City Council Agenda and Packet 1998 12 01

Home Browse Search

applauded the proposed downtown parking improvement fund. Hartronft encouraged Council to include private participation such as a task force to determine how the funds are spent. Nancy Love, 841 Front Street, LouisviHe, Colorado agreed with Hartronft. She explained that she is currently in the process of expanding her building and is unsure whether the ordinance is addressing the square footage of her current building plus expansion, or just the expansion portion. She questioned whether the City has considered a parking district much like the City of Boulder has in place. Wood replied that the ordinance would only address the expansion portion oTher business. Davidson explained that in meetings with downtown business owners a tax district was proposed. The few businesses who were planning to expand were in favor of a district however, the vast majority were nOlt. Love suggested that Council consider purchasing the property across the street from her buiiness (the Steinbaugh property) for additional parking or provide an underpass beneath the railroad tracks for easier accessibility to possible parking east ofthe tracks. Max Barber, 732 Main Street, Louisville, Colorado, stated that he understands the City is willing to supply parking for customers and .patrons coming to downtown to do business, and that is significantly dijlerent from office space requirements for employee parking. He believes that restaurants providing on-site parking will result in a lot of surface parking along Main Street buildings that will disrupt the continuity of the continuous storefront look. He suggested that allowances be made for retail and restaurant business. Sisk explained that ifthe proposed parking permit'system is established it will provide employee parking outside the area and free up the two-hour parking zone for customers and patrons. Davidson called for Council comments and questions. Howard stated that he would like ta see an exemption for retail businesses and a method far addressing the dead space, such as hallways, in the square footage calculations. Keany stated that page two of the Council Communication specifically excludes "stairwells; elevator shafts; hallways; ornamental balconies; space accupied by heating, air conditioning, or other utility equipment; space devoted exclusively to storage; and space devoted to off-street parking or loading." Light stated that currently in the code there is a set of parking requirements that state these items can be discounted from the parking calculations. That is not the case for developments subject to the Commercial Design Development Standards and Guidelines (CDDSG). The CDDSG states that for any development subject to the CDDSG, parking is calculated based upon gross floor area with the assumption that the required number of parking spaces would reflect some discount for the dead 15