Discussion:  Implementation of Comprehensive Parking Management

This presentation, which may be a series of presentations, is intended to:

In January of 2016, the City Council adopted a Comprehensive Parking Management Plan that has four major components:

1) Pay-to-park parking on the commercial streets and parking lots of north and south downtown,
2) Time-limited parking on adjacent south downtown streets,
3) An Employee Permit Parking Program, and
4) A Residential Permit Parking Program. 

The plan was developed after extensive work with the community and was endorsed by eleven identified stakeholder groups representing the downtown, all of the surrounding neighborhoods, and the largest parking user groups including the City of Flagstaff, Coconino County, and Northern Arizona University.  Upon adopting the plan, the City Council directed staff to develop the final regulations and details of the program as Administrative Guidelines, to develop the necessary code amendments for City Council consideration, to conduct procurement activities, and to take other steps necessary in order to implement the Comprehensive Parking Management Program.
 
Continuing with extensive community and stakeholder input, staff has accomplished more than one hundred tasks based on the City Council direction.  Presented for your information and review are aspects of the original plan that have been modified and those that have been added as the Administrative Guidelines were developed.  Also presented, and in anticipation of City Council’s consideration in the near future, are certain action items necessary to implement the program.
 
While necessary, none of the programmatic developments of the Administrative Guidelines are fundamental or significant change to the adopted plan.  All can be categorized as resolving minor conflicts and adding necessary detail.  Similarly, none of the action items presented for consideration notably depart from expectations. 
 
Finally, a stakeholder-proposed alternative implementation option proposed would implement the Residential Permit Parking Program in areas immediately adjacent to Northern Arizona University as an “opt-out” strategy instead of the plan’s “opt-in” strategy.

Background
 
For reference, please find attached the Comprehensive Parking Management Plan, dated November 2015 that was adopted in January of 2016.  The plan addresses a two part strategy of managing our limited public parking supply in a fair and balanced way leading up to and enabling adding more spaces to the parking supply.  As mentioned in the Executive Summary, the plan has four major components - Pay-to-park parking on the commercial streets and parking lots of north and south downtown, time-limited parking on adjacent south downtown streets, an Employee Permit Parking Program, and a Residential Permit Parking Program.  In adopting the plan, the City Council also setup the program (branded ParkFlag) as an enterprise fund with accounting of income and expenses separate from the remainder of the City budget.
 
The issue of having a parking space shortage and spill-over parking in adjacent neighborhoods in Flagstaff is at least twenty-five years old.  Over the last ten years, three broad solutions have been conceptualized.  Until the current plan, each has failed as a result of not being perceived as “fair and balanced”, lack of stakeholder support, or other matters of community concern.  The plan adopted by the City Council in January of 2016 was developed after extensive work with the community and was endorsed by eleven identified stakeholder groups representing the downtown, all of the surrounding neighborhoods, and the largest parking user groups including the City of Flagstaff, Coconino County, and Northern Arizona University. 
 
Upon adopting the plan, the City Council directed staff to develop the final regulations and details of the program as Administrative Guidelines, to develop the necessary code amendments, to conduct procurement activities, and to take other steps necessary in order to implement the Comprehensive Parking Management Program.  What is now presented to the City Council, is in part informational materials and is in part materials in advance of City Council consideration of future implementing action items.  It is all the result of the City Council’s direction, notably prepared in the context of continued extensive community and stakeholder input as well as the contributions of most every Division of the City providing technical, strategic, and legal support and coordination of the enterprise.

Shortly after the City Council adopted the Comprehensive Parking Management Plan, a direct email address (ParkFlag@flagstaffaz.gov)  and a Dropbox (http://tinyurl.com/Park-Flag) were established.  Updated weekly, these communication links have been widely and regularly promoted to the public, stakeholders, and the steering committee, allowing ongoing access to the developing plan documents and providing an ongoing opportunity for questions and input.  More recently, a Park Flag page was established on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ParkFlag/) to further this effort.

In addition to the development of the Administrative Guidelines and ongoing outreach efforts, some of the major milestones since the adoption of the plan have included incorporating the program into the City Budget which went into effect on July 1, 2016; on-the-ground surveying and mapping of the pay-to-park areas; extensive legal work; and various purchasing and financing matters. 
 
Organization of the Presentation:
 
The following materials are presented in three parts including a review of the final draft Administrative Guidelines, a listing and discussion (preview) of the various action items necessary to implement the program, and the presentation of an alternate implementation strategy. 
 
