FUTURE PARKING SYSTEM GOALS
Downtown Ferndale is experiencing tremendous growth, and there are long-term goals of building a parking deck in order to meet the parking demand. However, the parking system is not equipped for this type of development the way it is currently structured.
The Ferndale DDA formed a Parking Committee made up of business owners and residents to address the current parking shortage and learned that the City really needs to address the entire system to reach our short-term and long-term goals of efficient, convenient and adequate supply of parking for consumers. Short-term, the DDA developed a plan to shuttle employees to private parking lots in order to free up more space for consumers, however, the committee learned that there was more to the story and the cost of running the system could not be self-sufficient. Also, the cost of parking passes downtown were under $2/day if you purchased it on a monthly rate, and under $1/day if you purchased it annually. There was no way the shuttle could be self-sufficient, and would virtually be competing with itself. The daily rate of the shuttle was projected at $4.
Knowing that the shuttle system would not be able to be started immediately, we than began to explore how to move employees into perimeter lots who currently have passes in order to free up the best spaces, and also had discussion about how to move those parking in neighborhoods into the parking lots. This would however create a new surge in our parking, and still again, the system is not large enough to support it at this time.
Since our long-term goal is to provide a parking deck that meets our demand, the City's Auto Parking Fund needs to make significant changes to the system to be able to afford a bond debt. The DDA's parking committee developed some ideas and suggestions and brought them to the City's Parking Committee, which then the City's Parking Committee, the DDA and the City Council met on Monday, December 7, 2009, to discuss both short and long term options.
Some immediate recommendations were made to City Council based on that meeting, and were on City Council's agenda Monday, December 14, 2009. That meeting brought about further ideas, which we will begin investigating to refine our recommendations to Council.
For instance, handicap parking of pass holders. There was concern over not enough handicap parking in a specific lot, and whether or not passes would be accepted at a handicap space. The City's Parking Committee will need to review this in further detail. We do know that in July of 2009 the City's engineering firm assessed the handicap spaces with the City's Disabilities committee. They found that every parking lot had the required number of handicap spaces. They did find that there were not enough handicap accessible van spaces with the recommended widths, which the City DPW then made modifications to all those sites specified by the engineer soon after the assessment was made.
Another item of concern was the proposed cost increase, and whether or not a daytime pass would be available possibly at a reduced rate. These are all items that will be discussed further at both the DDA's Parking Committee meetings, and with the City's Parking Committee. We encourage feedback and ideas.
If you are interested in participating in the committee process, please contact us at info@downtownferndale.com. We are very interested in additional feedback from residents as well.
What was approved at City Council was the increase in the expired parking meter fine with the first 72 hours. It was increased from $6 to $10, and $4 of every parking meter ticket will go towards the Auto Parking Fund for developing a parking deck.
There was further suggestions as to how to get to a parking deck and improving the overall system. Many items that will take time to further develop and roll out.
City Parking Committee Notes
12-7-09 Parking Recommendations to Council
48220 Community Parking Forum
Presentation & Survey Results
48220 Parking Community Forum Results Presentation to Council on February 22, 2010
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