DATE: March 22, 2016
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Director of Public Works
SUBJECT
Title
Downtown Parking Management Pilot Program- Authorization to Accept MTC Parking Management Grant, Authorizing the City Manager to Execute the Agreement and Appropriation of Funds
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RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
That Council adopts the attached resolution:
1. Accepting the grant award from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) for a Pilot Downtown Parking Management Program;
2. Authorizing the City Manager to execute an agreement with MTC to implement the Pilot Program; and
3. Appropriating $100,000 for this project in the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) Fund.
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BACKGROUND
In fall of 2014, Hayward staff was notified that BART would begin implementation of paid parking at the Hayward BART station. In response, staff developed various short term strategies to mitigate potential impacts to the Downtown parking areas.
Apart from the interim strategies that were implemented, it was recognized that long-term, comprehensive parking policies would be critical to the growth and development of the Downtown area. Hayward was one of a limited number of local agencies selected by MTC to participate in a comprehensive evaluation of parking policies in the nine county Bay Area region. Staff took advantage of this regional effort as a mechanism to jump start a more focused assessment of Downtown parking needs by utilizing the data gathered from MTC’s sanctioned study and developed long-term strategies.
In the interim, city staff was successful in obtaining a grant from MTC to implement Phase 1 of the Pilot Parking Program as briefly described below. The grant amount of $438,000 ($100,000 in City local match) covers the purchase of pricing and enforcement technology, education programs, and wayfinding signage.
At the February 23, 2016 City Council meeting, staff asked Council to review and comment on proposed long-term parking demand management strategies for Downtown Hayward as part of the focused evaluation. Staff recommended the following components for Council’s consideration:
• A one-year pilot program initiating on-street priced parking in the corridor of highest demand along B Street from Foothill Blvd to Montgomery.
• Utilize multi-space pay stations, mobile payment, and License Plate Recognition (LPR) technology for payment collection and enforcement.
• Provide a series of educational materials explaining existing conditions, parking options available, and why priced parking and permits have been adopted.
• Initiate a coordinated wayfinding system to more easily direct visitors to free public parking lots.
• Time restricted parking should continue along A Street, B and C streets west of Grand Street, D Street, and Foothill Blvd.
• Free parking for merchants and employees in the downtown and a Residential Preferential Parking (RPP) program for residents in downtown.
DISCUSSION
Implementation of paid parking is the major component of the grant received from MTC. If the pilot program component related to paid parking is not adopted/implemented, the City will have to forfeit the grant. This would result in the loss of the metered technology. It will limit the City’s ability to purchase enforcement technology (license plate recognition hardware/software), provide educational and outreach efforts, pay for staffing to manage the pilot program, and wayfinding signage due to funding constraints.
On February 23, 2016, Council expressed many concerns related to implementing paid parking in the B Street corridor as part of the Phase 1 pilot program. Priced parking as proposed from Foothill to Montgomery (74 total spaces) was not viewed as being advantageous at this time.
Aware of these concerns, staff worked with its consultant team to devise a strategy that would follow Council’s directives, yet fall within the overall framework of MTC’s Parking Management grant guidelines. To that end, in reviewing the City’s application and in informal discussions with MTC, there was nothing implicitly stating that a modified tiered pricing strategy could not be implemented. Specifically, it was acknowledged that a pricing structure with the first hour of free (or nominal charge) parking would fall within the parameters of MTC’s intended outcome. In general, this would allow visitors to Downtown the ability to park on B Street free of charge for one hour. The second, third, and subsequent hours would progressively see an increase in parking fees charged.
A modified pricing approach will continue to allow free parking for all quick trips to B Street. In order to track the entire parking session, visitors will need to “check-in” via the mobile app (ParkMobile or PaybyPhone ) or the parking kiosk (pay by plate/pay on foot paystation). Drivers choosing to use the mobile app option would be required to first register on-line prior to utilizing this feature. Once registered, simply clicking the app upon arrival in the designated parking stalls would initiate the process.
A graduated/progressive pricing system will be applied in absence of time limits to encourage turnover after the first hour of free parking. As an example, a graduated pricing system can be adopted as follows:
Note, that this is conceptual only. Council will have the opportunity to review and discuss pricing options in detail when the draft of the final report is presented in the fall. This approach has several benefits:
• Accommodating short shopping trips, but discouraging long-term parking or re-parking on B Street.
