City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends the City Council and Agency Board discuss and provide input
regarding the development of policies relating to the recommendations for on-
street parking in the Comprehensive Downtown Parking Study prepared by
Walker Parking (Walker Study).
BACKGROUND:
At the City Council meeting on January 24, 2011, the following objectives were
identified for the management of the City’s parking meters:
1. Promote parking turnover;
2. Serve as a means of equitable distribution of parking spaces where demand
exceeds supply;
3. Manage the appropriate time and day restrictions of parking spaces for the
benefit of majority of the block;
4. Decrease cruising/circling for parking and improve vehicle circulation; and
5. Generate revenue for the City.
Meeting Date: 09/26/2011 Item Number: J-2
JOINT CITY COUNCIL/REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOARD AGENDA ITEM:
Walker Study Implementation Report 2 – Discussion of Parking Meter Rate
Increases, Hours of Operation Extensions, and Other Changes to Downtown
On-Street Parking Meter Operations.
Contact Person/Dept.: Gabe Garcia/PW;
Helen Kerstein/PW
Phone Number: (310) 253-5633; (310)
253-5618
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [] General Fund: Yes [X] No []
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [X] Attachments: [X]
Commission Action Required: Yes [] No [X] Date: ________________
Public Notification: Public Notification: (E-mail) Agenda and Meetings – City Council
(09/21/11); (Advertisement) Culver City News (09/22/2011); (USPS) All Downtown
Businesses within the Commercial Downtown Zone (09/19/11); (E-Mail) Meetings and
Agendas – Redevelopment Agency (09/21/11); (E-Mail) Chamber of Commerce
(09/21/11); (E-Mail) Culver City School District (09/21/11); (Letter) Downtown
Neighborhood Association (09/219/11); (E-Mail) Downtown Business Association
(09/21/11)
Department Approval:
Charles D. Herbertson (09/16/11)
City Attorney Approval:
Carol Schwab (by H. Baker) (09/20/11)
Chief Financial Officer Approval:
Jeff Muir (by N. Kimball) (09/20/11)
City Manager/Executive Director
Approval: John M. Nachbar (09/20/11) City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
At their July 12, 2010 meeting, the City Council and the Redevelopment Agency
Board (Agency Board) considered the Walker Parking Study, including
recommendations related to parking structure rates, on-street meters, parking
enforcement, infrastructure improvements, parking administration, and City Hall
parking. The City Council and Agency Board directed staff to return at future
meeting(s) with detailed implementation reports for each of the major Walker
Parking Study recommendations.
On May 2, 2011, the City Council, Agency Board, and Parking Authority
considered an informational report on Walker Study recommendations for rate
changes in the Downtown public parking structures. At this meeting, the City
Council directed staff to return with two more informational reports, one focusing
on on-street parking meters and one focusing on parking enforcement, prior to
taking action on any of these three topics. This Agenda Item represents the
informational report on on-street meters. Following this Item, there will be a third
informational report on parking enforcement, and then the City Council will be
asked to take action on all three of the topics (parking structure parking rates;
Downtown on-street meters, meter rates, and hours of operation; and parking
enforcement) as part of single, subsequent staff report.
DISCUSSION:
Walker Parking made a number of recommendations relating to on-street parking
meters in the Downtown area. Below is a listing of their main recommendations
and some additional considerations and staff recommendations.
1. Walker Parking Recommendation: Extend meter enforcement to 11pm
daily, including Sunday
Currently, on-street parking meters are enforced to 6pm citywide from
Monday-Saturday. Walker Parking observed that during times without
enforcement, there was a very high occupancy at Downtown metered spaces.
Although metered spaces were most impacted on weekends, Walker Parking
recommended enforcing meters daily until 11pm to allow for consistency in
enforcement and visitor expectations.
Staff Recommendation:
In reviewing the parking occupancy data collected by Walker Parking, staff
concurs that enforcing meters until 11pm daily (Monday-Sunday) is desirable
to promote parking efficiency and maintain consistency. Culver City Police
Department anticipates that these additional hours will require hiring a new City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
Parking Enforcement Officer. However, enforcement will be discussed further
in a subsequent staff report by Culver City Police Department.
