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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/02/2002, B 2 - SECOND TIER IMPLEMENTATION AND INVESTIGATION OF THIRD TIER COMPONENTS OF THE DRAFT PARKING AND DOWN council M,-"a Date April 2,2002 j acEnC)A nepoRt "� a C I T Y OF SAN L U I S OBISPO FROM: Mike McCluskey,Director of Public Works Prepared By: Tim Bochum, Deputy Director of Public Works Keith Opalewski, Parking Manager SUBJECT: SECOND TIER IMPLEMENTATION AND INVESTIGATION OF THIRD TIER COMPONENTS OF THE DRAFT PARKING AND DOWNTOWN ACCESS PLAN (PDAP) CAO RECOMMENDATION 1. Receive a progress report on completed Second Tier parking and downtown access activities, review and endorse implementation of remaining Second Tier strategies and programs 2. Review and endorse staff recommendations for implementation, or deferral of Third Tier parking and downtown access activities. 3. Receive status report and approve recommendations for modifications on the differential rate Proxcard and Gold Pass Programs. REPORT-IN-BRIEF In May 2001, staff indicated to Council that we would return, by early 2002, with recommendations and progress reports for implementation of Second Tier items approved as part of the draft Parking and Downtown Access Plan (PDAP). Attachment 1 shows the various Tier levels and their corresponding tasks that were considered by Council on that evening. To date, most of the Second Tier activities have been completed. A few are in progress or have been researched and are no longer rational to pursue. Staff has also reviewed Third Tier level activities and included recommendations to Council for implementation consideration. The majority of Third Tier activities are not doable at this time due to economic, limited resource, or public controversy issues. Third Tier activities include: limiting free parking on Sundays; contracting for vendor services; promotion of trip reduction planning and providing vanpool subsidies; adding additional staff for parking enforcement and trip reduction promotions; and evaluating use of outlying parking lots by downtown employees with connecting shuttle service. Finally, a status report for the differential rate Proxcard has been conducted that reveals no significant change in parking behavior as a result of the higher rate at the Marsh Garage. Gold Pass sales have had a limited success to date and recommendations are being made to improve the program. a- � Council Agenda Report—Second Tier Implementation of draft PDAP Page 2 DISCUSSION On May 1, 2001, the City Council approved the Tier 1 activities of the draft PDAP. These activities were described as "low hanging fruit" because of their non-controversial nature and ability to be implemented quickly. They were considered a good first step to implement the various components of the draft PDAP. At that same May meeting, Council also approved staff recommendations regarding implementation and investigations regarding the Tier 2 level items of PDAP. As part of that approval, staff indicated that the items would return to Council by February 2002 with recommendations or progress reports for each of the Tier 2 items of the draft PDAP. Staff was also directed to return with recommendations for increasing the parking in-lieu fees charged to new downtown development to better reflect the cost of developing a space in the downtown. On January 22, 2002, Council considered a number of options for increasing parking in-lieu fees and approved new rates of$1.1,000 for new development and$2,750 for use changes. Second Tier PDAP Activities The second phase of parking and downtown access activities includes the following: a. Reduce the monthly parking pass costs for high-occupancy vehicles. b. Improve bicycle access to the downtown. c. Establish an advertising program for downtown Parking Demand Reduction (PDR) activities. d Encourage the County to establish a trip reduction program like the City's. e. Increase 2-hour parking in commercial core and limit long-term parking. f. Increase long-term parking at periphery of downtown for employees. g. Work with Downtown Association (DA) to establish program for discouraging habitual violators of curbside parking spaces.. To date a number of the above mentioned activities have been either completed or are in- progress.. a. Reduce monthly parking pass costs for high-occupancy vehicles. (Completed) The City provides free parking within parking garages for registered carpools with three or more occupants. Per Council direction preferential carpool spaces have been established in the Palm Street garage, which has two reserved spaces. As Council will recall, staff proposed to provide limited reserved vanpool parking at the rear of the Palm Street Garage. However, because of the size (height and length) of the vanpool vehicles, they could not be safely accommodated in the outside lot of the garage. Alternative reserved spaces were established at 10-hour meters on the 800 block of Mill behind the ATT building. Two official vanpool spaces have been signed for reserved parking and have been highly used by vanpool vehicles during weekdays. The vanpool "reserved" spaces allows them to forgo the normal parking space hunt on a daily basis. Council Agenda Report.