Parking District Update
CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION
AUGUST 23, 2022
ALAN ALTON
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Agenda
Parking District
Update Study
Session
Parking Utilization Study Update
Parking Enterprise Financial Update
Next Steps
2 City of Santa Rosa 2022 Parking Study
Parking Utilization Summary Findings
August 23, 2022
WALKER CONSULTANTS 4
Key Conclusions
• At “Design Day Peak”: Utilization is
low across all public and private
parking assets
• “Absolute Peak” just before
Christmas had significant vacancy
• Parking utilization from October
2021 through April 2022 has
remained relatively flat
• This finding is consistent with
Walker’s conclusion in the 2019
study (based on 2018/2019 data)
Downtown Santa Rosa
has a general
oversupply of public
and private parking
WALKER CONSULTANTS 5
Parking Supply
904
241
653
2,833
4,130
0 500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
4,500
Smart Parking Meter
Spaces
Coin Parking Meter
Spaces
Public Parking Lots Public Parking Garages Private Parking Lots Value Meter
Spaces
1,182
Premium
Meter Spaces
573
• 8,730 total spaces
• 87% are off-street
WALKER CONSULTANTS 6
Parking Supply
• Central “Premium”
• Edge “Value”
• Garages distributed
throughout downtown
WALKER CONSULTANTS 7
Design Day Determination
The following criteria was used:
• Outside of the busy holiday shopping season in
December;
• Not on a major holiday;
• Not on a day in which a major special event
occurred downtown.
Design day determination:
• Friday 3/11/22, 1pm, for smart meters and
public lots/garages
• Friday 6/24/22, 1pm, for public coin meters
and private off-street (data was not available
for these parking types)
Source: Wikimedia Commons
WALKER CONSULTANTS 8
“Design Day” Parking Utilization Summary
Parking Facility Type Occupancy % Unoccupied Spaces
Smart Parking Meters (on-street) 43% 504
Coin Parking Meters 13% 223
Public Parking Lots 35% 427
Public Parking Garages 26% 2,091
Sub-total - Public Parking 30% 3,245
Private Parking Lots 21% 3,218
TOTAL 26% 6,463
• Highest utilization was
smart parking meters,
which didn’t exceed
50% utilized
WALKER CONSULTANTS 9
2018/2019 and 2021/2022 Comparison
• Significant utilization
drop between
2018/2019 and
2021/2022, but still
low utilization in
2018/2019
Parking Facility Type Occupancy %
2019 Study
Occupancy % 2022
Study
Smart Parking Meters (on-street) 75% 43%
Coin Parking Meters 31% 13%
Public Parking Lots 68% 35%
Public Parking Garages 53% 26%
Sub-total - Public Parking 57% 30%
Private Parking Lots 27% 21%
TOTAL 42% 26%
WALKER CONSULTANTS 10
“Design Day” Public Parking Utilization
• Higher occupancy
observed in select
locations in the “core”
area
WALKER CONSULTANTS 11
Oct ‘21 – April ’22 Public Monthly Peak Utilization
• Very little variation in
monthly peak across
the seven-month
observation period
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Oct
2021
Nov
2021
Dec
2021
Jan
2022
Feb
2022
Mar
2022
Apr
2022
Smart On-Street Meters Public Lots Public Garages
WALKER CONSULTANTS 12
Pliny the Younger Parking Utilization
• Low utilization even
during Pliny the
Younger event at
Russian River Brewing
Company
• Utilization for
downtown parking
never reaches above
45%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Smart On-Street Meters Public Lots Public Garages
WALKER CONSULTANTS 13
Garage 12 Utilization: Friday and Saturday Evenings
• Analyzed data for
every Friday and
Saturday evening (6pm
to 10pm) from
October 2021 – April
2022
• On average, the
highest utilization of
Garage 12 occurred on
Saturdays at 8pm
when it was 19%
occupied
• The average utilization
of each hour from
6pm to 10pm ranges
from 11.5% to 19%
WALKER CONSULTANTS
14 Private Lot Utilization
• Very low private lot
utilization
• Potentially reflective of
low in-person
shopping and low in-
office work rates
• Suggests persistent
oversupply of off-
street private parking
Parking Enterprise Finances
Parking Enterprise Financial Outlook
CRITICAL ISSUES
Actual operating deficit last three years
Budgeted deficit for FY 2022-23
Continued draw down of reserves to cover
deficit
Defer large capital projects
Operating Revenue Uncertainty
Third Street Garage and D Street Garage more
than 50 years old, requiring significant
investment to extend useful life
OPERATING PERFORMANCE TREND
16 Priority Infrastructure Needs
Third Street Garage (Garage 5) Built in 1965, 195 spaces Concrete structure with useful life of 50 years
Developed significant water leaks several years ago; provided temporary solutions about 5 years ago which are starting to wear out
To adequately prolong life of structure, need to replace top deck Approximately $4M to $6M cost for repairs, potential for another 15 to 20 years of useful life D Street Garage (Garage 9) Built in 1970, 448 spaces
Same type of structure as Garage 5
Will also need the top deck replaced to prolong service life Approximately $6M for repairs/replacement of deck
17 Next Steps
Next Steps
Parking District Update sets the stage for upcoming City asset development study sessions
Upcoming Study Sessions
September 13, 2022: Santa Rosa Civic Center Project
Feasibility Analysis Review
October 11: Surplus Lands Act and its impact development opportunities; direction from Council on next steps
The goal of this Study
Session series is to provide a
holistic overview of the
opportunities and challenges
of intensifying downtown
City asset land use by
enabling housing and
residential mixed-use
development, and to identify
pathways and receive
direction on future
downtown asset
development.
19 20
Questions?