Administrative
Report
N.2., File # 22-4887 Meeting Date: 11/8/2022
To: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
From: JOE HOFFMAN, CHIEF OF POLICE
TITLE
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON THE RIVIERA VILLAGE PARKING STUDY PREPARED BY WALKER CONSULTANTS, INC.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City Council authorized Walker Consultants, Inc. (Walker Consultants) to complete a parking study of the Riviera Village, documenting existing conditions and providing recommendations to assist in the management of parking supply and demand. The report includes findings related to peak parking demand, recommendations for improvements to the parking meter permit program, and options to increase parking supply and capacity.
A representative from Walker Consultants will give a presentation at the City Council meeting on the report’s findings and the operational changes that are recommended to optimize parking in Riviera Village.
BACKGROUND
Walker Consultants observed and documented the public parking conditions within the Riviera Village on a Thursday and Saturday in October 2021. Observations included a total of 567 on-street parking, 494 of which are metered, and approximately 509 private property parking spaces. The highest utilization occurred midday on Thursday, with 98% of street parking used, and 94% utilization on Saturday midday. The average utilization is 80% throughout the day, with the highest use at lunch and dinner times. During the highest use, over half of the metered spaces were occupied by vehicles with annual parking meter permits or Riviera Village employee permits.
The study compared the City’s parking meter permit program to those of five (5) other jurisdictions.
The benchmarking helped inform the study’s recommendations, which largely focus on operational changes to existing parking programs. A summarized list of recommendations follows below:
· Convert to a “license plate permit” system and use ALPR for enforcement, eliminating need for physical permits; ALPR would improve efficiency of enforcement · Increase the annual parking permit fee from $110 to $150 · Increase the annual employee parking permit fee from $60 to $120 · Increase the cost of the preferential parking permit from $15 to $40 · Lower the number of preferential parking permits allowed per household and tier the cost · Implement an online purchasing system for parking meter permits
N.2., File # 22-4887 Meeting Date: 11/8/2022
· Reduce the per parking space time limit from 4 hours to 3 hours · Locate all employee parking spots in one area
· Close off the Via Valencia entrance/drive aisle to the Triangle Lot which could add up to 16 additional parking spaces
· Implement a tiered pricing system for the meters, higher hourly cost for premium locations along the street adjacent to businesses, lower hourly cost to incentivize use of less desirable/farther locations, such as the Triangle Lot, to balance out demand during off-peak periods
· Significant private off-street parking exists, coordinate with the Riviera Village Business Improvement District to cooperatively use the private property parking spaces, which are currently underutilized, possibly for employee parking to free up on-street spaces Some of the operational recommendations, such as increasing the use of technology, would make various elements of the parking programs more efficient, improve the customer purchasing experience and streamline enforcement. The report recommends moving the permit purchasing programs fully-online and moving away from physical hard copy permits/stickers or hanging tags to digital enforcement. There is potential to do this using an existing vendor(s) but the costs will need to be explored. Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) would be required to facilitate electronic enforcement for permits and could also be used to enforce other parking payment systems.
Estimated costs associated with ALPR systems are $50,000 per unit.
The report notes that at peak-times, the parking demand was close, or equal to, the full inventory of public parking. The study also notes that following a review of three-years of revenue data, “despite fewer meters in service due to the presence of dining decks, meter revenue was roughly equal to meter revenue in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. This indicated to Walker that the removal of some parking in prime areas resulted in a shift in parking demand to meters and areas that were previously less/underutilized. It further states that, “the removal of dining decks and the restoration of parking meters would likely pull demand back into the core of the Riviera Village from the outlying parking meters and the Triangle Lot.”
Other options to increase parking include 1) stackable parking (employee monitored/valet type) in a section of the Triangle Lot; or 2) closing some of the centrally located ingress/egress points in the Triangle Lot. Both of these options would increase the parking capacity by 15-16 spaces and have an estimated infrastructure cost of $15,000 - $30,000 depending on the option selected. Both options will significantly impact existing parking patterns and traffic flow in the Triangle Lot. There are also personnel costs associated with the stackable parking option.
There are currently 56 parking spaces out of service as part of the Riviera Village dining deck program. Depending on the future of the dining decks, there may be some fluctuation either up or down to the total number of parking spaces. Returning some of the 56 spaces to the parking inventory of the Riviera Village may impact Council direction on other suggested options to increase supply.
COORDINATION
This report was created in coordination with the Public Works Department.
FISCAL IMPACT
The cost for preparation of the report was approved by City Council as part of the annual operating
N.2., File # 22-4887 Meeting Date: 11/8/2022
The cost for preparation of the report was approved by City Council as part of the annual operating budget for the Police Department. The costs of the recommended parking program changes vary, as noted above, and will require further analysis to implement. Increases to the City’s parking permit fees, if fully approved, would result in $162,000 of additional annual City revenue.
APPROVED BY:
Mike Witzansky, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
· Study- Redondo Beach Parking Study (Riviera Village), Walker Consultants, Inc.