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City Council <br /> Meeting Minutes <br /> August 3, 2010 <br /> Page 6 of 9 <br /> downtown area; and 2) Increasing the cap on development of the westerly portion of <br /> downtown from 354,000 SF to 475,000 SF. City Planner McMillan would review the <br /> Downtown Parking Study and Planning Director Russ reviewed the Floor Area Ratios <br /> and possible exemptions. <br /> City Planner McMillan reviewed the results of the Downtown Parking Study, which <br /> accomplished the following: Document Existing Square Footage; Inventory Parking <br /> Spaces and Document Parking Space Utilization. The current parking requirement of 1 <br /> space per 400 SF of development is greater than the demand for parking created by <br /> development downtown. The maximum demand for parking downtown observed during <br /> the 2009 parking study was 1 space per 532 SF of development. If every future <br /> development provided off street surface parking at the currently required ratio (1:400), <br /> there would likely be an excess of parking in the downtown area. <br /> Currently, there is not a separate residential parking requirement for the downtown <br /> area. Residential development downtown is subject to the same parking requirement as <br /> commercial development (1 space per 400 SF). Specific parking requirements based on <br /> the number of bedrooms proviides a more accurate reflection of the actual demand for <br /> additional parking that residential uses create. <br /> Staff will work on a Parking and Pedestrian Action Plan. The 2009 parking study <br /> determined a maximum demand of one parking space per 532 SF of downtown <br /> development occurred during peak times and the utilization of public and private <br /> spaces, both on- street and off street. Since the completion of the 1999 traffic study, the <br /> downtown traffic situation has changed; a byway was completed on 96th Street diverting <br /> traffic from cutting through town along County Road Front Street to get to the <br /> Northwest Parkway and Highway 36. The regional transportation investment enabled <br /> downtown traffic to decrease by 33 percent since 1999. The utilization of on- street <br /> parking spaces of selected blocks on weekend evenings exceeds 85% on some blocks, <br /> while convenient off street parking and the library garage are not used to the extent they <br /> could be. A Staff initiated Parking and Pedestrian Action Plan will be designed to <br /> improve utilization of existing off- street parking and identify strategies to minimize the <br /> need to construct more parking spaces. <br /> Planning Director Russ reviewed the Floor Area Ratios (increasing the cap on <br /> development of the westerly portion of downtown from 354,000 SF to 475,000 SF) and <br /> possible exemptions. Including projects which have been approved but have not been <br /> built, there is room for an additional 42,000 SF of development downtown before the <br /> current cap is reached. There is room for one or two more substantial development <br /> projects downtown before the current cap on development will be reached. <br /> The 354,000 square foot cap was adopted in 1999 after the completion of the <br /> Downtown Framework Plan based on a traffic impact study done at the time. Since the <br /> completion of the 1999 traffic study, the downtown traffic situation has changed <br /> significantly. Regional transportation investments, despite 10 -years of Downtown growth <br />