HomeMy WebLinkAbout8.13.14 Ashland Downtown Parking & Circulation Committee MinutesASHLAND DOWNTOWN PARKING MANAGEMENT & CIRCULATION AD HOC ADVISORY COMMITTEE
July 2, 2014
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August 13, 2014
CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 3:30 p.m. in Pioneer Hall, 73 Winburn Way
Regular members present: Pam Hammond, Michael Dawkins, Rich Kaplan, Dave Young, Craig Anderson, John
Williams, Emile Amarotico (left at 4:55), Joe Collonge, Lisa Beam, Marie Donovan, Liz Murphy and John Fields
(arrived at 3:42)
Regular members absent: Cynthia Rider
Ex officio (non-voting) members present: Sandra Slattery, Bill Molnar, Rich Rosenthal, and Lee Tuneberg
Ex officio (non-voting) members absent: Mike Gardiner, Katharine Flanagan, Mike Faught and Dennis Slattery
City of Ashland Staff members present: Tami De Mille-Campos
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Minutes of July 2, 2014
Minutes approved by unanimous consent.
PUBLIC FORUM
Email dated 8/6/2014 from Barb Barasa (included as attachment to minutes)
POLICY OPTIONS SURVEY RESULTS
Note: Detailed survey results may be found on the City’s website under City Commissions “Downtown Parking
Management and Circulation Ad Hoc Advisory Committee”
Survey Context:
Evaluated community support for various policy options
Administered May-June 2014
Distributed via e-mail, City’s website, and through City Source newsletter (utility bill)
239 Total Respondents
Characteristics of Respondents:
Implications:
#1 Focus on incremental short-term strategies
Respondents supported increases and improvements in wayfinding signage
Respondents did not express clear support for one type of wayfinding signage
Informational campaign should be coordinated and available through a variety of mediums
Respondents support outreach programs to educate downtown employees about the value of parking
# 2 Effective Transportation Demand Management strategies will need to integrate a number of approaches
Incentive programs are supported but responses suggest they may not be effective
ASHLAND DOWNTOWN PARKING MANAGEMENT & CIRCULATION AD HOC ADVISORY COMMITTEE
July 2, 2014
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Majority supported satellite parking lots with trolley service
Respondents did not express strong support for pedestrian infrastructure improvements
#3 Respondents think multi-modal infrastructure improvements should be focused on bicycles
Bicycle infrastructure improvements are the preferred method for encouraging bicycling
Many respondents indicated they would not use bicycle infrastructure improvements
#4 Regulatory, enforcement, and pricing strategies will be controversial
Respondents were not supportive of increased regulation and enforcement
Respondents supported changes to loading zone restrictions
Respondents supported the development of another parking garage, though with varying support for time
frames
Metered parking strategies are not supported; many respondents said it would deter them from visiting
downtown
Discussion: John Williams stated he wasn’t surprised by the responses. They seemed somewhat unrealistic in
several cases. Such as, having visitors pay for the shuttle, educating employers to get their employees to not drive to
work etc. Rich said he was interested in the responses to the paid parking; specifically that paid parking would deter
some people from actually visiting downtown.
CIRCULATOR TROLLEY (see attached trolley white paper for details)
Trolley Context:
Discussions of trolley feasibility studies since 2001 Downtown Plan
Initial route and cost estimates outlined in the 2012 Transportation System Plan (TSP)
CPW conducted their own analysis of case studies and back of the envelope estimates based on survey
data
Questions for Consideration:
Who will the trolley serve?
– Residents, visitors, employees, students
With what frequency and where will the route run?
– Dependent on riders
How will the trolley be financed?
– Initial (capital) costs
– Operating Costs
– Cost of ridership
Who will oversee the operation of the trolley?
Needed New Route:
Examined possibility of neighborhood circulator
– Too many stops, too much distance to travel, and not enough riders for cost effectiveness
Decided straight line from Exit 14 to Exit 19 is the best “bang for the buck”
Proposed Route Details:
Would serve employee commuters, visitors, students and some residents
Could serve the construction of satellite parking lots
11 mile round trip, frequency of 15 minutes
Similar to Coral Gables and West Palm Beach trolley lines
Annual Costs:
Didn’t examine initial start up (capital) costs
Operating costs estimated at $1 million
– Based on route length and number of stops from case studies
ASHLAND DOWNTOWN PARKING MANAGEMENT & CIRCULATION AD HOC ADVISORY COMMITTEE
July 2, 2014
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Calculated how many riders are needed for a specific fare to cover operating costs
Revenue Estimates:
Sources: Ashland Chamber of Commerce, Oregon QCEW, CPW Policy Options Survey
CPW Recommendation:
Is it a feasible option?
