PARKING ADVISORY PANEL MEETING


The PARKING ADVISORY PANEL (PAP) met on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, at 3:30 p.m. as
a virtual Zoom meeting.

The panel met for its first monthly meeting since the declaration of the statewide health emergency
with the following members present: Mr. Jake Mooney, Mr. Jamelle Bouie, Mr. Danny Yoder,
Ms. Joan Fenton, Mr. Michael Cusano, Mr. Mike Rodi and Mr. Kirby Hutto. City staff including
Mr. Rick Siebert and Mr. Jason Ness were present.

The former Chair of the panel chose not to reapply and so the panel appointed Mr. Hutto as a
temporary Chair until such time as the members felt they were sufficiently familiar with each other
to appoint a permanent Chair. Mr. Hutto began the meeting by proposing the acceptance of the
draft minutes from the last meeting. They were unanimously approved.

There followed introductions by each member of the Panel including Mr. Siebert and Mr. Ness as
non-voting city staff. It was decided public comment would be most productive after Mr. Siebert
briefed the Panel on current parking issues.

Mr. Siebert then provided a brief introduction to the following topics. There was comment and
questions by some members concerning each topic as noted below:

Covid Response:
Mr. Siebert briefly described some city actions regarding public parking taken as a result of the
current health emergency.
    1. The creation of 9 permanently marked 15 minute loading zones spread across the areas of
        Downtown, West Main and the Corner. He indicated these spaces are designed to facilitate
        pick up and drop off restaurants and retail as well as Lyft and Uber.
    2. He described the program to allow monthly parkers at city facilities to suspend their
        parking privileges but retain their access credentials. He further explained this program
        was being terminated effective November 1, 2020, so that ongoing monthly demand could
        be estimated with an eye to opening the long-standing waiting list.

Parking Enforcement
Mr. Siebert provided a brief history of why parking enforcement is necessary (to ensure respect
for timed space restrictions and thus force space turnover), the perception that CPD parking
enforcement is limited and unreliable and a prior decision by the Panel to support supplementing
CPD parking enforcement with contractors under the supervision of the Parking Division. Mr.
Siebert then summarized the CPD objections to the use of contract parking enforcement.
Comments were made by Ms. Fenton and Mr. Hutto with their position on the issue and
perceptions of its history. Mr. Siebert agreed to provide all the members of the Panel with a copy
of the draft RFP and some industry papers supporting contract parking enforcement.

The Proposed 7th Street Garage
Mr. Siebert again provided some history of the issue. It included a description of the City/County
Memorandum of Agreement to retain the court system downtown its historic location. Mr. Mooney
asked for a copy of the MOA and Mr. Siebert agreed to provide it to all the Panel members. Mr.
Siebert additionally provided an explanation of the City’s planned design/build construction
process and two step procurement process for selecting a design/build team. Mr. Mooney asked
if the City had explored building a residential, commercial and parking mixed use development on
the site. Mr. Siebert explained that this had been part of the initial feasibility studies of the site
and explained some of the site limitations in terms of the actual parcel dimensions and zoning.

Mr. Hutto suggested the Panel could review the supplemental information Mr. Siebert promised
to provide on both parking enforcement and the new garage and discuss them further at the next
monthly meeting. He then opened the floor for public comment.

Mr. Roy Stolzenberg made the only public comment. He suggested the Panel support a zoning
change to add additional height and density to the prospective site for the 7th St Garage. He also
asked the Panel to support the use of on-street parking spaces (parklets) to expand restaurant
outdoor dining.

Ms. Fenton spoke in support of the parklet idea. Mr. Ness provided a brief history of the City’s
efforts in this regard.

Mr. Hutto adjourned the meeting at 5:02 PM.

A complete audio and video copy of the meeting is at:
https://boxcast.tv/channel/arevwckqrofmm9t57myy.