TITLE: Title
Discussion of a Downtown Parking Summit on Shared Parking
PURPOSE: The purpose of this item is to update the Board on the comments and outcomes of the Downtown Parking Summit meeting that was held on January 31, 2014.
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DEPARTMENT: Economic & Community Development, Planning
CONTACT INFORMATION: Annette Stone (918-7319), Trish McGuire (918-7327)
INFORMATION: Last Fall, Town Staff was receiving reports of concerns from a few local businesses regarding violations of the two hour parking limits in the downtown area. These businesses requested that the Town enforce the two hour limit. In addition, the Town was taking "soft enforcement measures" to discourage park-n-walk users in Town lots due to the new pay for Park and Ride lots. These enforcement efforts fleshed out an underlying issue of a need for employee parking in the downtown.
In an effort to better manage the Town's parking resources, the issue of how to deal with the needs of longer-term parking for business employees arises. Some businesses have requested parking permits from the Town to allow all-day parking for their employees in public lots. This raises several questions including 1) do the employees pay for the parking permit, 2) if not, and it is a free parking permit, this is in direct competition with paid lease lots around town and creates no incentive for employers/employees to pay for parking, 3) if it is paid, how to administer such a program. These are all general questions that arise when considering the Town's position on providing parking for private businesses and it employees.
In an effort to open conversations and facilitate discussions, the Town Staff hosted a Parking Summit at the Century Center on January 31, 2014. There were three 1-1/2 hour sessions where property and business owners were invited to come and discuss parking needs and concerns. There was an effort made to match up those with parking needs with those with parking surplus.
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