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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/03/2016 Work Session City of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY OCTOBER 3,2016 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room,225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, October 3, 2016 at 6:15 p.m.,with Mayor Lundberg presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Lundberg and Councilors Wylie,Moore,Woodrow and Pishioned. Also present were Acting City Manager Anette Spickard, City Attorney Mary Bridget Smith, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. Councilors VanGordon and Ralston were absent(excused). 1. Downtown Parking Enforcement One-Year Project Update. Courtney Griesel,Economic Development Manager,presented the staff report on this item. The Park Downtown program is key to providing support and amenities to Downtown businesses, residents, employees and visitors.As identified in the 20 1.0 adopted Downtown Vision Plan,the availability and management of publically owned on and off-street parking infrastructure has a direct value to businesses and residents who require access to those spaces. Maintaining a healthy turnover of parking spaces during peak demand hours allows visitors and patrons to access Downtown businesses with ease. Park Downtown program amenities in Springfield include; • Free On-Street Parking; 2&3 Hour • Free Off-Street Parking;3 Hour • Monthly and Quarterly Permits; On and Off Street Areas • Residential Permits • Special Event Permits • Ability to Contest Tickets in an Administrative Setting Opposed to Court Setting The initial first year of the Park Downtown program implementation was focused on education and orientation for Downtown visitors,businesses and residents with an intention to approach enforcement with a soft`hand.' For this reason, forecasted revenues anticipated light enforcement activities, leniency in granting citation voids and a slow rate of permit program adoption,estimating total revenue to approximately$45,000 in the first year. The program carries an annual contracted enforcement cost of$94,164. In anticipation of low revenues in initial start-up years, an additional $50,000 was budgeted in Downtown urban renewal funds to support any projected gap between program revenue and program cost. Due in great part to a higher than anticipated permit program adoption,the Park Downtown program,generated approximately$57,400 in the first year ending June 30, 2016. These revenues, including an overview of other program activities like enforcement and permit activities,will be discussed so that Council might provide feedback as staff work to further improve the program in the second year. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 3,2016. Page 2 Ms.Griesel said she wanted to hear feedback and input the Council has received so they can further etfliance the program.Businesses have come together with their neighbors to change their 3-hour parking to 2-hour parking,which is a positive trend.One of the goals is to have the office remain open more hours than currently open. They are currently open three days a week from 8:30am—5:30pm, taking their lunch in off hours. Additional hours would be more convenient for the customer,but they are trying to balance the cost of the program. She referred to a snap showing all of the permit area. The parking spaces are split fairly evenly between Zone A and Zone B with about 350 free spaces in both areas.Zone A has very little residential, other than multi-housing living on Main Street,so staff works with those people often.They manage the Library and Main Street lots offer 3-hour parking off- street ffstreet(about 70 spaces)and also manage just over 300 permittable spaces.The Main Street Lot 53 has shared parking with long-term permits and 3-hour free spaces.All spaces are free on the weekends and not enforced,although they are still enforcing on the weekends for illegal parking.We do not have RV parking in downtown,but people can pull into a space with the trailer taking up the space behind as long as it is not blocking a driveway or alley. Ms. Griesel reviewed the paying and contesting tickets in Springfield which is different than other communities based on information gathered from other cities and talking with our Court staff.. People do not need to go to Court to appeal. The appeal process is done by contacting Republic Northwest and filling out a form. if the appeal is not granted,another form is filled out which goes to the City Manager's Office for an administrative review. if that second appeal is not granted, it would be filed with the Court and the person could see a judge face-to-face.Filling out the form at each step allows the City to track the process from start to finish. To date,no citations have gone to Court. She has reviewed 6 appeals in the last year through the Administrative Appeals process. Ms. Griesel said the Main Street lot which has a mix of permit holders and free parking has a higher monthly violation trend than any other lot, indicating that better communication is needed.They have been lenient on voiding citations in that lot,and have been aggressive in re-signing and striping.Early in 2016,the citations seemed to drop off so they are feeling better about their communications in that lot. Citations given are more for people who aren't backing into the spaces. Ms. Griesel noted the Main Street and Library lots in which citizens and visitors generally park. Those lots are watched carefully. There are some ebbs and flows in the enforcement staff which makes it difficult to track consistently. There are some faded lines in the Library parking lot which is problematic making it difficult to park correctly.There are also people parking for long periods of time in the Library parking lot. She referred to on-street areas in Zone A and B. They found that the enforcement officers were not going out to Area B, so after some conversations they have stepped up communication and enforcement in that area. Ms. Griesel said the first six months of the program included a lot of education,flyers and warnings. Things nonnalized in about January as people became more familiar with the program. She noted the number of voided tickets. They are happy to work with people who call to void their citation.They have been mainly focused over the past year on having a point of contact with those who need permits, have questions or receive citations.Ms. Griesel said we are nearly at 100%in pen-nit sales,with 4 spaces available in the Main Street lot and all other lots sold out. There is a waiting list for people who want a permit in a lot. Ms. Griesel spoke regarding revenue targets. The program is not yet cost neutral and is being subsidized by SEDA Funds which was expected.They are looking at ways to improve the program and close the gap. She discussed other things they could do to close the gap and increase revenues. Over the last year, costs have remained fairly constant. They are focusing on program improvement. