pages: PlanningBoard/2009-02-09.pdf, 3
This data as json
body | date | page | text | path |
---|---|---|---|---|
PlanningBoard | 2009-02-09 | 3 | President Kohlstrand believes the comment regarding citywide business district parking restrictions is relevant. Discussions regarding big rig parking should be heard in a different forum. Staff stated that Public Works, the Planning Department and Development Services staff discussed including other neighborhood business districts during the discussion regarding Park and Webster business districts. The Wilbur Smith study focused on commercial district parking along Park and Webster Streets. Staff plans to revisit neighborhood business district parking at a future date. These areas have different issues including loading and unloading restrictions. Access to transit in these areas is different compared to Park and Webster Street business districts. Because of these differences, staff did not want to lump these areas into this discussion. President Kohlstrand stated these were valid issues for a future discussion. There were no public comments and the public hearing was closed. President Kohlstrand stated the Board discussion should focus on demand waivers and in-lieu fees. Board member Cunningham stated that uses in business districts may change but the amount of square feet available is fixed. He believed planning should revolve around the number of parking spaces required for the amount of retail space available. He believes staff should take a holistic approach to parking that will eliminate the need for many waivers. He stated it appears that the City is requiring different business owners in the same location to pay for the same thing. Staff stated it was difficult to determine how much parking would be provided on each site. Board member Cunningham stated the question of whether the City wants to encourage on-site parking needs to be answered. Previous discussions have centered on satellite parking areas to encourage pedestrian activity. Board member Cook did not think the report was clear on what problem staff is trying to solve. She stated there are different problems in different areas of the City. She believes North of Lincoln provides a good opportunity to predetermine a parking strategy but the area South of Lincoln is a different situation including an underutilized garage. Staff stated that the issue raised in the Wilbur Smith report was that private off street parking garages are not being fully utilized but off street public lots are fully utilized. This observation occurred prior to the opening of the civic garage. Board member Cook stated she thought there was a residential parking problem in the Park Street area based on her inability to find parking on Park Street. However, she was surprised that in some cases more than half of the residents in the area did not perceive this as enough of a problem to implement a residential permit-parking program. She Page 3 of 10 | PlanningBoard/2009-02-09.pdf |