– July 25 TPAC Meeting minutes – Adopted

 

Present: Nathan Clarke, Mike Bolliger, Kate Merrill, Ken Wilson, Summer Triato, Michelle Sprague, Ryan Hashagen, Michael Zokoych, Dan Yates, Susan Pearce, Julie Bennett, Brad Malsin, Scott Cohen, Rina Jimmerson and new member * Tina McNerthy

 

Introductions

Tina McNerthy from Urban Development Partners, introduces herself as she has put in a request to join TPAC Committee

Her request is adopted – unanimously in favor

 

Adoption of June minutes – proposer : Micheal Zokoych, seconded by Dan Yates

 

No public comment

 

CEID Parking Assessment and Permit Analysis Summary – by Rick Williams (Parking Consultant)

Update of the 2018 data findings and compare them to those from 2016 to give us a sense of how to make decisions on things like where to put meters, permits, etc.

He then explains the changes:

• We always collected data in the fall and so this year we looked at March and April, as per the suggestion of a TPAC member last year

 

Our goal is to let TPAC to hear about the data so we can formulate recommendations going into the next parking cycle.  Today is just to react and absorb data.

 

In 2012, the plan was adopted with the goals of supporting greater use of off street services, encourage users to take other methods of transport, manage the permit program, recognizing access for a growing visitor base, using incentives, balance all of this with freight mobility and using data to support our decisions. Data allows us to separate reality from emotions.

 

This year we changed the season and the data zones.  We sampled 2300 stalls on 6781 total stalls in the district.  We used a good sample combination of 2-hour stalls, 2-hour meter stalls, 2-hour permit zones.

 

Points out on table that is on screen highlights:

• We sampled more stalls than last year, which is always better
• 80 % of the supply is in 2-hour stalls
• 2/3 are in the buffer one – we created a buffer on Eastern side
• 2-hour or by permit stalls – increased for zone G in particular
• We are moving towards the goal of 2-hour zones well
• Macro level look – parking occupancy is dropping every hour of the day – over a day, less people were parked in a day
• This could be because of the time of year
• Our goal was to get the “efficient sweet spot” which is between 70 and 80%
• When we come back in spring and sample in 2019 it will compare well

Dan makes sure that the sample was taken while school was in session.

Summer gets confirmation that weather was also tracked

• Let us look at the seasonal

Ken asks why the variations – Rick says it enables us to evaluate different rates which is a new way of dealing with parking

• There is a difference between March and November
• Occupancy went down on all stalls
• Occupancy by type of stall (try not to exceed 85% because then traffic goes up)
• Only 12 1-hour stalls that we believe PBOT should get rid of because people are staying longer

Ryan – those that are overstaying are overstaying by a lot, which suggests a massive overstay of like 6-7 hours.

Zokoych – the public knows that police are not enforcing the parking rules so there is not a proper rotation

Dan – any data about violations?  It could be worthwhile

Summer- if spaces were available for 8 hours, maybe we still need these 1-hour spots

Rick – they should get permits if they need long term parking

• 30-minute stalls have a low occupancy rate – maybe people are being forced into them because of a lack of space
• 2-hour stalls are on average meeting the need of the user, on the metered stalls there is still a high violation rate but low compared to other districts

Ken asks why do we have both metered and sign zones?

Dan – we are easing into meters because it is a difficult subject because there never were any

• In 2016, we were over 85 % in stalls that allow permits; so, the violation rate is only those using the stalls that don’t have a permit – there are no meters there either, we need them to turnover

Summer – thinks 4-hour metered stalls would solve the problem

• Rick says that the 27 4-hour stalls are typically only used for just over an hour
• TPAC needs to think about do we have too many permits out there in those two-hour or by-permit stalls because that didn’t change much
• Context of seasons- we take license plates during 12-hour data collection in what were the vehicle trips that we lost – they were visitors that we lost. If we saw a growth in visitor trips that would be ok, but for now, the employment base is not changed.
• Good news ! because of the permit program we are down to 150 cars who are moving their cars from stall to stall all day (this number has gone down dramatically which is good – none of them have permits). The industry would say that 75 are visitors and 75 employees, before it was 800 employees doing this
• In the peak hour, 929 permits were displayed in the surveyed area and what is interesting : 187 observed in zone N were zone G permits. We need to come back to this constraint zone because G is using N and we need to find the balance.

Julie – is enforcement going on with N and G?

Summer – no and there is no enforcement

• TO BE REVIEWED NEXT TIME: We have issues with violation rates, where the constraints are, who is driving the constraints, 1-hour stalls, 30 min stalls (why the violations are so high)
• Dan – we need to know how many parking stalls we are losing with Center City in Motion (NOTE : since this meeting we know it is approx. 250 stalls give or take depending on which side of the street we suggest the removals)

 

Frog Ferry Presentation – Matthew Markst

Susan Bladholm’s project consists of a commuter ferry up and down Willamette River and over into Vancouver. Basically, getting people to and from work as traffic is getting worse.  We would like to get some traffic off the roads.  The rivers are open and have a lot of capacity.

Zokoych – asks about weather having an effect

Dan- only a problem in winter like November and December because trees come down into the river but you can use water jets instead of screws…there are solutions.  The boats would have an inside and outside.  The only barrier is the Steel Bridge because it is really low- not a lot of clearance…so the vessel used will be a one level vessel.

The goal of the project is to create alternative transport and that does not cost more than taking your car.  There would be 3 phases.  Phase 1 – Vancouver to Downtown,  Phase 2 many stops along Willamette River up to Oregon City and phase 3 going up and down Columbia with various stops.  It would accommodate approx. 149 people.  Approx. 40 minutes from Vancouver to downtown discussion on why that is long.

She is searching for money so she can do an in-depth study that would evaluate financial, viability, etc.

Kate – says that the CEIC has already written a letter to the City in support

It would be a public-private endeavor at the moment.

Ryan asks why another study, as there was one done in the past and the conclusion was that it wouldn’t be feasible.  Dan and Matthew say that that study didn’t consider possible funding that exists now and didn’t back then and other changes like – the competency of Susan Bladholm and her governmental work, her group/team and the strategy that she has.

Matthew encourages TPAC members to send letters of support.

Dan brings up the importance of this type of transport in the case of an earthquake because it would allow for the movement when the bridges are not usable.

 

Enhanced Service District – Kate Merrill

We will be presenting at some neighborhood association meetings.  This is essential to the work that we are doing in the TPAC and for the betterment of the district.  It is like a business improvement district in other cities and like downtown Portland.  The property owner pays based on an assessment and once we get the funding a committee would decide how those funds would be used.  Basically, what you have seen in the clean-up, and going to be seeing with the security will be some projects.  We also have a website page www.cecic.cc/eastworks.

 

This expires in 3 years and then we will go back and re-evaluate.

Summer wonders how she can pass it along to her renters, it is a cost for her as she has 10-year leases.

Susan Pearce – the committee that will be looking at the entire ESD is separate from the security committee?

Kate yes, that one is very much like the CPAC that used to exist.  It exists as a laboratory to use best practices to help people in the area.

Discussion about the map – Kate says that people just at the border of the perimeter can opt to join in and give the example of Killian’s Nostrana building.

 

-ADJOURN-