—Second Tier Implementation of draft PDAP Page 3 Additional spaces for both carpools and vanpools will be established as the demand increases and vanpool vehicles in the Downtown identify the need for parking space location. b. Improve Bicycle Access to the Downtown. (Ongoing) (1) The Bicycle Boulevard on Morro Street from Santa Barbara Street to the downtown is in the final planning phase with an anticipated schedule to be reviewed by ARC and the Council during the months of April and May. Once the concept plans are approved, the project should be able to be bid within four months. State grant funds are partially available to pay for this project, which will include the closure of the south end of Morro Street and the installation of a traffic signal at the Santa Barbara/Upham intersection. Project benefits will also include improved vehicle access to the City's newly established Railroad Transportation Center on the south side of Santa Barbara Street. (2) As part of the Foothill temporary Bailey Bridge project, the.City has purchased a pedestrian bridge that will be able to be permanently placed over Stenner Creek at Montalban Street. This project will enable a cross connection between the Santa Rosa and Chorro Street corridors and provide an alternative, less-trafficked route for bicyclists and pedestrians to the downtown. (3) Railroad Bicycle Path Phase H. The City has just completed construction on Phase II of the Railroad Bicycle Path that completes the section between the Jennifer Street Overpass and the Phase I path. This path now links areas southeast of the railroad track and the Johnson Avenue area with Downtown. c. Establish an Advertising Program for Downtown PDR Activities. (Ongoing) The FY 2001-03 Financial Plan has budgeted $20,000 per year for Parking Demand Reduction activities, programs and marketing. For FY 2001-02, $19,600 of this money was budgeted for the Gold Pass program. If Council approves the continuation of the Gold Pass program as recommended in this report, the majority of that money will be carried into FY 2002-03. However, staff believes that implementing an aggressive marketing of the City's parking program and available PDR alternative should be started in order to prepare for some of the construction disruptions that will occur due to the Copeland-Court Street project and the County Government Center construction. The success of any particular PDR activity depends on information and encouragement reaching the prospective participants — namely downtown employees, and that it be provided on an ongoing basis. How these activities are advertised and promoted can take a variety of forms. Strategies that make direct and meaningful contact with intended participants, in combination with more traditional methods (newsletters, TV and radio advertising, occasional promotional events, program brochures, etc.), will be evaluated. Consultant services may be required to complete this task, depending on the participation of other affected organizations (Ride-on a-3 Council Agenda Report—Second Tier Implementation of draft PDAP Page 4 Transportation, Chamber of Commerce, SLO Downtown Association (SLODA), Rideshare Coordinator, etc.). Recommendation: That staff begin a marketing and advertising effort for PDR,parking program and transit pass promotion as budgeted in the FY 2001-03 Financial Plan. d Encourage the County to establish a trip reduction program similar to the City's program. (Ongoing) About three years ago the City Council established the Trip Reduction Incentive Program ('TRIP) that is applicable to the City government's workforce. This program has been successful in increasing employee use of alternative transportation. The City Administrative Officer has already.distributed a copy of the City's TRIP Program guidelines to David Edge, County Administrative Officer and requested that this item be considered as part of the County's efforts to expand its administrative office complex. Mr. Edge has indicated that the County has initiated a trip reduction program on a pilot basis and is now applying for grant funding to continue the program. Staff will periodically update Council on progress the County is making to pursue this program goal. In addition, as part of construction mitigation for the new County Government Center, the County is pursuing a number of PDR activities to lessen parking impact of that project..Some of these are described on pages 6 and 7 of this report. e. Increase 2-hour parking in the commercial core and limit long-term parking (Completed) This