City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: NOVEMBER 2, 2016
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
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Introduction and First Reading. Consideration. Passage on First Reading of an Ordinance to Create Section 5-8-84: Pay By Phone Parking Fee Within a Residential Permit Parking District.
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ISSUE: Consideration of an ordinance to establish a resident-initiated, pilot residential pay by phone parking fee program.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council consider the proposed ordinance on first reading and set it for public hearing and final passage on Saturday, November 12, 2016.
BACKGROUND: In 2015, the Old Town Area Parking Study (OTAPS) Work Group was reconvened to review updated parking occupancy data and discuss potential tools to help manage parking. One of the tools the Work Group recommended was to implement a program for a pay by phone parking requirement for residential blocks. This would support the Work Group’s goal to “Preserve parking on residential blocks for residents and guests.” To address concerns from residents who may not support this tool on their block, the Work Group’s recommendation stipulated that this tool be initiated by the residents of each block, similar to the existing residential permit parking process.
The City currently has a pay by phone application (Pango) that has been available to use at the metered locations throughout the City since December 2013. If Council approves this pilot program and expands the pay by phone program to residential blocks, non-residents who choose to park on these blocks would be required to pay to park on these blocks rather than park for free. Residents of the parking district and guests (with authorized Guest Permits) would be exempt from the parking fee.
DISCUSSION: Because residential permit parking districts are outlined in the City Code, the creation of a pilot, residential pay by phone parking fee program requires an amendment that outlines the parameters of the program and also includes an expiration date pending a staff evaluation. The following summarizes some of the key aspects of this program that are included in the amendment to the City Code as well as some considerations for evaluating and implementing this pilot program:
Program Area and Eligible Blocks
For this program, staff proposes a boundary for eligibility east of Washington Street between Princess Street and Wolfe Street (Attachment 3). This restriction will be considered on a block basis, meaning both sides of a given street (e.g., the east and west side of the 200 block of N. Royal Street). Within this area, blocks must meet the following requirements to be eligible for enacting this tool:
• The block must be adjacent to an existing metered block or residential pay by phone block. Attachment 3 identifies the blocks that would be eligible at the start of the program due to their location adjacent to an existing metered block.
• The existing parking conditions on the block must be observed at 75% occupancy during a survey by City staff. The data collected in 2015 for OTAPS indicates that many of these blocks meet these criteria, but a survey will be conducted after receipt of a petition by the residents of the block to confirm parking conditions.
Implementation
Pursuant to the recommendations of the OTAPS Work Group and similar to the existing process for adding or amending residential parking restrictions, implementation of this tool will be initiated by residents. Staff will require a petition be submitted to City staff to initiate the request. At least 50% of the residents of the block (total for both sides of the street) must sign the petition stating they wish to enact a pay by phone requirement on their block. After verifying the petition is valid and the block meets the eligibility criteria above, the request will be reviewed by the Traffic and Parking Board as a public hearing item.
Applicability
The parking fee would only apply to vehicles without a valid permit for the parking district (District 1 for the streets south of King Street and District 2 for the streets north of King Street). Guests of the residents that display a valid guest or visitor permit for that district would not be required to pay the fee.
Hours of Restriction
The hours the parking fee would be required would be consistent with the current hours and days posted for the block, such as 8am to 11pm, Monday-Saturday. Since the current hours of restriction for metered blocks is 8am to 9pm, Monday - Saturday, the parking fee would be required longer on the residential blocks. Ideally, this will help direct non-residents off the residential blocks during the later hours in the evening.
Parking Fee and Signage
The fee to park on these blocks would be the same as the rate to park on a metered block, which is $1.75 per hour. The proposed signage would be consistent with the current meter signage with “District X permit exempt” language at the bottom. This would provide some consistency among the signage for blocks that require some form of payment to park. An additional sign would be installed below with the Pango zone number and payment options.
Guest Permits
By adding a pay by phone requirement, anyone without a district parking permit would be required to pay to park. Similar to existing restrictions for guest permits, guests of residents of the block would need to have a guest pass to park. The difference being a permit would be needed for any period of time during the restrictions rather than for visits longer than two hours.
