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Title:
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Discussion Regarding Modification of the City’s Preferential Permit Parking Fees and Provide Related Direction to Staff.
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City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends the City Council discuss potential rescission of the existing fees
for Preferential Parking Zones and approval of a new single reduced fee and provide
related direction to staff.
BACKGROUND:
The City Council requested that this item be brought for discussion and
consideration by the City Council. Prior to implementation of cost-recovery fees in
July 2007, there was no fee charged for residential neighborhoods to apply for
participation in the City’s Permit Parking Program.
DISCUSSION:
Currently, there are four adopted fees applicable to the processing of requests for
permit parking. The first fee is $200 and is due at the time the application/petition is
submitted to the Public Works Department. The second fee is $250 or $500
depending if the study is done during normal hours of Monday through Saturday, 8
a.m. to 6:00 p.m. or after work hours, and is due at the time the parking survey/study
is conducted. The third fee is due at the time staff presents a report and findings to
the Traffic Committee, City Engineer and/or the City Council.
Meeting Date: 11/17/08 Item Number: A-1
AGENDA ITEM: Discussion Regarding Modification of the City’s Preferential
Permit Parking Fees and Provide Related Direction to Staff.
Contact Person/Dept.: Gabe Garcia/PW Phone Number: (310) 253-5633
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [] General Fund: Yes [X] No []
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [X] Attachments: [X]
Public Notification: Master E-Mail Notification List (11/12/08).
Department Approval:
Charles D. Herbertson (11/06/08)
City Attorney Approval:
Carol Schwab (by H. Baker) (11/12/08)
Chief Financial Officer Approval:
Jeff Muir (by N. Kimball) (11/12/08)
City Manager Approval:
Jerry B. Fulwood (11/12/08) City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
The current adopted fees are as follows:
Based on anecdotal information from the day-to-day communication with residents,
the number of inquiries into the program has increased, yet the number of
applications has remained about the same. Although there could be many reasons,
such as the resident-based labor-intensive acquisition of signatures for a petition,
the need for a person to act as a representative of the petitioners and the time
required from that person, it has been stated by residents inquiring into the program
that the adopted fees would be difficult to collect from their neighbors and represent
a serious barrier in pursuing establishment of a preferential parking zone. Typically,
residents inquiring into participation in the program express that they are impacted
by parking intrusion due to substandard parking supply in non-residential areas .
This is particularly prevalent in areas adjacent to revitalized areas (including
downtown) where residents have expressed their frustration at having to pay a fee
for a solution to a problem they did not create.
City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
The rules and procedures require validation of a minimum of 75% of residents to
submit a complete application. This process takes about an average of 3 hours.
The next step is to have an information meeting with the petitioners and business
community regarding the petition. That takes a minimum of 3 hours of staff time to
prepare for and host the meeting. Afterwards, six site visits in a 3-week period are
conducted to record license plate numbers on the particular segment of street(s)
requesting permit parking. The license numbers are investigated to determine if
they are non-resident or resident owned vehicles. This process takes about an
average of 10 hours. If more than 75% of the spaces are occupied at each of the 6
site visits and more than 50% are non-resident vehicles, then the petition qualifies
for review by the Traffic Committee and the City Engineer. Internal staff meetings
with the City Engineer, report writing and meeting attendance takes approximately 3
hours.
Therefore, in addition to keeping the petitioners informed during the process by
phone calls and meetings that are estimated to average about 5 hours, the total
amount of hours spent on a typical application for permit parking, is 24 hours. The
adopted hourly rate for a Traffic Engineering Manager is $158 an hour. At $158 an
hour multiplied by 24 hours, the total average cost per application is $3,800 for a
study done during normal work hours. This cost can increase to $5,000 for site
studies conducted during non-working hours.
The cost recovered can be from $825 ($200 application fee +$250 study fee + $375
report/presentation fee) to $1,075 ($200 application fee +$500 study fee + $375
report/presentation fee). The fee of $375 is a minimum and may be more,
depending on the number of hours spent by staff in the process of the
report/presentation.
Presently, staff has five applications and has not charged the above fees pending
the City Council’s consideration of this item.
There are other fees that are part of the Permit Parking Program. Please see page
54 of 69 of Exhibit H-1, attached. To summarize, they are:
1) the cost per permit of $16 per vehicle/per calendar year;
2) the cost paid by the residents of $55 per street sign indicating the parking
restrictions on the block (typically, a block may need as many as eight
signs, four on each side of the street, for a possible cost to the applicants of
$440);
3) the cost of $390 for consideration of issuance of more than the standard two
parking permits; City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
4) $130 for consideration of suspension of enforcement due to a special event
in the residential neighborhood; and
5) the fee of $780 for an appeal.
The fees in items 1 and 2 above are part of every City Council approved permit
parking zone/district.
Should the Council wish to make any changes to the current fee structure, staff will
return to Council with a Resolution consistent with Council’s direction.
FISCAL ANALYSIS:
There is no fiscal impact for the discussion of this item. The existing fees collected
is about $875 to $1,025 per application. The total actual cost by staff time to
process an application is estimated to be about $3,800 to $5,000. The program is
currently being subsidized by the General Fund in an amount of approximately
$2,800 to $4,000 per application. For the program as a whole, the City only
recovers approximately 30% of the cost through fees. This subsidy level was
approved by City Council on June 23, 2008 as part of the annual fees and charges
review.
ATTACHMENTS:
• Exhibit H-1, page 54 of 69
MOTIONS:
That the City Council:
1. Discuss potential rescission of the City’s Preferential Parking fees and approval
of a new single fee per application for permit parking and provide related
direction to staff;
OR
2. Take no action at this time.