• Incentivizing turnover, increasing the number of possible users, and increasing potential sales for local merchants
• Opening up prime parking spaces without completely removing the market for those seeking to park as long as they need within the corridor.
• Discourages long-term parking by BART commuters by making all day parking cost-prohibitive.
• Encourages price sensitive parkers such as employers/employees to park off-street.
This is a one-year pilot project. At the end of one year, Council will have the option to sunset the program or extend it indefinitely. The technology purchased will be the City’s to retain regardless of this decision. Even if Council chooses not to accept the MTC grant, the City can move forward with formalizing time restrictions in the Downtown area as a method of parking management and implementation of both employee/employer and residential parking permits.
If Council decides to authorize the City Manager to proceed with implementing the pilot pricing program along the B Street corridor as discussed, MTC is requiring that all grantees adopt a resolution formally accepting the grant no later than April 1, 2016. That required Resolution is attached and staff is requesting Council approval at this meeting.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
Any revenues generated by the pilot program would be reinvested into the parking program to offset the on-going operations and maintenance and enforcement costs to support the policies set forth in the Parking Management Plan. If in the future priced parking management were to extend beyond the proposed Phase 1 B Street corridor, excess meter revenue could be used to reinvest in the Downtown area for needed public improvements.
FISCAL IMPACT
The City has been approved for a total of $438, 000 ($338,000 grant request) through the MTC Parking Management and TDM Grant Program. Hayward is required to provide a match of 22.8% or $100,000. If Council chooses to accept this grant, an appropriation of $100,000 is also needed, which is currently provided for in the Capital Improvement Projects fund, Fund # 405.
Although enforcement is a critical piece of this program and a major component of eventual success, it is not possible to estimate the potential revenue and expenses at this time. During the pilot program, staff will test various enforcement models and gain a much better sense of both revenue and expenses associated with robust, consistent enforcement. The aspect of enforcement, its implications, and its impacts will be dealt with in detail in the draft final report.
PUBLIC CONTACT
A key component of the MTC grant is education and outreach to the community. As such, one or more “how-to” community workshops will be conducted. It is important to stress that the purpose of the program is to manage the parking on B Street to make it more available for people who want to park for quick trips, and to find off-street parking for employees or those who need to park for longer.
Prior to the February 23, 2016 Council meeting, staff presented results of the preliminary parking analysis to the Council Economic Development Committee (CEDC) on April 6, 2015.
In October 2015, staff solicited comments from visitors to the Downtown area on a Friday night and a Saturday during the Farmers Market via survey; 134 surveys were completed. In addition, a more detailed survey was posted on-line on the city’s website, Facebook page, the social network Nextdoor, and disseminated via e-mail. Approximately 840 on-line surveys were filled out and submitted.
Following the February 23, 2016 Council meeting, staff was contacted by the Hayward Chamber of Commerce and invited to present the Parking Management strategies to downtown merchants that were presented to Council. That meeting is tentatively set to occur in April.
NEXT STEPS
A draft of the final report will be presented to Council for review and possible adoption in the Fall of 2016. There are three critical components of the draft of the final report:
• A more robust discussion and analysis of the proposed tiered-pricing strategy; which will allow Council to review and discuss various pricing options with the implicit understanding that the first hour of parking in the corridor be free;
• A detailed financial analysis outlining revenues, capital needs, and operating costs for a more robust parking management and enforcement component. This effort will outline the steps necessary to combine parking enforcement and management activities citywide relative to necessary staffing, anticipated revenues, and operating/capital outlays. Specifically, combining the citywide RPP program with the Downtown RPP and the South Hayward JPA, making it the focal point of the analysis.
• The potential creation of a more formal parking management and enforcement component within the municipal organization; and outline costs and anticipated revenues associated with such a coordinated enforcement effort.
Prepared by: Fred Kelley, Transportation Manager
Staff contact
Recommended by: Morad Fakhrai, Director of Public Works
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Approved by:
Fran David, City Manager
Attachments:
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Attachment I |
Resolution - Acceptance of Grant Award and Authorization for the City Manager to Execute Agreement |