Discuss with the City Council of current parking situation, changes that have occurred since 2011, and options for parking management in the future.  Gauge City Council interest in pursuing any of the options in follow-up to the resolution adopting the Student Housing Action Plan in January 2015.

Coming out of the larger current student housing planning effort, staff has been asked to provide the City Council with information regarding parking issues in the vicinity of the Northern Arizona University campus.  Staff has also heard concern from residents, business owners, and visitors about the current parking circumstances, primarily the extensive use of off-campus parking spaces by students.  This report briefly frames the issues and previous considerations, and provides a high level overview of current parking management in Flagstaff and options that the City Council might want to have explored.

Council Goal:  Provide sustainable and equitable public facilities, services, and infrastructure systems in an efficient and effective manner to serve all population areas and demographics.

At the request of City Council and after considerable community input, in November of 2011, staff presented the City Council with information and options relative to possible permit parking in Southside.  At the time, the main focus was not that campus overflow parking was occurring in the neighborhood but rather the primary focus was on “nuisance” parking – blocking driveways, fire hydrants, and so forth.  The City Council discussion included concern over how a permit parking program would be funded.  The City Council decided not to proceed with a permit parking program and opted for an enforcement “blitz”, some additional (Federal COPS grant funded) police officers serving the Southside, and some capital improvements (signs, curb painting, and space identification).  Nuisance parking seems to have been reduced since the installation of this program.

The most observable change since the City Council last considered parking issues in the Southside is that the overflow parking has increased and changed character.  Just before the November 2011 City Council consideration, NAIPTA introduced Route 10, a short interval connector bus route between Downtown and Woodlands Village via the Northern Arizona University campus.  Since that time, the Phoenix Avenue parking lot now fills to capacity early in the day and remains filled most of the day.  Also, overflow parking in the Southside is now not only seen in the blocks near the university, but is now seen extending all the way up to Phoenix Avenue as well as a number of private parking lots in Woodlands Village.  Students also park in the City Hall parking lots.  

Staff has also heard concern from residents, business owners, and visitors about the current parking circumstances, primarily the extensive use of off-campus parking spaces by students.  As high density off-campus housing is constructed in Flagstaff, we expect more demand for parking in the vicinity of the campus.  Further, enrollment of students on the Northern Arizona University Flagstaff campus continues to increase, along with increased faculty and staff.  As growth occurs on NAU's campus, student parking structures have been built and parking spaces re-allocated, increasing student parking permits on the campus to $440 annually.

Background Information about Parking:

The City of Flagstaff currently writes between 5,000 and 6,000 parking tickets per year, mostly in Downtown, north of Route 66.  Approximately 1,400 were written by the COPS grant funded regular patrol officers (in the Southside).  Since the changes instituted in 2011, the City has experienced a large increase in the amount of time spent in court by the parking staff and patrol officers.  This has resulted in more overtime expense to pay off duty officers, and more time in court for the officers that write the tickets.

Parking enforcement staff (non-patrol officers) cost approximately $55,000 per year after training.  We currently have one parking enforcement staff member that services approximately 350 spaces.  For comparison, the City of Durango parking staff enforces about two hundred spaces each and two shifts are assigned per day.  The area previously considered for a permit parking program, from the campus to Phoenix Avenue, encompasses approximately 750 parking spaces.

Most of the monies collected for parking tickets go to the State.  For example, from a $35 over-time parking ticket, the City of Flagstaff gets $10.  That $10 is not sufficient to cover court costs and collections.  As the state portion is calculated on a percentage basis, even significant increases in fines does not significantly change the portion available to the City.  And, as the cost of tickets increases, the number of contested tickets and the number of people who choose not to pay, increases.  Because of this, it has been determined that parking tickets are not a viable mechanism to pay for parking enforcement.

Efforts of our Community Partners:

NAU:  For some period after the City Council discussion in 2011, NAU and the City shared parking enforcement human resources.  NAU is committed to educating faculty, staff, and students about parking issues and transportation choices.  And, they are exploring or willing to explore working with the Police Department to address habitual offenders, expanded bus pass systems, and remote parking facilities.

NAIPTA:  In addition to generally developing and encouraging ridership, NAIPTA has already added routes serving the university (and other schools), implemented a college bus pass system, and reduced the costs of these passes.  On some routes, they expect to be increasing the frequency of service in the coming months.  And in the future they are looking at a broader (universal) bus pass system that would make transit an even easier and convenient option.  And, they are looking at developing park-and-ride facilities associated with student housing, but also in the outlying areas of the community.

Options:

Should the City Council wish to address parking issues in the vicinity of the campus, notably overflow parking, some options that staff could explore and bring back to the City Council include:

1. Permit Parking Program – Staff could return with an overview of options for such programs and then develop an option selection by the City council.
2. Paid On-street Parking (Kiosk / Meters) – Staff could explore the use of paid on-street parking to manage parking.  This may include a “Resident Exempt” permit system.
3. Parking Management Company – These are typically paid on-street parking strategies but with private management and contracts accordingly.
4. Construct Additional Parking – In addition to land costs, surface spaces cost approximately $5,000 and structured spaces cost approximately $25,000 (each). 
5. Alternative Transportation Modes – Encourage the use of alternative transportation modes, walking, bicycling, and transit through various means.
6. Contribute to the Efforts of Community Partners – Leverage our investment and reduce our partner’s costs by sharing expenses.
7. None of the Above.