PARKING ADVISORY PANEL MEETING


The PARKING ADVISORY PANEL (PAP) met on Tuesday, October 15, 2015, at 3:30 p.m. in
          the Economic Development Conference Room at 605 E. Main Street.

The panel met for its regular monthly meeting on this date with the following members present:
Mr. Knuppel, the Committee Chair, Mr. Hutto, Ms. Fenton and Mr. Rodi. City staff including Mr.
Siebert and Mr. Ness were present.

Mr. Knuppel began the meeting with the introduction of the draft minutes of the last meeting for
approval. They were unanimously approved by voice vote.

The floor was opened for public comment. None was offered.

Mr. Siebert, at the request of the Chair, provided updates on remaining agenda items.

Mr. Siebert indicated that the transition to the new parking equipment was largely compete and
new equipment was working well. He did indicate the integration of HUB JMS with Lanier Paris
was still being worked. He explained this was important form a financial auditing perspective and
for the system to be fully capable of providing parking data for analysis.

Mr. Ness provided a briefing on the six month pilot program to alter the CAT bus route down
South St. He provided some information on boarding’s since the initiation of the pilot and talked
about some of the negative community feedback requiring the reversal of West 2nd and 1st Streets.
Multiple Panel members expressed their sincere concerns how this pilot was started without
sufficient notice to the public and the Panel. It was noted that Ms. Fenton had requested a meeting
with the City Manager to discuss this issue of public notice and the City Manager had agreed to
the meeting but it had not been scheduled. Mr. Ness volunteered to contact the City Manager’s
office and follow up on having a date set for that meeting. Mr. Ness then briefed the Parks and
Recreation project for a pedestrian and bike trail extension on Water Street east of the Belmont
Bridge. He noted that again there had been a lack of sufficient public notice when the project was
about to begin. He indicated the City had halted the project to ensure legally required notice was
given and that the public comment period in that notice was scheduled to close on Friday, October
18, 2019. Panel members pointed out that yet again this was an example of the City’s failure to
follow even its own Code requirements for project public notice.

The panel continues to await a decision by the City Manager and the Chief of Police on advertising
an RFP for supplemental contract parking enforcement. Mr. Ness provided data that showed a
significant decline in the issuance of parking citations in the downtown area by the City Police
over the last three years.

The Tow Committee’s next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 17, 2019. Mr. Siebert
indicated he would be unable to attend but that he was aware that the Committee Chair had
contacted some local businesses regarding the issue of raising the vehicle immobilization fee to
enable booting on private property

Mr. Siebert briefed the Panel on the replacement of the individual meters with automated pay
stations on the surface lot located at the corner of Water and West 2nd Streets. Mr. Ness displayed
a copy of the City’s press release on this subject. Mr. Siebert indicated that the new pay stations
were on schedule to go live on Monday, October 21, 2019.

Mr. Siebert indicated the CivicSmart test sensors were still operating. He then provided a series
of slides from a marketing presentation by another parking space sensor provider. He did so
indicating that he thought the presentation highlighted the basic reasoning behind a growing trend
for cities to provide parking sensors as part of a Smart Parking program. He indicated that
Charlottesville was considering operating another sensor trial similar to the CivicSmart test using
this manufacturer’s equipment. He further indicated that the primary alternate technology for
parking space monitoring was with camera systems. He explained that Charlottesville was in the
midst of planning a camera based test for the West 2nd St Lot. He said that if this test was
successful, the City would have data on the actual usage of parking on the lot to compare with paid
parking data from the new pay stations.

Mr. Knuppel asked if anyone had any new business to add. There was none offered and after
reminding the Panel that the next meeting was scheduled for November 19, 2019, the
meeting was adjourned at 4:20 p.m.