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 3,2016 Page 3 Councilor Woodrow said she had heard concerns from Downtown businesses regarding lack of consistency,which sounds like it is tied into staffing changes.The businesses had noticed cars parked for long periods of time without getting ticketed,while others get ticketed right away.Another concern was having a space for a work truck that might be a contractor working on the property. She asked how they would notify the parking staff. Ms. Griesel said.one concept is to include a contractor's permit with a cost per day, giving them the ability to park on the street while doing the work,although it may be cost prohibitive. One of the business owners she has talked to with that concern said they had attempted to park in a certain space for six months.They are looking into that issue and what other jurisdictions are doing. Councilor Woodrow asked if they had considered offering a one-day pass at no charge. Ms. Griesel said they could apply for a special event pass.They would not encourage that to occur in Zone A on the street because it crosses over the line of taking customer parking away. The Zone B on- street permit is$10 per month,so it is not cost prohibitive. One of the businesses who was most concerned with access for contractors is one intersection from Zone B. Staff is trying to look at how to create a response to someone who legitimately needs it,to someone that just wants a parking space. They are looking into the contractor permit which was not an original permit. If it is something amenable to the Council,staff would propose adding it to the manual and fee schedule. Ms. Griesel said when they initially rolled out the program,they did not oversell any lots.They have been doing occupancy counts daily to help determine whether or not there is an opportunity to sell extra permits in a lot. One way to know is to determine how many spaces are open on a given day. We actually have a relatively high occupancy rate with City Hall north the highest at 79%. One recommendation is to oversell at a rate of 10%as none of the permit areas show less than 20%open at any given time. That could create an additional$4,300 per year.Another element of the program is the monthly special event permit. Based on concerns from surrounding businesses, an opportunity was created for people to apply to use the Main Street lot for special events free of charge. The Library Lot is also used to accommodate larger events. To date,only one small event was rejected because we were already full. The Emerald Arts Association is the heaviest user of special event parking. Currently,those special event passes are free and have been provided as a response to their concerns. Ms. Griesel said as the program has been in place for a year,people do need to start paying attention to their citations. They are still seeing a large percentage of open citations,but would like to have that decrease. Some of that will include continued education and time. She hopes to know more about trending after the next six months. The first batch of ticket holders has been sent to collections. Councilor Moore asked about permit costs for each lot. Ms.Griesel noted the different charges per month for each area.There are no permits in Zone A on- street parking. Councilor Moore said she would like to see an example of a ticket to see how it is written up. She asked about the students and employees of the high schools,and the district office. It would be nice if the City educated students about the parking permits. She asked if the City had reached out to the school district. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 3,2016 Page 4 Ms. Griesel said the school district had been a great partner and the City had been working with them to communicate to their employees and students. She had also worked with them to get them on the wait list early so most have been accommodated for the move Downtown. Some off-site options were also considered and the district chose to handle most of their parking needs on their site and through the wait list. A3 operates under a separate Board and bylaws from the Springfield School District.The Director of A3 has not been interested in any partnerships or communication to students regarding parking. The Director has communicated to parents,but information has not always been accurate. Staff has done their best to work with parents when they do make contact. Councilor Wylie asked if City employees have to purchase pen-nits and if there was a lot of complaints. Ms. Griesel said they do need to purchase permits,although some opt to park in the Zone B areas. Ms. Spickard said there were some complaints at the beginning,but Ms. Griesel has been very helpful and patient in working with employees. Councilor Wylie asked about schools events. Ms. Griesel said most of their events are in the evening. The parking program works with the events planning if parking on-street or off-street are affected.They are quick to get word out to permit holders.If a group is scheduling an event,they go through the event approval process.There is not a fee to close a parking lot for an event. Ms. Spickard said Development and Public Works handles requests for use of the street or right-of- way, ight-ofway,working with the City Manager's Office on special events. Mayor Lundberg said consistency is an issue they need to focus on. It is legitimate for contractors to have to pay for long-term parking. She thought the oversell concept was fine and made sense.It could be a good idea to charge a minimal amount($1 or$2 day) for special event parking passes. If it is for classes, they could just add that to the class fee and then pay the City. She does want them to close the gap on open citations.A3 has an attitude she doesn't like,especially since the City used Community Development Block Grant(CDBG)funds for the parking lot improvement giving them parking spaces. That is a discussion she may have with Superintendent Rieke-Smith, Ms. Griesel said Gateways High School is part of the Springfield School District, but A3 is a Charter School, Councilor Pishioneri asked if they kept a list of past voided citations. Ms.Griesel said during the first year, each person got two. In the coming year they will get one. Councilor Pishioneri said there is a long history in Eugene of a parking program for employees. Each employer was to provide a list of employees that worked in the downtown area so they could monitor when they were problematic using the free parking.Licenses were run, and citations were issued.It was very effective and pushed all employees to comply with the parking rules consistently in the years after. He is fine with tracking of noncompliance going to collections.He also noted the Block Face enforcement which could be a great tool. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 3,2016 Page 5 Ms. Griesel said the cars are not allowed to park in the same block face,but can park one block away. They are using photos to track that people are moving to a different block. They need to allow people to move one block away in case it is a shopper going to a different store.They do not have a high tech program and don't have license recognition. Councilor Pishioneri said he is fully on board regarding fees for event parking,passing along the cost to the users.That also includes contractor parking.He felt overselling by 10%would be the minimum. Council thanked Ms. Griesel for her work on the Parking Program. Springfield Flame Ms. Griesel and Mr.Laudati displayed a power point showing the Springfield flame sculpture. He reminded the Council that it was fabricated so the contractor paid electricians,steel workers,truck drivers, lift truck operators,crane operators,and many others from Springfield. They have heard some good comments about the flame. In a week from now,they will pour the disc for the lights. An event will be planned in two or three weeks when it is final.The lights in the basket are LED. The artist, Devon Lawrence,designs, produces and installs the sculpture. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:06 p.m. Minutes Recorder—Amy Sowa Christine L.Lundberg Mayor Attest: Amy Sowa City Recorder