TITLE: Title
Public Hearing on the Parking Study and Associated Recommendations
PURPOSE: The purpose of this agenda item is for the Board of Aldermen to receive public comment on the findings and associated recommendations of the parking study and to consider adopting the document as the Town's Parking Plan.
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DEPARTMENT: Planning
CONTACT INFORMATION: Christina Moon - 919-918-7325; Patricia McGuire, 919-918-7327; Timothy Tresohlavy - 919-741-5506
INFORMATION: In November 2015, the Town entered into a contract with VHB Engineering, a transportation planning firm out of Raleigh, to prepare a parking plan with a focus on the downtown. The purpose of the plan was twofold. First, to evaluate supply: how much parking is currently needed and how much will likely be needed in the next five-to-ten years. Second, to provide guidance as to what role, if any, the Town should play in providing and managing parking; if it is determined that the Town should play a role in providing parking, what would be an appropriate metric for the Town to utilize the payment in-lieu parking provisions in the Land Use Ordinance (Section 15-292.1)?
The scope of work for the project included a substantial data collection effort to ensure that any recommendations would be based on actual data-counts-rather than perceptions. Acknowledging the importance of personal experiences, however, the project included a survey, public meetings and other outreach/input sessions, including meetings with the business community. VHB also met with representative groups of local businesses (identified on the basis on their availability of on-site parking), toward the end of the project to compare its findings with the business owners regular observations and experiences.
Since the initiation of the parking study, the Board of Aldermen has received four presentations on the project. 1) Timothy Tresohlavy, with VHB, provided a report of the initial findings from the field data collection on Ap...
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