The Administrative Guidelines (attached) are in outline format and are thus not discussed at great length here for brevity.  Instead, the Administrative Guidelines portion of the presentation generally follows the outline of the guidelines, highlighting only a few of the notable features, but importantly noting any changes or new program features.  The program map is useful to see the overall plan.  And, when reading the Administrative Guidelines, the image of the associated parking signs on each page (where occurs) is useful too.

Part 1 – Administrative Guidelines:
 
General Guidelines Section
 
The guidelines and the program accentuate that all existing parking regulations remain and are unchanged by this program except that ParkFlag will be enforcing all parking regulations within the area served by ParkFlag.  This includes, but is not limited to, seasonal parking restrictions, accessible parking, and vehicle abandonment.
 
In the near future, the Parking Manager will schedule a meeting with private parking lot owners and staff from the Police Department to provide them with information about managing their parking.  Shortly before the installation of signs and kiosks, a Marketing Campaign will be launched that features a website, mailers, print media, and other mechanisms to educate residents and visitors about the coming parking changes and how the system functions.  Key features of this marketing that will carry forward are a parking map, a "parking tips" document, and a connection to the Northern Arizona Intergovernmental Transportation Authority (NAIPTA) route planning app.
 
It is planned that the program will start with a “soft start” or introductory period to further educate users and to allow some time for adjustment.  During this period, the rate for parking will be ten cents per hour and only warnings would be issued in lieu of citations.  As currently planned, the introductory period would conclude in May when the system goes fully live.
 
Please recall that the all of the parking permits are virtual.  They are essentially a registry of license plates and what parking rights are afforded to the permittee.  There is not a physical permit.  In developing the guidelines, in the interest of customer service and user flexibility, it was determined that a permittee would be allowed to associate any number of license plates with their permit with the understanding that only one vehicle at a time is allowed to utilize the parking rights of the permit.
 
This plan has been developed under the guidance of a Parking Steering Committee comprised of representatives of all government agencies affected by the plan including both Flagstaff Downtown Business Improvement and Revitalization District (FDBIRD) and NAIPTA.  As the plan is implemented, this team will continue to meet to serve the role of an appeal mechanism.  Any customer or public concern that is not or cannot be satisfactorily resolved by ParkFlag will be brought to the Parking Steering Committee for discussion and potential resolution.  These meetings will be regular and open to the public to allow informal input as well.
 
Demand Reduction Section
 
It was originally anticipated that ecoPASSes would be made available to downtown employees as a means to reduce parking demand and cost.  The current intent is for ParkFlag to purchase one hundred ecoPASSes from NAIPTA and make these available at no cost to parking customers in lieu of their obtaining a Downtown Resident Parking Permit or an Employee Parking Permit.  These passes will be provided on a first-come-first-served basis.  This T Permit program is a pilot program for both NAIPTA and ParkFlag and the effectiveness and continued offering would be re-evaluated after a year of operations.
 
Streets, Parks, and ParkFlag are discussing the development of additional parking at Buffalo Park.  This parking would be a great use during the large weekend events at the park and would serve as a park-n-ride during the week.  The targeted park-n-ride users would be the jurors of the Municipal and County Courts.  It is believed that this opportunity combined with the already free bus passes for jurors and hopefully a closer interval bus service will provide for the discontinuance of the current system that uses street parking spaces for these users.  The continued consideration of this idea will be separate from the implementation of the Comprehensive Parking Management Program.
 
Downtown Resident Permit Parking (D Permit) Section
 
This new program component was developed to address two types of downtown residents. 
 
One group includes people who live in single family residences that happen to be on streets that will have pay-to-park installed.  There is a very small number of such properties - approximately ten – most on streets with employee parking allowed.  To afford them with similar rights as a property would have under the Resident Permit Parking Program, they would receive an E permit that would allow them to park in the employee parking areas without need of paying to park.  These permits would be issued at no cost to the property owner.
 
The other group of downtown residents live in units above stores and other mixed use configurations, typically without any parking provided.  They are challenged for parking during the seasonal parking restrictions.  This new program would provide them with a D permit and the right to park overnight in the program parking lots (discussed further below) during the seasonal parking restriction period.  These permits would cost $60 per month.
 
Employee Permit Parking (E Permit) Section
 
Please recall that these permits would allow employees and business owners to park in designated areas that are otherwise metered.  As there is and will be a shortage of spaces, these permits will be issued by annual lottery.
 
Originally envisioned to be issued to businesses for distribution to their employees, based on stakeholder desires, the current plan is to distribute them directly to employees.
 
The anticipated cost of these permits at $65 per month has been reduced to $45 per month.
 