2. Walker Parking Recommendation: Meter all on-street parking spaces
currently enforced through time limited parking policies
Walker Parking observed that there are approx. 42 unmetered locations
Downtown and these locations tend to cause parking hot-spots. Walker
recommended metering all on-street parking spots Downtown to avoid this
problem and to better manage parking demand.
Staff Recommendation:
Staff concurs that unmetered parking Downtown should be metered. Staff is
recommending metering these locations (the 45 Downtown locations
identified as “immediate locations”|1010|) in a separate staff report to be presented
this evening. Other Downtown locations, including loading zones (green,
yellow, and white) are anticipated to be proposed for metering as part of a
subsequent staff report dealing with “longer-term locations.” This subsequent
staff report will be brought to City Council after community meetings are held.
3. Walker Parking Recommendation: Set parking meter rates above
structure rates; increase meter rates from $1.00 to $1.50 per hour
Walker Parking recommended encouraging long-term parkers to park in a
public parking structure rather than a convenient curbside space by making
metered parking more expensive than the hourly rate at the parking
structures. Walker Parking suggested setting meter rates at $1.50 per hour
and adjusting them as necessary over time.|1010|
Staff Recommendation:
Staff concurs that it is advisable to raise on-street meter rates above those in
the parking structures in order to increase the availability of the meters for
shorter-term parking. Staff suggests that the on-street rates should be tied to
the parking structure rates and should remain at $0.50 above the highest
hourly parking structure rate. So, since rates are currently $1.00 an hour at
the parking structures (after the free period), staff recommends increasing
rates to $1.50 per hour at the on-street meters Downtown. Anytime the City
|1010| We are able to add 45 parking spaces, which is more than Walker Parking identified, because we
reduced the length of the red curb areas. |1010| Walker Parking suggested that $1.50 is an appropriate rate, but indicated that Council could start with
$1.25 per hour if they wanted to make a more gradual change. City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
Council raises the rates in the parking structures, staff suggests concurrently
raising on-street meter rates accordingly.
One challenge with increasing on-street meter rates is that given our current
meter type (which accepts either cash or parking key) parkers will need to
have more change on hand. Staff recommends that Downtown meter rates
should be raised along with the installation of parking meters that accept
credit cards throughout Downtown to increase customer convenience. The
City Council Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2011/2012 includes funding for
the installation of these meters Downtown. Public Works is currently testing a
couple new technologies and vendors for parking meters that accept credit
cards and anticipates making a final recommendation by the end of the year.
When a parking meter company’s product is recommended, staff anticipates
purchasing the parking meters based on another agency’s publicly-bid
purchase (as permitted by the Culver City Municipal Code), if possible, in
order to reduce the time to deploy to the field.
4. Walker Parking Recommendation: Eliminate parking time restrictions at
metered spaces
Walker Parking recommended allowing parkers to pay for as much parking as
they like rather than limiting payment to a specific period of time (i.e. 2 hours).
In order to encourage turnover, Walker Parking suggested using tiered meter
rates (for example, the first two hours might be one rate, the third hour a
higher rate, and the fourth hour an even higher rate).
Staff Recommendation:
Staff believes that tiered parking meter rates may provide a valuable tool for
encouraging parking turnover and may reduce the need for time restrictions in
Downtown. This pricing strategy is used to provide flexibility to patrons to
finish their business and concurrently encourage a change in parking
behavior by using incrementally higher rates to discourage the use of the
most convenient street spaces to “store” vehicles. Staff recommends that a
tiered parking rate structure should be tried Downtown. However, it may need
to be modified in loading zones, as short-term turnover is such a high priority
in those zones that pricing may not be sufficient to control parking duration.
5. Walker Parking Recommendation: Establish a goal of 85% peak meter
occupancy in the Downtown commercial zone City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
The purpose of increasing enforcement and meter rates is to encourage
parking space turnover with the goal of always having some convenient
curbside parking available for short-term parkers. Walker Parking
recommends the City set a benchmark of 85% peak occupancy at metered
spaces. The City would need to periodically review meter occupancy and
adjust meter rates to reach the benchmark.
Staff Recommendation:
Staff concurs with the goal of 85% occupancy. The new meters should
facilitate the tracking of occupancy trends. Staff anticipates using this
technology to monitor occupancy and will return at a later date with
recommendations to reach the overall goal of 85% occupancy.|1010|
Parking Intrusion
Walker Parking did not specifically examine the residential neighborhood
surrounding the Downtown. However, Walker Parking advises that parking
intrusion into the Downtown-adjacent residential neighborhood may occur
should meter rates be increased.
