Item B: Update on Street and Lighting Fee Development

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Staff recommends a fee structure providing for inclusion in the utility of shared parking within parking exempt areas, with all available parking in these areas allocated proportionately to customer’s sites. Non-Residential Rate Structure, Methods for Measuring Parking In a street utility which relies on parking as the measurement unit for gauging usage of the transportation system, establishing parking units and methods for measuring customers parking are critical steps. These factors are interdependent with the resulting rate and fee structure; decisions about measurement methods can influence the fee structure and vice versa. These factors are most relevant to recommendations on options for non-residential rate structure, as residential parking is generally easier to estimate and average. Measurement of parking spaces and/or capacity at sites can be complicated and potentially subjective. This is because many sites contain parking areas without formally delineated (marked or signed) parking spaces. Determining whether an area without delineated spaces is both available and used for parking, or not considered available or used for parking can be difficult and open to contention. Conversely, counting only delineated spaces is directly observable and objective, but may significantly under-account for actual available parking at a site. As such, a method for estimating available parking based on more readily measured site characteristics is often employed. Estimating methods considered by staff include using: ?Minimum code-required number of spaces per building floor area ?Sampled ratio of parking spaces to gross building floor area ?Sampled ratio of parking spaces to total impervious area ?Sampled ratio of parking spaces to impervious area available for parking Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages which require further evaluation to determine a preferred method having an appropriate balance of equity and administrative feasibility. A potential disadvantage in terms of complexity for any estimating method is inclusion of factors accounting for the variability of the ratio of parking to measurement units by land use type. Distinguishing parking density by land use may improve equity of the rates but introduces additional complexity and administrative costs since land use for each customer must be established and tracked over time. A final factor to consider in selecting a measurement method is the desire to allow for reduction in the fee related to reductions in the amount of land area used for parking. Staff recommends preparing a draft ordinance allowing administrative flexibility as to the methods of measuring or estimating the amount of parking at customer sites. Residential Rate Structure As with non-residential sites, measuring parking at individual residential sites could become complicated and costly. As such, the rate and fee structures for residential customers should utilize an estimated average number of parking units per dwelling unit. Options range from a single fee charged to all residential units across all dwelling types to rates which attempt to account for complex variability in the amount of parking and use of the system per dwelling unit based on housing or site characteristics. Several challenges with the latter approach include availability of data to support distinctions, increased complexity in billing, and potentially excessive administrative B,SUF P37 ATTACHMENT TREET TILITY EE AGE OF