The final plan makes these permits invalid on streets when used for the Armed Forces Day, Fourth of July, and Holiday Lights parades.
 
ParkFlag staff is working with several private property owners to secure private property to use as temporary employee parking lots.  The best prospect, located in the northeast corner of downtown, was recently sold for development and is no longer available.  Two other prospects are being pursued.  The continued consideration of this idea will be separate from the implementation of the Comprehensive Parking Management Program.
 
Facility Specific Permit Parking (F Permit) Section
 
This new program component was developed to increase the supply of parking at this time.  The general concept is that these lots would be managed by ParkFlag and restricted to the owner’s use during the day, but importantly, available as public parking in the off-hours.  This is especially important for north downtown workers who work until late night or early morning.  It is intended that the pursuit of these kinds of opportunities, specifically including private properties, will be an ongoing effort of ParkFlag. 
 
At present, the City properties involved in this program as F permit lots include City Hall and the Cherry Building (The Wheeler Park parking lot and the Downtown Library parking will also be managed by ParkFlag but not as F Permit lots).  A separate Parking Management Plan for the City properties is attached.  The County properties similarly involved in this program include four of their five downtown lots.  A separate Parking Management Plan for the County properties is also attached.  For both City and County lots, the accessible spaces are available to the public without need of a permit. 
 
A portion of the Lumberyard parking lot is currently public parking and a portion is under the control of the Lumberyard.  The business owners have asked ParkFlag to manage their 22 spaces along with the 32 public parking spaces.  At present these are the only spaces under private control that are included in ParkFlag management.  And, because there are no compatible “off hours”, they will not be F permit spaces, but rather standard pay-to-park spaces.
 
This parking management would be provided at no cost to the property owner in exchange for the off-hours use by ParkFlag customers.
 
Residential Permit Parking (R Permits) Section
 
This program is virtually unchanged from the Comprehensive Parking Management Plan except that the final plan makes these permits invalid on streets when used for the Armed Forces Day, Fourth of July, and Holiday Lights parades.
 
Recall that implementation requires a simple petition from the block.  The petition allows the blocks to select one of three configurations – all of which maintain public parking while reserving spaces for resident use.   Eligibility for a permit is based solely on water meters - not land use, number of units, or number of tenants.  These permits would be issued at no cost to the property owner.
 
In developing the plan, staff predetermined that all streets within three blocks of FDBIRD or NAU have impacts and the “occupancy test” portion of the process is eliminated.
 
Also, stakeholders (residents) expressed concern about all guest permits costing money so the final plan includes twelve “free” permits per year and all other, unlimited in number, cost the $5 per 24 hours as was previously planned.
 
Pay-to-park Section
 
This program is also virtually unchanged from the Comprehensive Parking Management Plan.  Recall that the multi-space pay-to-park kiosks (meters) do not accept cash or coins and that there is a mobile payment app.
 
The final list of public parking lots is:  
Accessible parking spaces will be pay-to-park.
 
For simplicity, and knowing that we can change at a later date, the meter rate has been simplified to $1 per hour – not using the dynamic pricing feature.  The operating hours are 7:00 am to 7:00 pm on week days, starting at 9:00 am on Saturday, and ending at 10:00 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.  Parking customers would no longer be limited to two-hours as the final guidelines provide that they can purchase as much parking time as they wish.  And, moving cars every two-hours is also no longer necessary.
 
Staff seeks specific City Council consideration of this option:  An aspect of this program that was not previously discussed is what to do relative to events and other parking space closures (such as contractor or dumpster use).  The final draft plan includes a “Meter Exemption Permit”, sometimes called a hooding fee, for Permitted Events at $1 per half-day per space and all other space closures at $5 per day.  This permit would not be required for the Armed Forces Day, Fourth of July, and Holiday Lights parades.  Note that we currently charge $12.50 to close a street and closing the parking spaces for a day would add a cost of about $30.  On the other hand, the revenue loss to the City will be a little more than $50 per day.
 
Time Limited Parking Section
 
Recycling of the two-hour parking signs from north downtown will not work.  New signs that meet current standards will be purchased and installed.
 
Compliance and Collections Section
 
Recall that one ticket per year will be a warning (no cost) and that subsequent tickets will cost more for each one in a one year period.  This escalating cost of citations has been clarified to include only the “Failure to pay Meters” citation.
 
The program now gives the Parking Manager the authority to void tickets under strictly defined conditions.

Ideally, collection of fines will be aided by connecting citations to the registration of vehicles.  The continued consideration of this idea will be separate from the implementation of the Comprehensive Parking Management Program.
 