activity has already been accomplished. Long-term parking spaces have generally been relegated to the periphery of the commercial core and adjoining mixed-use office districts. f. Increase long-term parking at the periphery of the downtown for employees. (Ongoing) Meter Conversion. There continues to be some areas outside the commercial core (such as southern segments of Higuera Street south of Nipomo Street) where curb parking is lightly used and the meters limit parking to two hours. Staff has looked at utilization on lower Higuera (500 block), and portions of 500 and 400 Marsh Street. The 1100 block of Monterey is.another street that can be converted to additional long-term parking spaces. These areas are prime locations to provide mixed-use (10-hr, 2-hr, and 30-min.) parking to serve the short-term, mid-term, and long-term parking needs of both customers and nearby employees. The intent is to increase the number of 10-hour metered spaces to provide additional employee parking at under used locations (Attachments 2-2A) so some of the existing short-term spaces will be maintained while others will be converted to 10-hr meters. Approximately 45 meters will be converted to 10-hour meters. New Meter Installation. New 10-hour meter installation is also recommended to better manage on-street parking. The 900 block of Toro (between Monterey and Palm) is currently an open parking area adjacent to 10-hour meters on 1100 Palm Street. Adding 10-hour meters on this block will provide 15 more controlled parking spaces in the immediate area. These spaces can Council Agenda Report—Second Tier Implementation of draft PDAP Page 5 serve the County as well as nearby private businesses. The 1100 block of Carmel (between Higuera and Marsh) is currently unmetered 2-hour parking. Staff proposes this block be metered with 30-minute and 2-hour meters to provide better parking management of the block. Ten new meters can be installed on this block. Overall, approximately 45 spaces will be changed and 25 spaces will be metered to provide more parking opportunities for employees on the southern and northern periphery of the downtown. This area is within the current parking meter zone boundary and therefore can be implemented without further administrative process. These types of meter modifications are delegated to staff under the current Parking Management Plan as long as they are contained within the current Parking Meter Zone. Prior to actual implementation of these types of changes, staff notifies property owners and tenants of the proposed improvements and requests feedback regarding their effectiveness or impact. g. Work with the Downtown Association (DA) to establish a program for discouraging habitual violators. (Ongoing) A central performance requirement of any parking management program is that parking spaces in high demand areas (those in the commercial core) turn over and provide access to downtown patrons. Motorists who are habitual violators of time limits adversely impact the availability of parking. As a result, staff surveyed other cities to determine what type of programs they have implemented to deal with habitual offenders. The results are detailed in Attachment 4 and summarized below. Essentially most survey cities have a limited program of either towing or booting habitual offenders that have more than five outstanding citations, which is the California Vehicle Code requirement. Some cities don't even do this and just collect the outstanding citations with the vehicle registration. So, our problem is not unique in that all cities have habitual offenders and they are dealt with pretty much on a universal level set by state law. Recommendation: That staff continue to work with DA, the Chamber of Commerce and other interested stakeholders to develop ways to discretely target habitual parking citation offenders and encourage long-term parking at low activity parking locations. Next Step---Tier 3 Activities It is important to reiterate that the PDAP has not been adopted by the Council as the guiding document for parking management for the City. Instead, the currently adopted Parking Management Plan —199.1 and Circulation Element - 1994, are the official documents that establish policies and programs for parking management. While some of the PDAP Third Tier programs and policies are contained within those documents, some are not, and as such could be considered conflicting with those documents. Therefore, until such time as the PDAP is officially adopted, pursuit or adoption of these conflicting programs could be construed as not compatible with our existing planning and programming documents. One option that the Council may want to consider, particularly because many of the Third Tier components are long-range and controversial, is to not pursue them on an individual basis and instead, direct staff to update the existing Parking Management Plan (PMP) and incorporate the a-s Council Agenda Report—Second Tier Implementation of draft PDAP Page 6 various PDAP recommendations for programs and policies into that document. Under this scenario, staff would review all issues pertaining to the PMP on a periodic basis and not just the PDR and revenue enhancing issues as currently being done with the draft PDAP. While an update of the PMP may in itself be problematic, staff believes that this may be a more prudent path particularly if the Planning Commission or some other committee begins to focus on the specific issues of access to the Downtown. As shown in Attachment 1, there remain a number of programs and tasks in the final Tier of PDAP activities that have not been implemented. These activities have been identified as the more controversial activities and would need the greatest amount of funding to implement. The next step in the process of implementing the various components of the draft PDAP would the next level of Tier .3 activities along with their fiscal and workload impacts. The Third Tier activities of the draft PDAP consist of the following measures: 1. Provide vanpool subsidies for downtown employees 2. Contract with vendor for downtown employee trip reduction planning and vanpool services 3. Evaluate the use of outlying parking lots by downtown employees with connecting shuttle 4. Amend codes to require PDR activities for new development 5. Provide sufficient staff to enable enhanced parking enforcement 6. Respond to citizen proposals to establish Residential Parking Districts in the neighborhoods adjoining the downtown. 7. Limit free parking on Sundays to AM only 8. Establish a program for DA financial participation in the parking program Staff is not recommending that any of the Tier 3 level activities be fully implemented at this time. However, because each of these activities is currently applicable to the status of Downtown parking, and some are currently being worked on, a description of their status and in some cases, recommended next steps, is provided for Council consideration. Each of these activities has been grouped by their PDAP component. Parking Demand Reduction 1. Establish vanpool fare subsidies for downtown employees No program for South County employees exist, but for North County employees this measure is partially provided through the County Rideshare Office in cooperation with Ride-On, Inc. by offering reduced fares for vanpool participants during the Cuesta Grade Project. This has been a very successful program — most likely due to its very high subsidy level. However, once the Cuesta Grade is completed the special funding for this subsidy will be eliminated and new monies will need to be identified. Air Pollution Control District funding is one possible source for an ongoing source of funds however, no funding has been determined to date and it is not known if the subsidy program will continue past construction. a-� i Council Agenda Report—Second Tier Implementation of draft PDAP Page 7 Recommendation: Staff will continue to work with SLOCOG, the DA, the Chamber, downtown employers and other jurisdictions to investigate ways,to continue some form of North County program and maybe start a South County program. Z Contract with vendor for downtown employee trip reduction planning and vanpool services Some of this activity is already provided by Ride-On through their Transportation Choices (TC) program. However, a continued funding source for the TC program has not yet been obtained and the program does not specifically target the Downtown area. As such, participation in the program by Downtown businesses has been lukewarm, If Council opts to pursue this PDAP activity an RFP process would need to be pursued and Ride-On or some other vendor would be solicited to provide this service. This process could be accomplished under the existing workload with little impact to other services. Staff believes that providing adequate service levels for this activity would result in an annual required budget of$40,000. Recommendation: Continue to work with Ride-On, APCD, Rideshare and other entities to investigate potential programs and their funding opportunities. 