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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-12-18 DTPC MINPARKING COMMISSION MEETING DECEMBER 18, 2008 MEETING MINUTES MEMBERS PRESENT: Mike Rice, David Korte, Chief John Gannaway, CSO Dennis Pasket, Bill Turnblad, Rob Gag, Curt Newcomb, Dave Junker COPIES TO: All commission members. THE EIETMP LACE Or MINNESOTA DISCUSSION RAMP UPDATE: Bill Turnblad has two updates on the parking ramp. The first is a packet of pictures and other information regarding the ramp. The bids were received on December 16, 2008 and the council chose to award the contract to AP. They have done quite a few ramps in this area so we were pretty happy to get them. They know what they're doing, they have a confident crew, and they do their own work. The bids were very competitive. Usually if you get a huge wild swing in the bids which usually means that they didn't understand the project and that means the plans weren't up to snuff. It all came off very well. It came under engineer's estimate even. We had estimated it was going to cost 5.5 million dollars before construction and the bid was almost 5.2 million dollars so it came under, which is a good thing. Total project cost will be under 6 million dollars for soft costs and we don't have the equipment in here, for example, in this bid. So it'll be close to 5.7 million dollars when all is said and done but if we would have left this thing until the summer time, I'm afraid we'd have been hurting to get a project. We have a development meeting with lapd owners who are going to contribute land. We had to put together some kind of package that Rivertown Commons would be somewhat comfortable with because they have certain expectations. By the time you put everything in the mix, the project is going to be essentially all the previews we have seen. We were able to keep the four -sided brickwork. We were worried that we would loose that. The whole functionality is there. It will continue to be two -way traffic throughout. You can enter on either 2 Street or 3rd Street and there will be a bridge between the 3 Street side and the top of the ramp so that all works well. We had hoped to have a little return on the fourth level and have a half level up and this space would net about twelve more parking spaces, that little extension of the ramp was going to cost us between $110,000 and $150,000 but it took away any potential reserve and you don't want to have it down to the penny where if there are problems and we need to spend more money so that had to be taken out. It will be constructed so that if, in the future, we need those spaces we can add that little piece but it will never be as cheap as today. We're disappointed that we lost that, but we thought that we might. What we have is everything that we had hoped for. There will be a total of 283 spaces. We might be able to get a little more than that; fifteen spaces out of the 283 are compact. We didn't want to go too much more than that. If you think we need more spaces we can put in more compact spaces. You don't want to have the spaces too small where people are struggling to park in them. The ramp has wider isles and the stalls are wider. We're recommending the 283 spaces. If we need more spaces in the future we can repaint sections to put in more compact spots. What's next is we hope to meet with the contractor right after Christmas. AP is able to do winter construction where some firms are not and it would cost more. We gave them an entire year to get the work done so they didn't have to do winter work if they weren't good at it and it would cost more. We think we'll be able to get the project done sooner because of who we hired. Bill Turnblad will bring the schedule back to the next meeting. We now have bids; we suspect we know how much this project is going to cost us so we need to start working on the operation plan. Larry is still working the numbers. He knows what the soft costs are, what the construction costs are, and what we have for funds. He's going to give Bill Turnblad a number by the next time so we know what we can spend on the consultant to help us put together this operation plan. So at the next meeting, Bill Turnblad will bring back to the commission some kind of proposal and put together a RFP draft. Chief Gannaway asked who the consultants were that came in last time. Bill Turnblad advised that they were a group from Carl Walker, the Operations Expert. Rob Gag asked if they were under contract already or was that just for the bid. Bill Turnblad advised that there is a dispute on that. Larry is pushing hardcore. He says he's been good to us, just give it to us but I think that the way the contract was written that was an additional cost. So, between now and the next time we meet; Bill Turnblad will have more information for the commission. Perhaps we could stay with Carl Walker. They would give us probably the best operations plan, but the proposal they gave us was kind of the "Cadillac They wanted to change all of the downtown parking. From their point of view what they are trying to