– Yes
Does the math pencil out?
– Maybe
Recommend a full feasibility analysis be conducted
Creative Funding Strategies:
Revenue from naming rights goes to endowment to pay annual operating costs
Employers whom benefit help offset operating costs
Saving money through trolley rentals instead of ownership
Charter services can be used to help offset costs if trolleys are purchased
Discussion: Question was raised regarding how this might interfere with RVTD’s bus route and it was stressed that it
isn’t intended to have any effect on RVTD; hopefully it would complement RVTD and provide another mode of
transportation. The committee also raised concern regarding the trolley being able to handle, at times, approximately
2,000 attendees coming out of the Shakespeare shows around 11:00 pm. It was pointed out the trolley doesn’t have
to be designed to handle shuttling 2,000 people at a time. Many of the festival goers walk to their hotel/bed &
breakfast. It is designed to provide another mode of transportation. There was some concern with the capital cost of
the trolleys which the Transportation System Plan (TSP) estimated at close to three quarters of a million dollars each.
Emphasis was given that the trolleys could be designed however they see fit. The Committee questioned whether a
subcommittee might be necessary to vet the trolley details. A comment was made that this trolley idea keeps coming
up and then it ends up fizzling out for a variety of reasons; Ashland doesn’t seem to really support mass transit. If the
City moves forward with the feasibility study there is hope that some research would be done to see why that is &
why RVTD hasn’t been very successful even when it was free. Also, what evidence is there that there is a tangible
return on the investment to purchase and operate a trolley system. CPW remarked the feasibility study would get to
that level. Chair Young pointed out the intent behind this trolley wasn’t to be cute and fun. He said the committee
hasn’t even looked at the public/private partnerships which he had hoped they would. There may be hotels interested
in participating in a partnership in lieu of running their own shuttles. Joe stated he would ride the trolley everyday if it
were an option. Members of the committee are open to the idea of having an alternative mode of transportation but
are concerned with cost, ridership etc. Michael added that during the Transportation System Plan (TSP) process
there were a number of them that felt that what Ashland needed its own separate circulation system and use the
bigger bus system to get people to the outlying cities. The committee would like to see data on how many fewer cars
would be parking downtown if the trolley was implemented. CPW said they hadn’t explored the impacts, but they can.
The committee questioned what CPW thought about doing a pilot study in order to measure the success. CPW
Approximate Ashland visitors 350,000
Approximate Ashland employees 2,839
Fare per round trip
$2.00
50% Ridership taking 3 trips per year
$1,050,000
75% ridership taking 2 trips per year $1,050,000
ASHLAND DOWNTOWN PARKING MANAGEMENT & CIRCULATION AD HOC ADVISORY COMMITTEE
July 2, 2014
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stated the challenge of doing a pilot study for something like this is the capital cost involved. Lee pointed out that
when we looked for comparatives, we didn’t find any. He said it doesn’t mean there aren’t any out there but if nobody
our size can afford one of these then we are already started up a hill. He also pointed out that when the City was
spending a few hundred thousand dollars a year subsidizing RVTD it didn’t make the parking problems go away. He
said if you want to do a feasibility study that is great but he doesn’t think it is going to be financially viable here with
all of the conditions Ashland has. Rich Kaplan hopes that nobody will think the can is being kicked down the street. It
is more about trying the low hanging fruit first (incremental changes) and then move on to the other options, if the low
hanging fruit isn’t sufficient. Craig is supportive of what the committee has been talking about but he would like to see
employee parking incorporated; such as creating districts, where employees pay a monthly fee for parking.
Lisa/Marie direct CPW to move forward with strategies related to informational resources, wayfinding and
regulation (this also includes creating benchmarks for measuring success) and defer the trolley and pricing
(paid parking).
Pam, Rich, Dave, Craig, John Williams, Emile, Joe, Lisa, Marie, Liz and John Fields YES; Michael NO.
Motion passes.
Michael stated he voted no because he is a strong proponent of paid parking.
CPW explained they will come back in September to discuss informational resources and hopefully wayfinding in
October. Lee added in order for the upcoming biennial budget to include any budget implications associated with
these changes they would need to be included when the budget discussions take place around March, 2015. CPW
added that by the end of the year they are hoping to have the finished report to present to the committee by
November/December with the hope that it could be presented to the Council January/February, in time for the budget
process.