3. Evaluate the use of outlying parking lots by downtown employees with connecting shuttle service. A pilot program for this service will actually be initiated in April when the Downtown Transfer Center (DTC) begins construction. This will close the City Hall lot for approximately two months forcing city employees to seek other alternatives. Two satellite-parking areas (Railroad Transfer Center and Santo Rosa Park)have been identified as park&ride lots for city employees. Those employees who use the lots will be issued a free bus pass to use on city transit vehicles that will serve as the shuttle on the existing timetable for the routes that service the lots. The County currently is offering a shuttle service to its employees from the Vets Hall on Grand to the Courthouse. Ride-On is providing the shuttle vehicles for this service, which will be in place through the two-year construction project for the new county building. Both of these programs provide an excellent opportunity to evaluate their effectiveness on a trial basis as a prelude to see if a permanent park & ride lot and shuttle service should be established. In the interim, staff would explore possible sites that could be targeted for future use. Recommendation: Monitor the DTC and County programs and evaluate their effectiveness.. Return to Council with recommendations if these programs demonstrate merit in providing satellite-parking services for the Downtown. a- 7 Council Agenda Report–Second Tier Implementation of draft PDAP Page 8 4.Amend building and zoning codes to require PDR activities for new development This measure is a broad based approach to require new development to incorporate a trip reduction program as part of their project discretionary approval by the City. This is a long-range goal, which will require more research before draft code changes can be considered. Recommendation: Staff will continue to investigate this issue and discuss options with various community groups and stakeholders to determine the feasibility and timing of this component. In the interim and as part of the environmental review process, individual projects will be reviewed on a project by project basis for their need to provide PDR programs to mitigate parking impacts on the Downtown and other parking sensitive areas of the City. Parking Management S. Provide sufficient staff to enable enhanced parking enforcement This measure would require adding parking enforcement staff to provide better parking enforcement. Staff would like to recommend the creation of a position that would have a dual purpose—parking enforcement and parking demand reduction activities. It is envisioned that the position would work half time for enforcement duties and the other half coordinating service contracts to help promote and educate potential users of alternative transportation opportunities on an ongoing basis. This position could also work towards promotion of PDR activities as mentioned in Task 2 above. However, because of current budget issues and financial uncertainty due to potential State takeaways, staff does not believe it prudent to recommend this position at this time even though funding for the position is available in the Parking Fund or through increased revenue from parking citations. The appearance of adding a position(even though funded through non-General Fund monies) at this time when other services may have to be cut due to reduced General Fund revenues is not ideal. Therefore, staff believes that this additional position should be considered when issues of State takeaways and its effect on City resources is known (which, may or may not occur as part of the Financial Plan update for FY 2002-03). Recommendation: Include consideration of additional position, perhaps with the Financial Plan update for FY 2002-03, depending on State actions. 6. Respond to citizen proposals to establish Residential Parking Districts in neighborhoods adjoining the downtown. This measure is normally resident driven and falls under the provisions of the Municipal Code governing the establishment of residential districts on a citywide basis. Council will consider modifications to several Code sections relating to requirements for creating a residential district sometime in April. Any revision(s) would apply to neighborhoods adjoining the downtown. All requests would be considered on a case-by-case basis for any neighborhood. a -� Council Agenda Report—Second Tier Implementation of draft PDAP Page 9 . The largest residential district proposal that is anticipated to commence is a reactivation of the Old Town Residential District proposal for the areas south of Pismo between Broad Street and Johnson. Council has directed staff to investigate the formation of this district once the Marsh Street Garage expansion project is complete. 7.Limit Free parking on Sundays to morning only The recommendation is to continue to allow free parking. However, Council may wish to allow free parking only up to noon on Sundays and charge for parking from 12pm until 6pm. This would include all parking meters and parking garages. In order to ensure compliance with parking meter payment, parking enforcement would also need to be part of the recommendation. The revenue generated from parking meters, garage fees and parking citations is difficult to accurately project since the City has never charged on Sundays. Any decision to charge on Sundays will require an ordinance change for meter payment on Sundays and adoption of a revised resolution for charging seven days a week in the garages. Recommendation: If Council wishes to pursue this