do is encourage people to use the ramp which means we have to get rid of free spots or no one would use the ramp. We have some luxury in this project. Most ramps are paying for capital and operating. In this case, we don't have to worry about capital; that's paid for. It's just operating budget so we're able to be a little less expensive on parking fees, which is a good thing because if you get too expensive downtown, only visitors will use it and only when it's extremely busy so that's something they have to take a look at, or somebody will. Bill Turnblad will be bringing more information next time and then we'll be 'able to start working on that operation plan. Our goal is to have it done at least a month before end of construction so that we have time to put in`there whatever equipment we need on the ramp itself. The bid package does not include parking That was an alternate. We took that out because we thought it was a little premature to just suppose we wanted things and all the equipment that they suggested. It might depend upon what our operation plan is. So, probably by the end of the summer we will need to have a good idea what our operation plan is. We expect to be able to et this open in the fall if they do winter construction. The question was brought up if the drawing rendering to scale and the facade; was accurate. Bill Turnblad advised that yes, it is. Bill Turnblad does not have a color copy of the exact construction plans nor does he have a copy of the actual building permit plan, but the pictures we have are very close to it. The drawings behind that one are all construction drawings. The building permit itself has been submitted. We're working on it. Since it's a city project, the state is reviewing it. Mike Rice has a couple questions about the ramp. They are: these spaces we're paying for (which isn't a big deal) but we're concerned about the use of the ramp (which we've talked about a couple of times) and getting people to use it. A lot of people that park downtown park in the three -hour parking places which is an ongoing issue with employees of downtown businesses and they park their all day. Rob Gag asked if they can be ticketed for doing that. CSO Pasket advised that they park there and they'll move their car. Unless you see them move their car, you can't say that they didn't move it the mandatory 200 feet. It's a lot better than it used to be but it's still an issue. This is going to be a big marketing issue; how are we going to get the merchants to spread the word that there is a ramp here and it's available for their employees also. Parking has been discussed for over twenty years; either there isn't any (the perception) or when are you going to build ramps. Will the ramp be used by employees of downtown businesses in the winter months? It would be nice if the downtown business employees would park in the ramps and leave the parking in front of the businesses for customers. We should really work on the downtown merchants to have their employees park in the parking ramp. Chief Gannaway advised that either he or someone else go to the Chamber and the downtown business owners and let them know about the ramp. We need to make sure that the three -hour parking spaces are used for what they are intended for. The owner of the old Ben Franklin building wants to add additional apartments in his building and is asking for a further variance to the requirement for parking spaces for his renters. Bill Turnblad advised that when people ask for variances, the condition of approval is, is that the business or building owner has to buy monthly permits for each of those spaces that they're asking a variance for. People who have permits for on- street parking should be parking in the ramp, it may not be convenient but it comes with where they choose to live. Chief Gannaway asked where the construction stuff going to go. Construction stuff is going to be staged in two places: we're not going to use any parking lots downtown, it's going to be staged on the 3 Street parking lot (across the street from the post office). The steel will be staged there and swung to the project, and up at our old maintenance facility. Chief Gannaway advised Bill Turnblad to make sure they do not block the garage doors at the old maintenance facility. Bill Turnblad advised that that's what the operations plan is all about; how do we want to price what's in the ramp and how do we encourage that. Mike Rice advised that the price to parkin the ramp needs to be obtainable for them. Mike Rice's other question is that the parking equipment hasn't been included. The rough -in for electrical and whatever is necessary is sufficient for future additions. Bill Turnblad advised that everything will be wired with the contract. The only thing he doesn't know about for sure is the video cameras. He knows that all the actually ticket equipment is all wired for. The conduit will all be in place, it just takes somebody to install it. Chief Gannaway advised that one vender he spoke to yesterday said that they can put in all wireless cameras. We'll have to get