Currently streets within the Downtown residential neighborhood are either
eligible for residential parking restrictions or already are residentially
restricted. As part of the Town Plaza development, the Planning Commission
approved Conditions of Approval, including the creation of a “free
neighborhood permit-parking program, with parking restriction on Irving Place
and Van Buren Place and other local streets as needed during peak cinema
attendance hours to prevent downtown visitors from consuming all available
neighborhood parking spaces.” In recognition of that Condition of Approval,
staff recommends providing free permits to the Downtown-adjacent
neighborhood bounded by Ince Boulevard on the east, Duquesne Avenue on
the west, Culver Boulevard-Washington Boulevard on the north, and La
Ballona Creek on the south, should they choose to opt-into the Linwood Howe
Residential Parking District, which covers this area, and was already
approved by Council on Monday, November 17, 2008.
|1010| At this time, staff does not recommend trying dynamic pricing, where parking meter rates at different
times throughout the day are adjusted automatically on a periodic basis based on parking demand
(similar to SFPark in San Francisco or ExpressPark in LA). However, at some point in the future, if the
San Francisco and LA projects move beyond the testing phase and are successful, the City may want to
consider implementing something similar. City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
Concerns regarding the level of enforcement of the residential permit districts
are sometimes brought up. As mentioned earlier, enforcement will be
addressed further in a subsequent report on parking enforcement by the
Culver City Police Department.
FISCAL ANALYSIS:
Walker Parking makes it clear that the primary motivation behind rate and hour of
operation changes is to improve parking management. However, they do provide
an estimate of the additional revenue from their suggested changes. The
following table presents Walker Parking’s estimated revenue increases from its
recommended rates and hours of operation.|1010| For example, they estimate that if
the City Council were to approve extending the parking meter enforcement to
11pm daily (including Sunday) and raising parking meter rates to $1.50/hr.
Downtown, it would generate an additional $158,000 in revenue (62.5%
increase). Walker Parking makes several assumptions regarding how parking
demand and revenues will vary depending on the policy in order to come up with
these estimates.|1010| While it is impossible to determine in advance whether these
assumptions are correct, they appear to be reasonable.
It is also important to note that there would most likely be additional costs related
to increased hours of enforcement and additional meter collection efforts as
meters would fill up quicker at $1.50/hr than they do at $1.00/hr.
|1010| Walker’s estimates are based on projected FY 09/10 revenues. However, FY 10/11 revenues were
similar, so the estimates are likely to still be relatively accurate. |1010|Walker’s assumptions, include:
“1. Current parking revenue for the Downtown area roughly consists of that contained in the following
routes provided by the City’s Finance department: Culver, Main; Culver, Cardiff; Culver, Watseka;
Irving, Van Buren; Media Park;
2. Extending the enforcement of parking meters until 11:00 PM, a 50% increase in daily operating
hours, will result in an increase in meter revenue of 25%;
3. Enforcing parking meters on Sunday will increase weekly meter revenue by 7.5%;
4. Increasing meter rates to $1.50 per hour will not result in a proportional increase in revenue as the
higher rate is likely to divert parking demand to off-street parking and other modes of transportation.”
City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
Walker
Estimate
of Total
Revenue
Generated
Walker
Estimate of
Incremental
Revenue
Projected FY 2009 ($1.00/hr) $253,270 $0
Recommendation:
Increase rate to $1.50/hr (30% revenue increase) $329,251 $75,981
Extend meter operations to 11:00pm @ 1.00/hr (25%
increase) $316,588 $63,318
Extend meter operations to 11:00pm @ 1.50/hr $392,569 1$39,299
Extend meter operations to Sunday @ 1.00/hr $272,265 $18,995
Extend meter operations to Sunday @ 1.50/hr $348,246 $94,976
Extend meter operations to Sunday 11:00pm @ 1.00/hr $335,583 $82,313
Extend meter operations to Sunday 11:00pm @ 1.50/hr $411,564 $158,294
It is important to point out that these estimated revenues, should they be realized,
are not without costs. The process of physically increasing rates can be done at
minimal cost. However, as mentioned earlier, as rates increase, it becomes
increasingly inconvenient for patrons to find sufficient change to pay for them. As
a result, staff recommends updating the parking meter technology, which will
create significant one-time capital and on-going costs. The capital costs, which
are estimated to be roughly $150,000, have been included in the CIP budget
(Project No. T1109). However, funds will have to be budgeted annually for the
on-going costs, which are anticipated to be roughly $20,000.
