Should Council Proceed With Task Force to Assess Parking Issues?

Last September, the Davis City Council, recognizing a divide on the issue of using RDA (Redevelopment Agency) funds to construct a new parking garage, directed staff to implement a series of parking and access improvements in the downtown, even as it continued with preliminary design efforts for a mixed-use structure on the city parking lot on the 3^rd and 4^th and E and F Street blocks.

Mayor Joe Krovoza said during last year’s discussion, “I don’t see how we’ve gone through so much work on parking but we have so many unfixed parking problems with regard to our downtown that seem to be low-hanging fruit while at the same time we look to be building an $11 million net and $14 million gross lot.”

He wants to ensure that we utilize existing resources downtown before he would be behind building a new parking structure which he called “such a large investment.”

“No matter  how I look at it, it seems we’re spending money when we have existing resources that we’re not utilizing,” he said.

Council also directed staff to look at the possibility of other sites for additional parking within and adjacent to the downtown.

Staff was to return to the Davis City Council by the end of 2012 with two things.

First, “An updated comprehensive utilization analysis that evaluates effect of new management measures including other management strategies to better utilize existing parking such as comprehensive parking districts, explore what other communities have instituted.”

Second, “Conceptual plans for downtown streetscape improvements and preliminary designs for the mixed-use structure in the 34EF block. Report should include a recommendation on implementation and financing approach(es) for construction and maintenance of the streetscape improvements and the mixed-use structure.”

In an informational item, staff raises the possibility of an ad hoc Downtown Parking Advisory Task Force as a means “to develop informed consent on short, medium, and long-term strategies to improve the condition of downtown parking.”

Staff writes: “The City Council has utilized similar temporary ad hoc advisory groups in the past on topics of broad community interest such as water, transportation, and housing.”

The form that staff suggests would be a group limited to no more than 11 members and include a cross-section of downtown business interests and citywide residents.

Staff additionally recommends that they return to council at the next meeting “with a clearly defined scope to ensure an efficient and effective process that will result in tangible outcomes.”

They also recommend that council members appoint two representatives each and the city manager appoint the eleventh.

In the meantime, staff reports back on the last year of activities.

A considerable effort was put into “wayfinding.”  According to staff, “The City engaged GNU Group to assist in the development of a wayfinding plan with the goal of guiding drivers to parking spaces and visitors to their destinations. A major goal of the effort is to reduce the time drivers spend circling in search of a parking space, which both frustrates the driver and detracts from the pedestrian ambiance of the downtown.”

Staff intends to return to Council later this fall with the design scheme and a funding plan for construction and installation of the signs.  Staff suggests the use of revenue from paid parking to fund the program.

In addition, The Davis Downtown Parking and Transportation Committee discussed changing the time limit for parking on the busiest streets in the core area, from two-hour to 90-minute parking, possibly combined with enforcement past the current 5:00 p.m. cutoff to 6:00 or 7:00 p.m.

Staff writes: “Over 50% of the public parking in downtown has a 2-hr time limit. The peak parking demands in downtown trend around the noon time and evening dining hours. This has intensified with the increase in restaurants due to a convergence of dining customers and the restaurant employees around these hours.

“These changes would make it more difficult for employees who currently move their cars half-way through a four-hour shift. It would also discourage restaurant employees from parking in key on-street spots, because they can now park at 4:00 and remain in the same space for the remainder of the evening.

“While this shorter-term approach seemed to have merit worth further exploration, the committee recommended initiating outreach to the restaurants through the bar owners meetings and business surveys. These efforts are underway,” staff reports.

They also suggest forms of tiered parking fines.  Other cities have tried this and found “there was a small net loss in revenue when this change was made, but the escalating fine structure allowed much of the revenue loss from the free first overtime to be made up with higher fines from the repeat offenders.”

However, their analysis suggested that impacts on Davis would produce a more significant loss in citation revenue if a program were implemented in Davis.

On the utilization of 4^th and G Street Garage: “Staff walked the garage with the owners of the structure and identified a series of improvements to the signage on the interior and exterior of the garage that would increase awareness of the public parking available in the structure. Improvements are anticipated in the coming months. Combined with the wayfinding signage, awareness of the parking garage will be significantly improved.”

They explored paid depot parking, for Capitol Corridor riders who come from other areas and drive to Davis and park in the lot before boarding their trains to the Bay Area.

“Reasons for parking in Davis include both convenience and cost. The Depot lot is usually full on weekdays and therefore not available for Davis residents wishing to catch later trains,” staff writes.

Many of the other stations on the Capital Corridor route, including the Sacramento station, have paid parking. If that’s the case, then this seems like a no-brainer.

The question is whether the city needs a special task force for parking or if the research that staff has conducted, along with existing commissions and committees, is sufficient to gauge the need for additional parking.

For many the issue is not whether we need new parking, but rather where should the city put that parking and whether parking is the best use of the area at 3^rd and 4^th and E and F block.

—David M. Greenwald reporting

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