Item C: Downtown Projects - Laserfiche WebLink

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ATTACHMENT I Rebranding, Easy Payments & Free Parking – project description GENERAL BACKGROUND The City of Eugene’s Parking Services program manages downtown, campus, and neighborhood parking, including the operation of off-street parking facilities, code enforcement, and Municipal Court services. The program also contributes to the General Fund, pays debt service, and strategically manages the long-term parking needs of the community. Currently there are 15,000 downtown parking spaces, 1,000 of which are on- street spaces. With approximately 14,000 people working downtown, the availability of on-street customer parking is a concern for downtown businesses. Additionally, City Parking Services does not have a clear and unified system to help downtown visitors locate parking facilities and understand the free parking program, the business parking validation program, or how economically competitive the City’s hourly and monthly parking rates are relative to other downtown parking operators. A year ago, the city council established a subcommittee to work on downtown parking issues and to support the broader goal of creating a vibrant downtown. Last August, the Downtown Parking Subcommittee reviewed parking ideas and options that could readily be implemented to spur greater use, draw more people, and leverage economic opportunities in downtown. JOBS/ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IMPACT ImpactsDescription The availability of parking contributes to a safe, active, and economically vital downtown. Improvements to existing parking and related amenities in the downtown Economic impacts support downtown businesses, contribute to the overall positive experience of visitors, and allow employers with a large employee base to locate downtown. Parking is a development tool that integrates with the vision of an active and vibrant downtown. New and existing public parking can be used to support desired private and public development. Appropriately managed parking encourages downtown business and cultural activities, and creates a positive experience and perception of downtown. A strategic approach to parking management requires a balance of competing priorities. Parking must be perceived by users as easy to locate and readily available. At the same time, businesses require frequent parking space turnover, especially in key locations, such as on-street spaces. Management strategies include coordinating the type and location of parking, hours of enforcement, rates, and signage. Parking is an economic development resource for downtown businesses. The availability of bulk parking permits for spaces in city owned garages supports larger employers, like Enterprise which currently employs 300 people, to locate their offices downtown. On-street parking spaces directly tie to the success of downtown businesses that rely on steady customer demand. On-street parking spaces represent just 6% of the total number of downtown parking spaces. Coupled with the downtown parking exemption that allows a business to not provide on-site parking, on-street parking is very important and valuable to commercial activity. The City of Fort Collins estimates that a parking space in front of a retail establishment can directly contribute up to $300,000 in gross revenue per year.