Additionally, if the extended hours of operation are to be consistently enforced,
new enforcement resources will be required. The Police Department estimates
that one Parking Enforcement Officer will be needed to handle the additional
enforcement periods at a burdened cost of approx. $71,000/year. Additionally,
the Police Department has indicated that if the additional enforcement periods
are combined with the installation of additional parking meters as proposed in
another staff report this evening, additional collection personnel might be
required. The burdened cost of an additional Community Service Officer/RPT is
approx. $58,000/year.|1010|
|1010| As this is a RTP position, it is budgeted for 2,028 hours/year. City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
ATTACHMENT:
1. Excerpt from Town Plaza/Screenland and Ince Boulevard Public
Parking Structure Conditions of Approval, Resolution No. 2000-P002
MOTIONS:
That the City Council and Agency Board:
1. Discuss the policies relating to the recommendations for on-street
parking in the Comprehensive Downtown Parking Study prepared by
Walker Parking (Walker Study); and,
2. Direct the City Manager/Executive Director as deemed appropriate.
MEETING DATE:
AGENDA ITEM:
09/26/2011
Walker Study Implementation Report 2 — Discussion of
Parking Meter Rate Increases, Hours of Operation Extensions,
and Other Changes to Downtown On-Street Parking Meter
Operations.
1
ATTACHMENTS
Excerpt from Town Plaza/Screenland and Ince Blvd
Public Parking Structure Conditions of Approval,
Resolution No. 2000-P002
Pages
1-2 Excerpt From
EXHIBIT B
TO
RESOLUTION NO. 2000-P002
TOW/2 Plaza/Screenland and
Ince Boulevard Public Parking Structure
CONDITIONS OF APPROVAL Page 6
2000-P002
complaints with the proposed project as it is implemented and matures. (FOR
Section 2, NT No. 2)
37. Downtown Siva Program — Prior to issuance of any Certificate of Occupancy for
the project, the City and Agency shall implement, in consultation with the
applicant, a sign program along arterials leading to Downtown Culver City,
particularly those connecting Downtown with the region's freeways. (FEIR
Section 2, NT No. 3)
38. Traffic Calming Elements — When results of the Neighborhood Traffic
Monitoring Program are available, the City and Agency shall consider the use of
traffic calming elements to discourage project traffic intrusion into the
neighborhoods. Measures will be identified that most appropriately address the
specific problem and that are considered acceptable to the residents in the
neighborhood through discussions with the Neighborhood Traffic Committee and
the procedures established previously by the City for implementation of traffic
calming programs (e.g. Higuera Street). TER Section 2, NT No. 4)
IV. Parking
39. The City and Agency shall provide parking management personnel during peak
activity periods when Downtown parking is - estimated to approach 85%
occupancy. Personnel will direct motorists to available parking and monitor
facilities to minimize illegal or unsafe parking practices as public parking
availability becomes limited. (FEM. Section 3, PK No. 1)
40: Downtown Parking Monitoring Program. The Agency shall conduct a survey of
downtown parking in evening , hours, six to 12 months after opening of the theater,
to identify any parking problems such as neighborhood parking, Inmecessary
circling of nearby spaces, or within nearby parking structures. Corrective actions
shall be adopted by the Agency as needed in the event that parking problems are
identified from this survey. (FEIR Section 3, PK No. 3)
41. If approved by a Neighborhood Traffic Committee, the City and Agency shall
establish a neighborhood, pennit-parking program.' The program shall be a free
neighborhood, permit-parking program, with parking restriction on Irving Place
and Van Buren Place and other local streets as needed during, peak cinema
attendance hours to prevent downtown visitors from consuming all available
neighborhood parking spaces. (FEIR Section 3, PK No. 4)
42. If and when valet parking is proposed in the public right-of-way, the applicant or
their successors in interest shall obtain an Engineering Division street use perniit.