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ECC UGENE ITY OUNCIL AIS GENDA TEM UMMARY Work Session: Downtown Parking Meeting Date: October 29, 2008 Agenda Item Number: A Department: Planning and Development Staff Contact: Jeff Petry www.eugene-or.gov Contact Telephone Number: 541-682-5079 ISSUE STATEMENT The City Council has requested a work session on downtown parking. General background on the following topics will be presented to start the discussion: (1) General information on the parking system (private and public); (2) The City’s downtown Parking Program, including its relationship to development activity and financial detail, and (3) Parking programs in comparable communities. BACKGROUND (1) General Information on the Parking System Parking management is both a privately and publicly provided service in our community. The City of Eugene’s Parking Services program manages parking garages, meters, time-zones (e.g. 2-hour parking), monthly permits, residential parking permits, parking code enforcement, and Municipal Court adjudication. These services are also provided by the University of Oregon, Sacred Heart Hospital, Lane County, Diamond Parking Services, and many private businesses and property owners. The City of Eugene regulated parking system encompasses nearly 7,000 parking spaces over four square miles, with 2,600 structured parking spaces, 550 surface lot parking spaces, 1,700 metered on-street spaces, and 2,100 time-limited on-street spaces. Short-term or daily parking is provided on- and off- street at $0.75/hour in downtown (up to $3.50 per day) and $1.00/hour in the campus district (up to $5.00 per day). In the downtown core, there is a “First Hour Free” and business “Parking Validation Program” in the Overpark and Parcade, which are the two largest downtown garages (see attachment A). There is also a Saturday free program in all of the parking garages downtown. Longer term parking is provided through monthly permits (20,000 per year) and many residential parking programs. Other services include 24-hour downtown garage security, event parking, discounted parking for carpool and rideshare commuters, and commercial space leasing in three downtown City garages. Municipal Court adjudicates parking citations, with less than 4% of all citations contested and less than a 1% dismissal rate. (2) City of Eugene’s Downtown Parking Program Downtown has had a regulated parking system since 1939, with the installation of 145 on-street parking meters that were enforced by the Police Department. In 1973, the City implemented an unlimited customer free-parking program funded through a Downtown Development District tax on businesses and property owners, which was later limited to three hours of free customer parking in 1989. In 1992, Z:\CMO\2008 Council Agendas\M081029\S081029A.doc