Business Retention and Development Committee Agenda and Packet 2009 07 06

Home Browse Search

Issue #2 – The parking requirement The current parking requirement of 1 space per 400 square feet of development is greater than the demand for parking created by development downtown. The parking study revealed that the maximum demand for parking downtown is 1 space per 532 square feet of development. If every future development provided off street surface parking at the currently required ratio (1:400), there would likely be an excess of parking in the downtown area. Excess parking unnecessarily takes up valuable downtown land, and can disrupt the unique character of Downtown Louisville. Members of the development community have indicated that they will provide parking for their developments regardless of what the municipal parking requirement is. It is very difficult for developers to attain financing for projects, and harder yet to sell them, if sufficient parking is not provided. Issue #3 – Fee-in-Lieu The idea of a parking “Fee-in-Lieu” is that the City will collect the money, place it in a downtown parking fund, and build the parking spaces required to support downtown development at a later date. The current fee of $3,600 will not cover the cost of building a parking space in Downtown Louisville. This presents a potential problem for the future parking supply of downtown as the City will not have adequate funds to build the parking that the payment in lieu was provided for. Issue #4 – Parking Management and Design As downtown continues to develop, the demand for parking spaces will increase. It will be important to manage where, when, and how parking is provided. Currently, the parking management strategy for downtown consists of two hour time limit spaces in the core of downtown. Additional strategies such as neighborhood permit parking, increased parking enforcement, and paid parking may be used in the future to help manage parking. The City purchased the post office site downtown with the idea that some of the future need for parking could be accommodated there. There are other ways that the city could look to increase the supply of parking downtown including considering shared parking agreements with locations that are typically empty during certain times of day (i.e. the bank at night). Traditionally, transportation and parking needs are addressed with a supply side strategy. If traffic is congested, and parking is full, the typical solution has been to add additional roadways or construct additional parking. Transportation Demand Management (TDM) is the planning and implementation of programs that seek to reduce road space and parking demand by influencing travel choices. An example of a TDM strategy would be allowing a parking reduction if a new office building in downtown provided transportation passes (ECO passes) to all of their employees. TDM strategies are another way to address parking issues. Where it is necessary to provide parking, it is important that it is designed so that is not detrimental to the unique character and pedestrian scaled environment of downtown.