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 5:30 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Tami De Mille-Campos, Administrative Assistant
From:Mike Faught
To:"Tami DeMille-Campos"
Subject:FW: 3 ideas from Chicago about bike ridership
Date:Wednesday, August 06, 2014 3:48:12 PM
Hey Tami... Let's include this in the next downtown committee meeting...
Michael R. FaughtPublic Works DirectorCity of Ashland51 Winburn WayAshland, OR 97520faughtm@ashland.or.us541/552-2411541/488-6006 Fax800/735-2900 TTYThis email is official business of the City of Ashland, and it is subjectto Oregon public records law for disclosure and retention. If you havereceived this message in error, please let me know.
-----Original Message-----From: Barb Barasa [mailto:barb@websitings.net]Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2014 12:38 PMTo: barb@websitings.netSubject: 3 ideas from Chicago about bike ridership
I can't say I'm a real bike rider. I'm trying to motivate myself to ridemy bike more. When I do ride, it's as a "commuter" - I don't mountain bikeor go on long rides for fun. I ride my bike to get somewhere.
It has bothered me for a long time that Ashland wants to be trendy andcool in all ways, and being "bike friendly" seems to be one of the latestthings Ashland wants to be. Yet to me, it is not bike friendly at all. Idon't feel I can safely ride down Main St. downtown. When I need to gothru that part of town, I ride in the alleys, even tho it's not all thatconvenient. Altho there's a "bike lane" on Siskiyou, I would never ride init because I feel the cars zipping by are too close, so I ride on thesidewalks there.
Protected bike lanes:
I'm originally from Chicago. A friend of mine who has switched from mostlyrunning to mostly biking sent me a link to an article about a new bikelane in downtown Chicago, which has been name the best bike lane in thecountry.
http://www.chicagonow.com/show-me-chicago/2013/12/chicago-bike-lanes-dearborn-st-lane
-named-best-in-the-country/
The protected lane on Dearborn in Chicago has plastic posts separating thebike lanes from motor vehicles. THAT's what I would call bike friendly.
It seems to me that if the City of Chicago can risk alienating motorvehicles by converting one whole lane of traffic into a two-way bike lanewith its own signals for over a mile in the most congested downtown area,maybe Ashland could look into a similar option for the few blocks of
downtown.
This other article he sent is about a study of how effective someprotected bike lanes are in Chicago in increasing bike traffic.
http://www.redeyechicago.com/news/local/redeye-study-praises-protected-bike-lanes-20140603,0,6015518.story
"Ridership on Dearborn Street in the Loop increased 171 percent in theyear after the protected bike lane was installed"
Bike rental:
Chicago also has a Divvy Bike business in operation, which my friend hasalso used.https://www.divvybikes.com/
The valley probably does not have a population that could support thiskind of business, but I don't know. Ashland tried the green bike programbut the bikes were stolen or trashed. Divvy Bikes seems to have solved theproblem of "responsibility" because you can't pick up a bike unless they"know where to find you". If this business has survived in Chicago as faras not having bikes disappear or be broken, I'm sure that aspect wouldwork anywhere. The bikes are stored in locked "holders" at stations allaround the city. You join, get a keycard, and can use any bike for half anhour. By traveling from station to station, you can get pretty muchanywhere you want. I'm not sure how it could be scaled down to work in avery small town, but there must be a way. This would be great for touristswho want to get around town without a car!
Bike storage and repair (mainly for commuters):
I also have 3 photos I took when I went back to Chicago 10 years ago ofthe commuter bike parking and repair center that was put in under GrantPark where there was already motor vehicle parking. I'm afraid the emailmight get blocked if I attach the photos, but if you are interested, justlet me know. This facility has secure double level bike storage, lockers,showers and changing area, and a bike repair shop!
I realize Ashland does not have the population to support something quitethat sophisitcated.It took forever just to get a few bike racks over by OSF. But on theother hand, maybe more people would use their bikes for commuting fromfarther away if they knew they could safely and conveniently store theirbikes and clean up before work, especially in bad weather. This could alsogreatly appeal to tourists who bring their bikes with them, and "longhaul" bikers might be more likely to come thru Ashland if they knew therewas a safe place to store their bikes while they stopped here.
Just a few ideas from the big city. Now if I can just ride my own bikemore ...
Barb Barasa