item, direct staff to return with a draft ordinance change for Council's consideration at a later time. 8. Establish a program for DA financial participation in the parking program. Currently DA members do not contribute any direct financial support to the parking program. However, both the DA and the Chamber of Commerce have indicated an interesting exploring other methods of funding parking in the Downtown area. Staff has offered to provide assistance should these organizations wish to move forward in considering alternatives to the in-lieu parking fee. Update Of Proxcard And Gold Pass Programs On May 1, 2001, the City Council approved the First-Tier recommendations for implementing the draft PDAP. Included in the approved measures was the establishment of a differential rate for proximity cards (Proxcards) for the Marsh Street Garage, along with a reduced monthly transit pass (Gold Pass) program for downtown employees. Council directed staff to provide an update of these two programs after they were implemented. A status report of the programs is detailed on Attachment 5. Briefly, neither program has been very successful for the first six months of operation. The ten dollar a month increase for Marsh Street garage proxcards had no impact for changing parking behavior. However, staff placed a cap on new sales for the Marsh Garage, which did cause a sales increase (19 new Proxcards) at the lower priced Palm Garage. Ongoing monitoring will be needed after the completion of the Marsh Garage expansion to truly judge the impact of increasing rates at Marsh Street. As shown in Attachment 5, the Gold Pass program has gotten off to a slow start. The program began in July 2001 and monthly sales have not increased much from 1-2 passes per month with limited repeat sales from the target downtown employee group. A.total of 13 passes have sold through February 2002. Expenditures for the program have been minimal. Approximately $200 a- 9 Council Agenda Report—Second Tier Implementation of draft PDAP Page 10 has been spent subsidizing the bus passes. Marketing costs have been under $1,000. As such, a substantial amount of the $19,800 budget approved by Council for this project remains. Staff believes it important to continue the Gold Pass program. Construction activity in the Downtown will increase dramatically with construction of the County Government Center and the Court Street/Palm Street project. Having the subsidy program in place continues to make sense in offering alternatives to driving to work each day. Staff is recommending that the Gold Pass program remain in effect. Also, because expenditures to date have been minimal, staff is proposing that the subsidy rate be increased for the program to 100% of the monthly cost of the transit passes until the budget is depleted. While this at first will seem like a major increase in project cost there are two specific reasons for the recommendation. First;adequate budget remains to fund this activity for at least six months, which will be past the construction start dates for the Copeland and County project. Secondly, testing this PDAP activity at 100% subsidy rate will give definitive proof whether this activity has merit. Quite simply, if riding the City's bus system for "free" does not get employees on the bus system, then nothing will. As such, if the program proves unsuccessful, when the funding runs out, the program would be discontinued. Recommendation: Continue the Gold Pass program for an additional six months, or until budget monies run out with a full subsidy of$24 per bus pass. CONCURRENCES The Downtown Association has been informed of the recommended strategies for implementing the various Tier Two measures and investigation of Third Tier activities. Their final endorsement is contingent upon what fiscal measures will be ultimately necessary for their implementation. Since, staff is not recommending that any Third Tier activity be implemented at this time, costs to the Parking Fund are revenue neutral. The DA has submitted written correspondence to Council regarding continuation of the Gold Pass program (a copy of which is in the Council Reading File). The DA concurs with staffs recommendation to continue the Gold Pass program, however they recommend that General Fund monies be used to fund the remaining program in lieu of Parking Fund revenues. FISCAL IMPACT Several of the Tier 2 recommendations have fiscal implementations. Expanding parking meters and converting underutilized meters to long-term will produce more meter revenue. Enforcement of the new meter areas will also produce additional citation revenue. Funding a marketing program for Parking Programs, PDR and Gold Pass activities will cost an additional $12,000 per year. Sufficient funds exist in the Parking Fund to cover these costs. a -lD Council Agenda Report–Second Tier Implementation of draft PDAP Page 11_ Although not recommended