2008 Parking Study Final Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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ii more. Both of these groups are a problem, because they are not using the two-hour spaces as intended. Although these are a relatively small proportion of the vehicles, their all-day presence gives them a disproportionate impact on parking occupancy. At the busiest times of day, more than 30% of the two- hour spaces are occupied by these people. Without them, occupancy of the two-hour spaces would not have exceeded 75% at any time. Data confirms the suspicion that commuters (or other long-stay visitors) are creating a problem for short-stay visitors. The Stakeholder Group agreed that there should be a goal to encourage commuters out of the two-hour spaces, to free-up the supply for shoppers and visitors. There are easily enough spaces vacant in downtown to accommodate these commuters if they switch from two-hour spaces to other on-street or off-street spaces. The potential concerns have been about the cost penalty (if they switch to off-street spaces) or time penalty (if they switch to either off-street spaces or peripheral on- street spaces). The time penalty of commuters parking further out is not a major issue. Already people are using time to look for a space, and/or to shuffle; this would be replaced with walk time. The cost penalty is a potential issue for some people (such as restaurant wait staff on lunchtime shifts). In addition, the longer the walk from the core area, the more conscious pedestrians are of security. Some businesses reportedly cannot afford to pay their staff to park. The ideal is to provide a free peripheral parking lot, but it has not yet been possible to identify a suitable site. However, there are currently vacant on-street spaces allowing free all-day parking, at the southern edge of the study area. Future DevelopmentsFuture DevelopmentsFuture DevelopmentsFuture Developments Planned downtown development are forecast to generate demand for approximately 1,700 parking spaces during a typical business day. This growth cannot be accommodated solely within the approximately 800 currently available spaces in the public off-street lots. As described above, some private lots may be suitable for public parking, 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. Recommended OnRecommended OnRecommended OnRecommended On----Street Parking PlanStreet Parking PlanStreet Parking PlanStreet Parking Plan The Stakeholder Group recommends that the City should retain the current policy of free on-street parking. The spaces should, however, follow a simpler, more understandable pattern of zones with corresponding time limits, shown in Figure ES-1 below. This should include: · A Core Zone with the emphasis on business loading needs, short visits to businesses (one- hour parking) and accessible (ADA) spaces. · An Inner Zone with the emphasis on two-hour parking, serving shoppers and other downtown customers and visitors. Loading, ADA and one-hour spaces should be provided where these are needed in specific locations. · An Outer Zone with the emphasis on unrestricted parking. Loading, ADA and two-hour spaces should be provided where these are needed in specific locations. New categories of loading space are proposed, to reflect the traffic impact of commercial vehicle loading as well as the fact that more loading spaces are required in the morning than in the afternoon. The proposed categories are: · Loading all day until 6pm (as per current designation of loading spaces). · Loading all day until 6pm, then drop-off after 6pm. · Loading until 11am, then one-hour parking until 6pm. · Loading with Business Loading Permit all day until 6pm. · Loading with Business Loading Permit until 11am, then one-hour parking until 6pm.