Currently, there are a number of ways to acquire a valid guest permit. First, by logging into the City system from home residents can continue to print free guest passes to allow for 24 hours of parking. Second, free guest passes can continue to be obtained at City Hall. Also available at City Hall are non-date specific, self-validating passes that could be purchased for $1 in advance and activated as needed. As part of this program, staff could consider making a certain number of these passes available at no cost to residents of a pay by phone block. This would accommodate instances where an unexpected guest needs to park and access to a printer or cell phone is not available.
If this program is approved, staff proposes to work with the City’s current pay by phone provider to add a feature to the app that would allow residents to approve the parking for their guests through the app. If approved, staff expects that this tool may be available within nine-12 months.
Payment Options
For visitors who choose to pay to park on these blocks, the easiest way to pay will be using a smartphone with the City’s pay by phone app, Pango. For people who do not have a smartphone or do not want to download the app, the payment can be made by calling a toll free number and registering the parking session (after the person has created a Pango account). A third payment option would be to pay for parking at a meter on a nearby block and display the receipt on the vehicle dashboard. The signage that is installed would list these three options, and in the case of the meter identify the location of the closest one.
Program Evaluation
Staff will have a clear review process for evaluating whether this is a useful parking management tool that should become a permanent option in the Code. To do this, staff proposes conducting existing conditions surveys of the block that is proposed for the pay by phone parking requirement and adjacent blocks in each direction to determine baseline conditions. The surveys would include a number of different times and days of the week to get as complete a picture as possible. After implementation of the pay by phone requirement, staff would re-survey the blocks to determine whether this changed the parking conditions on this block and the surrounding blocks. Up to three surveys would be conducted over the course of the trial program to obtain multiple data points.
Consistent with the goal of the program, staff would consider this an effective tool if the results showed a minimum of 1-2 parking spaces (or, less than 75% occupied) were now available to residents on the pay by phone blocks. Impacts to adjacent blocks would also need to be considered to ensure the parking issue did not just move to another block. Staff would also ask for feedback through a survey from the residents of both the pay by phone block and adjacent blocks to determine if they felt this tool improved or worsened the parking conditions on their blocks and the overall neighborhood.
Because this is a trial program for evaluation of whether this should become a permanent tool, an expiration date of March 1, 2019 has been included in the City Code amendment. This will give staff approximately two years after Council approval to work with interested residents and evaluate changes to the parking conditions on those blocks. Staff will review the status of the program in October 2018 to determine if steps need to be taken to make this program permanent or allow it to expire in March 2019.
Community Outreach
The Traffic and Parking Board received an overview of the proposed program at their meeting in May and their feedback was incorporated into the overall program details and considerations. At the Board’s meeting on September 26, 2016, the Board held a public hearing on the proposed program and associated City Code amendment. In general, the Board was supportive of the proposal, but requested that staff ensure a clear and convenient process for accommodating guests was provided. The Board recommended approval of the amendment with a vote of 7 to 0.
In addition to outreach needed to get participation in the program, outreach will be needed to notify non-resident parkers of changes to blocks that will have the new restrictions. Since this introduces a new type of parking restriction, clear signage and information will be needed to ensure parkers understand the restrictions on each block.
FISCAL IMPACT: The fiscal impact of this ordinance is minor. If successful, little to no revenue would be generated on the residential blocks, meaning non-residents are choosing not to park on these blocks thereby making parking available for the residents. There would be a small cost of fabricating and installing the new signage. Each block would probably require
6 to 8 signs at an overall cost of approximately $600 to 800 per block. If ten self-validating guest passes were offered to residents in a pay by phone block, this would be $10 per household of lost revenue. On average, each block has approximately twenty households, meaning a total of $200 per block in lost revenue. However, any revenue collected from the pay by phone fee would likely offset this loss.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: Ordinance Cover
Attachment 2: Ordinance for Establishing the Residential Pay by Phone Parking Fee Program
Attachment 3: Map of Eligible Blocks
Attachment 4: Presentation
STAFF:
Emily A. Baker, Deputy City Manager
Yon Lambert, AICP, Director, T&ES
Carrie Sanders, Deputy Director, T&ES
Steve Sindiong, Acting Division Chief, Transportation Planning, T&ES
Katye North, Principal Planner, Transportation Planning, T&ES