at this time, increased parking enforcement and PDR follow-up would require additional revenues not currently budgeted. Staff will be reviewing this issue and the ability to create the position as part of the upcoming Financial Plan update and will make funding recommendation, if warranted, at that time. Additional funding may be available through grant monies for ongoing operations of some of the PDR programs and staff will explore these options. ALTERNATIVES The City Council may defer action on one or more of the recommendations and request additional information from staff. ATTACHMENTS—Attachment 1--PDAP Implementation Activities Attachment 2---Meter Expansion Map Attachment 2A-Meter Expansion Map Attachment 3---(Deleted) Attachment 4---City Survey Habitual.Offender Program Attachment 5---Status Report for Proxcard and Gold Pass PDAPsecondtierImplementation V 3 Attachment I PDAP IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES Fiscal Measures: Tier 1 Eliminate the maximum charge limit for garage parking. Tier 1 Reduce free parking in garages from 90 minutes to 60 minutes. Tier 1.5 Increase the in-lieu parking fee charged to new development to better reflect the cost of downtown parking. * Might be ready for introduction within 120 days) Tier 2 Reduce monthly parking ass costs for high-occupancy vehicles. Tier 3 Limit free parking on Sundays to AM only. Tier 3 Establish a program for DA financial participation in the parking program. Parking Demand Reduction Measures: Tier 1 Transit pass subsidies for downtown employees. Tier 1 Advertise the availability of preferential parking spaces in garages for car pools and provide sufficient spaces to meet demand. Tier 2 Improve bicycle access to the downtown. (Note: Morro Street Bike Boulevard is being designed) Tier 2 Establish an advertising program for downtown PDR activities Tier 2 Encourage the County to establish a trip reduction program like the City's(City Administrative staff have already pursued this item). Tier 3 Van Pool fare subsidies for downtown employees. Tier 3 Contract with vendor for downtown employee trip reduction planning and vanpool services. Tier 3 Evaluate the use of outlying parking lots by downtown employees with connecting shuttle service. Tier 3 Amend codes to require PDR activities for new development. Parking Management Measures: Tier 1 Consider increasing parking fines for overtime violations. Tier 2 Increase 2-hour parking in commercial core and limit long-term parking Tier 2 Increase long term parking a periphery of downtown for employees. Tier 2 Work with DA to establish program for discouraging habitual violators. Tier 3 Provide sufficient staff to enable enhanced parking enforcement Tier 3 Respond to citizen proposals to establishResidential Parking Districts in neighborhoods adjoining the downtown Increased Parking Supply Measures: Tier 1 Continue to work with the Copeland brothers on the joint development of the Palm H arlin structure. Tier 1 Continue to discuss with County officials a potential joint parking garage-transit center project east of Santa Rosa Street. Tier 1 =Begin Implementation or continue past Council-authorized efforts Tier 2=Suggested Tier Activities(Review&bring back to CC by November 200 1) Tier 3 =Suggested Tier Activities(Schedule To Be Determined) a-�a Attachment 2 f r ;p .O T �O� ® O ® OP ® Oto O N N N 0 0 7 (2 0 CD � 3 N 0 :3 1w < N_ ° 0 C2-13 r Attachment 2-A 4 • _ \x © . JJjJJJ JJjJJJ �. � oIs0t c ON NNOO (7f � zr C 000000 � N O Cn Cl) < W y Attachment 4 ' 1 PARKING - HABITUAL OFFENDERS CITY SURVEY FEBRUARY 26, 2002 CITY TOW BOOT OTHEWSPECIAL PROGRAMS Berkeley No No No program in place. May start issuing multiple citations to the vehicles who ark all ay. Hermosa_ Beach Yes Yes Boot & tow vehicles with 5 or more citations. Huntington Beach No Response Monterey Yes Yes Boot vehicles with 5 or more citations. After 7-10 days if no response vehicle is towed. Sacramento No Res onse San Jose No No Only do standard "hold" on registration. If not paid with registration then vehicle can be towed for expired registration. Santa Barbara Yes No Habitual offender program called the "HOPE" tow for persons with 5 or more violations. Santa Cruz Yes Yes Boot for 3 days if not paid or claimed then towed. Still have habituals that have been booted and/or towed 6 or 7 times. _ Santa Rosa No Response a �s Attachment 5 Proxcard Program On July 1, 2001, the Proxcard rate was increased by $10 per month ($40 to $50) for the Marsh Street garage only as a means to discourage long-term users of the garage. The Palm Street garage remained at $40 per month as a potential inducement to shift more long-term parkers to this facility. The differential rate Proxcard has had marginal success for changing parking patterns of the Marsh.Street garage long-term users. For the first quarter (July-Sept.) there was virtually no change in parking patterns, with