Staff envisioned that the ParkFlag Office could be at the Train Station – on the second floor.  The space is not accessible for customers or employees and was determined to be unsuitable.  Therefore, staff is evaluating options, one of which is leasing space in the downtown area.
 
The installation of the various signs necessary for implementation, approximately 750, requires removing not only the signs being replaced but also the current seasonal parking restriction signs so that the whole sign assembly meets current standards with the seasonal parking restriction signs being above the other parking signs.  As long as the seasonal parking restriction signs have to be removed, they will also be replaced with new signs that meet current standards.  Note that the restrictions will not be changed, only the signs will be changed,

The necessary new parking signs, poles, and hardware, the removal of existing signs, and the installation of the new signs and parking kiosks (meters) will be provided by Kinney Construction Services (KCS).  Approximately 750 signs and 100 kiosks will be installed.  KCS has been engaged under their Job Order Contract.  The cost of the products and services being provided by KCS is approximately $400,000.
 
ParkFlag will install temporary curbs (RR Ties or similar devices) in areas that lack curbing (primarily in the Southside) and where needed for proper enforcement.  This work will either be engaged through the Job Order Contract process or the Streets Section may install these devices.  Some have already been installed on Ellery Street by the Streets Section.

Part 2 – Preview Action Items
 
As currently planned, the actions items previewed below will be in front of the City Council for consideration on November 15, 2016.  As a few items are being completed between now and then, some of the following text shows a place holder (like [Vendor] instead of a name).  These should be ready by the November meeting with final information completed. 

Consideration and Adoption of Ordinance No. 2016-XX: An ordinance amending the Flagstaff City Code Title 9, Traffic, Chapter 9-1, Traffic Code, for the purpose of amending certain citation, fine, and enforcement provisions to be consistent with the adopted Comprehensive Parking Management Plan and the Administrative Guidelines.
 
Consideration and Approval of Intergovernmental Agreement: An Intergovernmental Agreement between the City of Flagstaff and Coconino County pertaining to the management of certain County parking lots by the City of Flagstaff.
 
Consideration and Approval of a Lease Amendment:  A Second Amendment to the lease between the City of Flagstaff and Beaver Street Brewing (Lumberyard) pertaining to the management of certain parking spaces by the City of Flagstaff.
 
Consideration and Approval of a Contract:  With Parkeon, Inc. for the Purchase Multi-space Parking Kiosks (Meters), a Subscription for Meter Management Software, and Mobile Parking Payment System (Woosh! app).
   
Consideration and Approval of a Contract:  With NuPark, Inc. for the Purchase of Parking Enforcement Hardware and a Subscription for Parking Enforcement Software.
   
Consideration and Approval of a Capital Financing Agreement:  With [Vendor] for Capital Financing for the Purchase and Installation of Multi-space Parking Kiosks (Meters), Parking Enforcement Hardware, and Parking Signs.
  Consideration and Approval of a Lease Agreement:  With [Vendor] for Office Space.
   
Future Action Items
 
Due to certain noticing requirements of state law, changes to the Citation Fee Schedule are not currently before the City Council.  This will be brought forward separately in the near future.

Part 3 – Alternative Implementation:  A Southside Resident Alternate Proposal
 
The program as presented requires the residents of individual blocks to “opt-in” to the Resident Permit Parking, and to select a configuration, via a petition process.
 
An alternate implementation has been proposed by stakeholders.  Under this proposal, Resident Permit Parking (configuration Option 3) would be installed such that parking restrictions would be effective at the time of the system's "soft start" in the three blocks immediately adjacent to NAU.  These streets would not petition for installation of Resident Permit Parking.  Instead, prior to installation, an alternative petition would be developed for individual blocks to “opt-out” of the Resident Permit Parking entirely or to select another configuration option. 
 
Proceeding with this alternative implementation suggests that additional public outreach be performed as it differs from what has been the understanding of the program.  The thirty-one blocks involved need ground surveying for sign placement, but also for need of missing curbs (most of this area is missing curbs).  The Administrative Guidelines would need editing and the procurement materials need to be changed.  Final versions of the documents would be brought back to the City Council.   
 
The estimated additional time to accomplish this work and obtain revised approvals is two to three months.  Certain costs that would have occurred in the future if residents opted-in would now occur initially as follows:
          (248) Signs                        $75,000
          Temporary Curbs              $15,000
          Small Equipment               $  7,500
 
Similarly this option changes approximately 465 parking spaces from possible future management to management at the onset.  An additional 1.5 FTE Enforcement Staff is needed at the program onset, moving a future cost of $67,500 to the present as well as additional start-up capital funding of $165,000