City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: JUNE 7, 2017
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
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Consideration of a Resolution to Install Metered Parking at the City Parking Lot at Union Station. [ROLL-CALL VOTE]
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ISSUE: Consideration of a Resolution to Install Metered Parking at the City Parking Lot at Union Station.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council adopt the attached resolution to allow meters at the City parking lot at Union Station (Attachment 1).
BACKGROUND: The City owns the 40-space parking lot at Union Station (110 Callahan Drive) that is primarily intended to serve Amtrak patrons. Up until February 2017, the only restriction in this lot was signage designating the spaces “Amtrak Parking Only.” This restriction was difficult, if not impossible, to enforce since there was nothing on or inside the vehicles to identify whether the driver was using Amtrak. Parking enforcement had no way of knowing if the spaces were being used by Amtrak customers, commuters or local workers taking advantage of the free parking near the King Street Metro Station. As a result, this lot was typically full early in the morning until the end of the day with many vehicles parking all day. This made it difficult for people who arrived in the middle of the day who wanted to legitimately use Amtrak services to drop off or wait for passengers, purchase tickets, or perform other related business inside to park in this lot. As Amtrak service has increased in recent years, this parking problem has been exacerbated.
To improve parking availability, staff worked with Amtrak over the last year to install a variety of restrictions on the lot to accommodate the different users. Signage was posted in February of this year to restrict parking to 2 hours, 30 minutes, taxi loading, ADA, Amtrak employees, and a reserved spot for the Commuter Connections vehicle (Attachment 2). Once installed, staff received significant feedback about the new restrictions. While some people were disappointed by the elimination of free parking, others felt that the two-hour parking restriction was not useful for longer Amtrak trips and wanted to see restrictions that could potentially accommodate longer stays, even if it was not free. To allow for longer parking while ensuring some parking availability, staff has proposed installing meters at this lot allowing multi-day parking and not limited to 2 hours.
The City Code allows the Traffic and Parking Board to review proposals for metered parking lots and provide a recommendation to the City Council. The City Council can approve the proposal through a resolution designating hours, rates, and other regulations related to the metering of the lot.
DISCUSSION: To better manage the Union Station lot and accommodate some long-term parking for Amtrak use, staff has proposed installing meters on the lot. This proposal only applies to the paved portion of this lot. The existing gravel lot that is used for City employee parking is not part of this proposal. The lot has approximately 40 spaces, but only 24 of the spaces would be metered. This includes the 8 perpendicular spaces facing Callahan Drive and the 16 parallel spaces headed towards King Street. The remaining spaces in the lot will continue to be designated for Amtrak employee parking (5 spaces per lease with the City), 30-minute parking, ADA, taxi loading/unloading, and the Commuter Connections vehicle (Attachment 3). The proposed hours and rates for this lot are:
• Hours: 24 hours, 7 days a week (Similar to the Cameron/St. Asaph and Patrick/Henry lots and Thompson’s Alley Garage)
• Rates: $2.50/hour, with a daily maximum rate $15 (Hourly rate is similar to other city lots and garages in Old Town. The daily maximum is $5 more than these lots/garages but closer to the daily rate at adjacent garages.)
• Multi-day: Meters would be programed for multi-day payment at the maximum daily rate of $15 (similar to what is allowed at Thompson’s Alley Garage) for a maximum of 10 days.
The meters in this lot will be programmed for “Pay by Plate” payment, which allows parkers to verify their parking session at the meter using their license plate rather than purchasing a ticket to display in their vehicle. This eliminates the return trip back to the vehicle after paying at the meter. This payment method is being used in more and more cities around the world as it is more convenient for the customer and more efficient for enforcement. Ultimately, staff would like to move all of the meters over to this technology and will be using this lot to test it first.
At its April 24, 2017 meeting, the Traffic and Parking Board held a public hearing to review the proposal. There was only one public speaker and he spoke against the proposal stating he believed people would be less inclined to ride Amtrak if they had to pay to park at the lot. The Board voted 5-1 to approve meters in this lot with the rates and hours proposed by staff. Some Board members did express concern about the option for long term parking in this small lot and the impact to parking availability for people using the lot for shorter visits. Staff has agreed to monitor the usage at this lot after meters are installed and will provide an update to the Board at the beginning of the year about utilization and duration of parking.
FISCAL IMPACT: A minimum of two multi-space meters will be required for this lot, which costs approximately $8,100 per meter to purchase and install and $2,500 per meter for annual maintenance. Using annual revenue figures from the other two surface lots in Old Town, Staff estimates the annual revenue from this would be approximately $70,000.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: Resolution
Attachment 2: Existing Restrictions
Attachment 3: Proposed Restrictions and Meter Locations
STAFF:
Emily A. Baker, Deputy City Manager
Yon Lambert, Director, T&ES
Jeremy McPike, Director, General Services
Al Coleman, Deputy Director, General Services
Carrie Sanders, Deputy Director, T&ES
Christopher Ziemann, Division Chief, Transportation Planning, T&ES
Katye North, Principal Planner, Transportation Planning, T&ES