only one Marsh Street garage user shifting to the Palm Street garage as a result of the rate increase. The following table details Proxcard sales at the two garages for the period of July 1 to December 31, 2001. No. Cards Jul.' August September October_ November December Marsh 58 61 61 59 59 59 Palm 155 158 156 162 173 174. Total 213 219 217 221 232 233 As indicated in the above table the number of cards varies from month to month due to users being added or deleted in a given month. Although there has been an increase in Proxcard sales for the Palm Street garage, other factors were placed in motion with the start of construction of the Marsh Street garage expansion in August 2001 that had an effect on garage use. A substantial temporary reduction of parking was created with the loss of the three surface parking lots that existed on the construction site, along with the loss of on-street parking on Morro and Pacific Streets. The garage inventory was further reduced by the contractual agreements with Mission Medical (Tenant) and US Postal Service for providing long-tenon parking for their employees in the Marsh Street garage. This limited capacity resulted in adopting a short-term policy of placing a cap on issuing new Marsh Street garage Proxcards at the beginning of the second quarter(October 2001). As a result of the cap at Marsh Street, the second quarter (Oct.-Dec.) showed a marked increase 'in Palm Street Proxcard sales of 18 new cards (156 cards to 174 cards). While at the same time, Marsh Street sales remained capped at 59 cards paying the higher $50 rate. When potential Proxcard users were queried about their choice of garages, the lower rate at Palm Street was not a major factor for deciding which garage to use. Perhaps the most predominate issue for selecting which garage to use was one of convenience, especially during the garage expansion construction. Convenient parking translated into two categories: 1) distance from place of employment, and 2) ability to readily access the facility throughout the course of the day. For many new users the lack of regaining access to the Marsh Street garage at key hours (11:30am- 2:00pm) presented a stronger motivation for using the Palm Street garage than the cheaper rate. Another factor for employees choosing to park in the Palm Street garage was the time of year with shorter days and inclement weather. Although the differential rate could be considered a factor, the other variables that were introduced at the outset of the program makes it difficult to declare it a true success at this time. Ongoing monitoring, coupled with the completion of the garage expansion, will be needed before a final determination can be made for the current differential rate Proxcard program. Gold Pass Program The Gold Pass program targeted downtown employees to use the SLO Transit system for work trips instead of single occupant automobiles. The program initially considered a buy-down of 25% ($18 vs. $24) for the first three months to determine a baseline number for future comparisons of project success. The target goal was to achieve 100 new monthly gold passes over a 9-month period with a 50%buy down in the monthly pass ($12 vs. $24) after three months of operation. However, because of low response at the kickoff of the program the 50% buy- down was enacted at the outset to help encourage more participation. Even with this accelerated reduction, the Gold Pass program has had a very limited number of participates. The following table details the number of Gold Passes that have been sold since August 2001. August -S tember Oct6b r-`J ember •!_December .'January February #Passes 2 2 1 2 0 1 3 2 1 Repeats 0 0 0 0 1 0 _ 0 Although the 12 passes sold to date are well below the target of 100 passes, considerable effort has taken place to "market" the Gold Pass program. The Downtown Association(DA)published posters and brochures for the Marsh Street garage project and Gold Pass program. The DA hired an intern to conduct a survey to determine the modes of transportation currently used by downtown employees. This information was used to embark on an outreach program that targeted all merchants in the downtown area educating them about the Gold Pass program and other alternative modes of transportation. The Rideshare Office also included the Gold Pass in their radio campaign for promoting use of their services. Additionally, the City prepared a payroll stuffier for downtown merchants to distribute to their employees and conducted follow-up meetings with the larger merchants in the downtown area. More recently, the City has hired an intern to continue ongoing promotion of the program. The next step will be to conduct an employer meeting with the County in an effort .to expand program participation. Staff will provide further updates of the Gold Pass and Proxcard Programs in the future. councilmemoProxcardGoldPass