Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 6905 City of Palo Alto COLLEAGUES MEMO May 02, 2016 Page 1 of 4 (ID # 6905) DATE: May 2, 2016 TO: City Council Members FROM: Council Member Filseth, Council Member Holman, Council Member DuBois, Council Member Schmid SUBJECT: COLLEAGUES' MEMO FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS DUBOIS, FILSETH, HOLMAN AND SCHMID REGARDING THE CREATION OF AN EVERGREEN PARKING PERMIT PROGRAM Goal: Provide immediate parking relief to the non-commercial area of Evergreen Park. Background and Discussion: Serious parking problems have been acknowledged in Evergreen Park for 16 years. In the 2000 Stanford General Use Permit, Stanford committed $100,000 for parking impacts starting with College Terrace but also considering impacts on Evergreen Park and Southgate. At that time, it was acknowledged that Evergreen Park may need to be annexed into the Parking Permit program for the same reason that the College Terrace program was started – impacts from Stanford University and California Avenue. In July 2007 a Colleagues memo directed staff to use the $100,000 to initiate an assessment of a permit program in College Terrace. In December 2009, the College Terrace Permit Parking ordinance was approved and started in January 2010. The program has significantly reduced parking problems. The City has no system to measure commercial parking intrusion into residential neighborhoods so residential leaders have conducted a series of parking surveys over more than 2 years documenting the problem and have provided data to City council and staff. Survey data for 2015 shows that the parking saturation rate on Evergreen Park residential streets is consistently over 70 percent on weekdays. Major new construction projects such as 2865 Park Blvd, 2650 Birch Street, 2100 El Camino, 1501 California Ave., and 385 Sherman will be coming on line soon and potentially will add increased demand and exacerbate the already existing parking problem. In the summer of 2015 concerned residents gathered over 225 signatures (from 300 units surveyed) in Evergreen Park requesting an RPP for Evergreen Park identical to the College Terrace program, selling permits only to residents. May 02, 2016 Page 2 of 4 (ID # 6905) Evergreen Park non-commercial residential area is small, just 5 blocks by 3 blocks. Evergreen Park is contiguous to College Terrace and has a community of interest with College Terrace because commuter parking comes from many of the same sources. Yet unlike College Terrace, Evergreen Park has not been granted relief from commuter parking, which now floods the neighborhood. Annexing Evergreen Park to the existing College Terrace RPP is the simplest, least costly, and most expeditious solution since the College Terrace RPP has been in place for over 5 years and efficient procedures and policies have already been established that could easily expand to Evergreen Park. This Council has also taken steps to support and strengthen the position of the California Avenue merchants, and we do not want to jeopardize their ability to survive and thrive in that protective environment. Currently, a merchant cannot share permits among its employees, thus putting more strain on limited parking supply and adding cost to merchants who must otherwise purchase additional permits. Given the small area of consideration and the proximity to CalTrain and El Camino Real bus lines, this also seems an appropriate area to test the efficacy of Palo Alto’s TDM program, and assumptions of potential results before incorporation into the Comprehensive Plan. A number of projects have been approved in the area with TDM programs but coincident with those buildings being occupied the parking situation in Evergreen Park has been exacerbated. This proposal intends to find the quickest, most efficient way to achieve success by addressing ways to remove a large majority of commuter cars from the neighborhood. Recommendation: We recommend that Council direct Staff to return to Council after community outreach and not later than the end of May with a proposal for providing the most expeditious relief to Evergreen Park through a resident parking program which restores and enhances the quality of life in residential neighborhoods by drastically reducing the impact of parking associated with nearby businesses and institutional uses. Two potential actions could be: 1. Create a College Terrace-like RPP with resident only parking, either under the new RPP ordinance or by amending the College Terrace RPP to annex the non-commercial core of Evergreen Park, bounded by El Camino Real, Park Blvd and College Avenue. Concurrent with adoption of the RPPP, allow merchants and personal services in the California Avenue Ground Floor Retail District to share existing and new parking permits valid within the commercial district among their own employees. Staff should recommend what type of parking can be modified most easily in the commercial district to enable permit sharing by these users – parking lots, garages, street parking or some combination. May 02, 2016 Page 3 of 4 (ID # 6905) 2. Create an RPP initiated by Council under Section 10.50.040 on an accelerated timeline for the same non-commercial core area of Evergreen Park. The RPP should provide either zero non-resident permits or a small number (for example, ten percent) available to merchants and personal services in the California Avenue Ground Floor Retail District. Employees of these businesses should be enabled to share such parking permits among their own employees, tracked by employer. (This is as opposed to the proposed unlimited daily permits in the Downtown RPPP area). Non-resident permits in this area should decrease over time, potentially replaced by retail employee permits in the California Ave commercial area (South of College Ave). Concurrent with adoption of the RPPP, allow merchants and personal services in the California Avenue Ground Floor Retail District to share existing and new parking permits valid within the commercial district among their own employees. Furthermore, the City should ensure that: 1. Signage Poles required for the implementation of the program be installed expeditiously. 2. Merchants and offices in the California Avenue Business District and along El Camino Real are notified of pending changes. 3. Ideally, if annexed into the College Terrace RPP complete the creation of the RPP in time to allow Evergreen Park residents to enroll during the next scheduled yearly College Terrace renewal period which occurs 8/1/16 TO 8/31/16. In any case, treat this issue with urgency to implement a solution for the neighborhood. Acknowledging the critical timeliness of this proposal, we request that the City Manager's Comments include short updates on this project. Staff Impact: The City Manager, City Attorney, and Director of Planning have reviewed this Memorandum and have the following comments: On May 9, 2016, the City Council will be asked to prioritize petitions submitted by Evergreen Park, Southgate, and two smaller (sub-neighborhood) areas for establishment of RPP districts consistent with the process outlined in the Citywide RPP ordinance. (The Planning and Transportation Commission will consider the petitions and provide a recommendation on April 27th.) The Department of Planning and Community Environment has requested sufficient funds in the FY17 budget to implement one new RPP district using the process outlined in the Citywide RPP ordinance, which anticipates outreach to the source of parking intrusion as well as residents, and does not pre-suppose a program with no on-street employee parking. The College Terrace May 02, 2016 Page 4 of 4 (ID # 6905) program was the City’s first foray into establishing an RPP zone. We continue to learn with each new district. Additional resources would be needed if the City were to plan for and implement more than one RPP district per year. At the same time, the RPP programs have not been established as full cost recovery programs. As the districts proliferate, externalities of program design need be considered, as well as the most efficient and cost effective structure for provide parking service, options which will be reviewed by the City Manager. The City Attorney’s Office would be involved in analyzing legal requirements and procedures associated with California Avenue parking structures and surface lots to determine the feasibility of sharing of permits.