City Council Minutes 2014 08 19 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes August 19, 2014 Page 5 of 15 DOWNTOWN /OLD TOWN PARKING STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS Mayor Muckle requested a staff presentation. Planning and Building Safety Director Russ reported last year the Planning Division conducted an extensive parking study. Since November of 2013, the staff has worked with the Joint Downtown /Old Town Parking Action Committee to develop specific parking recommendations. Those recommendations were developed through an extensive public participation process and were presented to the Planning Commission. He summarized the conclusions of the study and the recommendations as follows: In 2009 -2010 the first study was completed. At the time there were numerous vacancies and underperforming properties downtown. There was high on- street utilization, yet the off - street spaces weren't being used. During the study, special events, such as the Street Faire were not considered in the Old Town neighborhoods, but were specifically identified in the downtown area of Louisville. The 2013 study was expanded to 38 blocks in Old Town and included the special events and specifically the Street Faire. The conclusions were there were low vacancies and high performing properties, increasing special event requests, which were impacting neighborhoods. The Parking Action Committee is composed of individuals representing three downtown residents, two business owners and three City Departments (Police, Public Works and Economic Development). The Committee reviewed the results of the 2013 Downtown / Old Town Parking Study and, with staff, engaged business owners of Downtown and residents of the Old Town neighborhood to create a parking plan with recommendations consistent with the following goal statement: "Develop an economically sustainable parking plan for Downtown Louisville that balances the parking requirements of a character rich, vibrant, and evolving business district while supporting and enhancing the livability of the adjacent neighborhoods." If implemented, staff feels the Parking Action Committee's recommendations for a parking plan would accomplish all of the following: 1. Eliminate the 325 parking space deficit in Downtown by adding 221 permanent public parking spaces and 109 evening leased public spaces in the next three years (330 total); 2. Provide the Louisville Police Department the capacity to regularly enforce parking rules in both Downtown and Old Town in 2015 and beyond; 3. Implement a neighborhood parking permit program in 2016 oriented at enhancing the livability of Old Town while sustaining the economic vitality of Downtown; 4. Maintain and enhance the small town character of Downtown and Old Town with distributed parking facilities intended to serve current parking deficits throughout Downtown;