HomeMy Public PortalAbout2011-04-12 MinutesPARKING WORKING GROUP
WORKSHOP MINUTES
April 12, 2011
Town Hall - Administrative Center
East Wing Conference Room
10183 Truckee Airport Road, Truckee, CA
CALL TO ORDER — Paul Leyton called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m.
2. ROLL CALL — Mayor Richard Anderson, Vice Mayor Joan deRyk- Jones, Chair Paul Leyton,
Vice Chair Barbara Czerwinski, Ed Candler, Robert DeMicheli, Christopher Fowler, Ruth
Geresy, Richard Grundy, Peggy Herrick, Amora Higbee, Bob Johnston, Robert Mescher,
John Pratt, Julie Tenorio, Peter Trummer, Peter Werbel, Jerry Woods, Tom Watson, and
Stefanie Olivieri.
Absent: Alyssa Westenburg and Christopher Crossen.
Staff Present: Dan Wilkins, Public Works Director /Town Engineer; Kelly Beede, Parking
Services Manager; Tony Lashbrook, Town Manager; David Griffith, Redevelopment and
Housing Coordinator; and Bonnie Thompson, Administrative Secretary.
3. PUBLIC COMMENT- none.
4. WORKSHOP ITEMS
4.1 Accept Minutes of the March 8, 2011 Meeting.
The motion to accept the minutes of March 8, 2011 was moved by Chair Leyton,
seconded by Vice Chair Czerq, and carried with the following vote:
Ayes: Committee Members: Mayor Richard Anderson, Vice Mayor Joan deRyk-
Jones, Chair Paul Leyton, Vice Chair Barbara Czerwinski, Ed Candler,
Robert DeMicheli, Christopher Fowler, Ruth Geresy, Richard Grundy, Peggy
Herrick, Amora Higbee, Bob Johnston, Robert Mescher, John Pratt, Julie
Tenorio, Peter Trummer, Peter Werbel, Jerry Woods, Tom Watson, and
Stefanie Olivieri.
Noes: None.
Absent: Alyssa Westenburg and Christopher Crossen.
Abstain: None.
The motion passed 20 -0.
4.2 Discussion of Parking Management Plans and Proposed Recommended Action.
Public Works Director /Town Engineer Wilkins provided direction to the group that they need
to come to a group recommendation that is revenue neutral.
Mayor Anderson commented that he would want a majority of the downtown businesses to
support whatever plan is finally accepted by the Town Council. This does not necessarily
mean financial support.
Chair Leyton proposed a plan for the committee to consider and discuss.
Group discussion:
• A comprehensive plan for Town Council should include equipment, personnel, and
process.
• The staff report for item 4.2 does not include anything about changing the meters.
• Meters need to be user friendly.
• Suggestion to get rid of the meters.
• If the meters were taken out it would be difficult to pay the parking lot leases.
• Would like to see community -wide participation with a Property Based Improvement
District (PBID)
o Members of the downtown business community expressed that a PBID has
not been supported in the past and it probably could not be accomplished
now.
o The recommendation to Council needs to be realistic.
• Businesses have been unable to control their employee parking.
• Town could get rid of the government subsidy of programs that cannot be paid for.
• Decentralizing the parking management to save money will result in a lower level of
service.
The group went around the table to provide input on what should be recommended to Town
Council.
Staff suggested that if the group can come up with specific scenarios, then staff can project
the revenues lost or gained. Staff cannot really estimate how much parking loss will happen
if free parking is opened on the periphery of the parking district. Another funding source will
need to be identified if free parking is implemented.
Town Manager Lashbrook suggested his approach to making a recommendation to the
Town Council. First, the group could recommend cutting staffing levels, but how to do that
would need to be made by the managers within the Town. The Police Department is the
highest cost center in the Town, so it would be more expensive to have the Police
Department do the parking management. Second, the Town does not want to be involved
in a knee jerk response to try to force the Downtown Merchants to pay for parking. The cost
of such an action would be too high for the Town. Third, if the group feels that the
Downtown Merchants should be paying for parking than the group should make that
recommendation. Lashbrook concluded that he thinks the hybrid solutions are the most
productive.
Group discussion:
• A tiered system of rates by location.
• Different rates at different times - higher rates on weekends or busy tourists season.
• Locals are important. Town should market free lots and smart cards to locals.
• Marketing is the biggest problem.
• Installing signs that thank people for paying to park because the money goes to pay
for snow removal.
• Eliminate the Beacon lot lease.
• Reasons parking district was expanded to include West River Street.
The group asked staff to develop an interactive spreadsheet that could be used in the next
meeting to figure out what how much revenue would be gained or lost in different scenarios
Staff requested a hand count to see if there was a strong enough possibility of the group
recommending single space meters to necessitate staff researching the costs.
Ayes: 9
Noes: 10
Vote taken by hand count.
Staff concluded that there was enough potential interest in the single space meters to
warrant staff research on the subject.
The group thanked Kelly Beede and Dan Wilkins for all the work that has been done
5. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS — none.
6. ADJOURNMENT- 11:00 a.m.
The Parking Working Group adjourned to the April 26 regular meeting of the Parking
Working Group 8:30 a.m. at 10183 Truckee Airport Road, Truckee, CA.
Bonnie Thompson, Administrative Secretary