Agenda Item #3.1
For Council Meeting of: August 23, 2022
CITY OF SANTA ROSA
CITY COUNCIL
TO: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
FROM: ALAN ALTON, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, FINANCE DEPARTMENT SUBJECT: PARKING DISTRICT UPDATE
AGENDA ACTION: No Action Required
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended by the Finance Department that the City Council hold a Study Session intended to provide City Council the opportunity to receive information and ask questions related to an update on the City’s Parking District including the utilization of parking assets and the financial condition of the Parking Enterprise. This item is provided for Council’s information and no action is required.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This study session is the first of a three study session series that will 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. The first study session will focus on the Parking District and will provide the results of a parking utilization study completed in June 2022, which is an update of a study conducted just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, this presentation will provide an overview of the parking fund’s financial condition.
BACKGROUND
In 2019, the City contracted with Walker Consultants (Walker) to conduct a parking utilization study. They presented their findings to the City on December 10, 2019. For their study, Walker analyzes parking data to identify “design day” conditions, which is the recommended capacity for the parking system to accommodate typical busy parking conditions, outside of major holidays or events. In their 2019 study, Walker determined that public parking had a 57% utilization rate, with 2,558 of the City’s 4,522 public parking inventory occupied. This also means that 1,964 spaces were unoccupied.
In May 2022, staff asked Walker to update their study to assess parking conditions two years after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down.
PRIOR CITY COUNCIL REVIEW
None.
ANALYSIS
For their updated study, Walker analyzed parking data between October 1, 2021, and April 30, 2022. The study found that for the design day conditions, public parking had a 30% utilization rate, with 1,389 of the 4,631 public parking spaces occupied, and 3,242 spaces unoccupied. In addition, Walker looked at private parking and found that there was a 27% utilization rate for private parking spaces in 2019, versus 21% in 2022.
Aside from monitoring the use of the parking district’s assets, staff monitors the financial health of the fund. In short, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in lower revenues, and a draw down on reserves to balance the fund’s budget. This has resulted in parking enterprise fund balance insufficient to pay for the cost of large infrastructure projects, such as garage repairs.
FISCAL IMPACT
The study session does not create a fiscal impact for the organization.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The Council finds that the proposed action is exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under section 15061(b)(3) and 15378 in that there is no possibility that the implementation of this action may have significant effects on the environment, and that no further environmental review is required.
BOARD/COMMISSION/COMMITTEE REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Not applicable.
NOTIFICATION
Not applicable.
ATTACHMENTS
None.
CONTACT
Alan Alton, [email protected], 707-543-3093
PARKING DISTRICT UPDATE
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