated with the ramp (i.e. additional areas needed to be purchase, costs, maintenance, capital reserves, payment methods etc. ) so that if the Council elects to proceed at some time in the near future a solid base of understanding has been established. Cc: Cathy Mehelich Jeff Beahen Terry Maurer Heidi Steinmetz Jeremy Barnhart S:\Conununity Development\Scott Clark\2006 CC memos \Parking Memos.doc