2008 Parking Study Final Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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14 2.22.22.22.2 Future Developments and Demand GrowthFuture Developments and Demand GrowthFuture Developments and Demand GrowthFuture Developments and Demand Growth 2.2.1 Introduction and Key Points This section examines the potential for increased parking demand arising from future downtown developments, and examines whether that increase can be accommodated within the existing parking supply. · Planned downtown development is forecast to generate demand for approximately 1,700 parking spaces during business hours on a typical weekday. · If all these developments come to fruition, additional parking spaces (and/or travel demand management (TDM) aimed at reducing the parking demand) may be needed in the future. 2.2.2 Future Developments and their Parking Demand Rates Figure 2.4 and Table 2.8 show the anticipated developments in downtown Charlottesville, according to data supplied by the City’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services. The list includes not only developments that are currently in the planning process but also those which are anticipated to begin the planning process in the near future. The table also shows the estimated parking demand (during business hours on a typical weekday) from each project. Wherever possible, the rates given in the Institute of Transportation Engineers’ Report Parking Generation (3rd edition, 2004), which is a widely accepted manual, were used. However, the report’s data are limited, and in some cases expert judgment was required to estimate a suitable demand rate. Because the study area is a downtown with a mixture of uses, the opportunity to walk from one location to another, and substantial transit service, the parking demand is likely to be lower than the rates in the manual. In line with standard practice, a percentage reduction has been applied to the manual rates to reflect this. The 20% reduction used is a typical level for a downtown of this size. As shown in Table 2.8, the total estimated demand growth from the anticipated projects during business hours on a typical weekday is approximately 1,700 spaces. This includes an estimated 600 spaces due to the Water Street lot redevelopment, which is still at an early stage of planning; the redevelopment will itself eliminate more than 200 existing spaces but may include on-site parking, depending on the outcome of the design. The outcome of that site is therefore a key factor influencing future parking needs. The estimated demand growth of approximately 1,700 spaces cannot be accommodated solely within the approximately 800 currently available spaces in the public off-street lots. Some private lots may be suitable for public parking if owners have available spaces and see a market, but this may not be enough to accommodate the remainder of the forecast demand growth. If all the forecast developments come to fruition, additional parking spaces (and/or travel demand management (TDM) aimed at reducing the parking demand) may therefore be needed in the future.