the cameras rolling. Bill Turnblad advised that we should decide upon the and vender soon enough so that if we need to do any conduit that it'll get done. Chief Gannaway would just as soon use the same vender for the downtown cameras as for the ramp so that it' 11 be the same system. Mike Rice asked if they have access to the set of plans so that they can make sure that everything is correct. There will also be a "panic button" for those who need to talk to a person from the gate. There should be an attendant on duty for special events. We also thought that it might be a good idea to have an attendant on duty for the first couple of months of operation. Curt Newcomb asked if the ramp system will take credit cards. Bill Turnblad advised, yes. It'll take credit cards, debit cards, and cash. There will be a pay station in the lobby and one on each level and you can also pay at the gate too. There will be a booth also as an option. The place and conduit for it will be part of the construction contract. We won't put it in until we buy equipment though. It's nice to have two ways of getting in and out. You can load and empty the ramp from both 2 and 3rd Street before and after an event. Curt Newcomb advised that he thinks the problems are going to be typical; the non cooperation of the downtown merchants. Visitors will be fine with what the signs say. Bill Turnblad showed the commission a sample of what the facade for the ramp will look like. It's concrete made to look like brick. It's still hand laid but it wears better and is cheaper. INTERIM PARKING: The other item Bill Turnblad has is interim parking update. A lease handout was given to all members. We were hoping to be able to lease some spaces from what used to be the Washington Federal building. They have finally come through. They are asking more than we can afford. They wanted to have $33.00 per space per month. We just couldn't afford that so what we are looking at now is $20.00 per month per space plus we would remove their snow piles for them essentially. It ends up saving them money because we've got guys downtown taking out snow piles anyways. It doesn't take much to take the snow piles for them. It costs us less and it costs them a lot less and they're able to keep four spaces available then more often because they end up being snow storage so they figured the difference in cost between $20.00 and $33.00 was enough for them to be comfortable with it. The question Bill Turnblad has for the commission is, is that he has to bring the lease to the city council but he wants the commission's comments on it. What he's proposing is out of parking funds we would cover $10.00 per month (the cost of a permit). The other $10.00 per month Bill Turnblad will most likely find in his own department budget someplace. It'll be a total of $600.00 from parking funds and about $600.00 out of my budget. The question was asked what these spaces are for. Bill Turnblad advised that these six spaces that would be in the parking ramp area specifically for the Lowell Inn and will be signed for the Lowell Inn. That became critical until the ramp is completed because we're taking all forty -five spaces out of the Lowell Inn's parking lot so as part of the development agreement, we needed to find them a certain number of replacement spaces kind of within walking distance of their existing parking lot. Rob Gag advised those spots are never used. Bill Turnblad agreed and that's why they're okay with it. They would even let us have more, but like everybody they're hoping the economy will turn around some day and then they didn't want to have all their spots leased; in case the little restaurant were to ever take off again and become popular. Chief Gannaway asked who is going to sign the lots. Bill Turnblad advised that the city will. The posts are already in place so all it takes is putting the sign on the post. Bill Turnblad has already talked to our sign folks out at the shop and with Shawn and they're okay doing it. It would be a simple sign, "Reserved for Lowell s Inn The difficulty with that is, is it's not going to be permit parking so how do you know it's going to be a Lowell Inn or not. Chief Gannaway advised that the Lowell Inn will have to come up with some way of doing it themselves, put a little placard or something in their cars. That would be up to the owner of the Lowell Inn. The spaces in front of the Rivertown Commons we are going to say by permit only and it will name a color and they would have to keep it on their dash` all the time and if it's not on the dash then CSO Pasket can deal with it. Chief Gannaway advised that we are not going to be able to enforce this. CSO Pasket agreed advising that people are going to say, oh I have a permit but I forgot to put it in the window. Then you have a ticket that you have to void. Chief Gannaway advised that we are not going to enforce the Chestnut Building as it's private property. If the commission is comfortable with this lease, then Bill Turnblad will bring it to the council and say we'll sign them for the Lowell Inn and then let it run on it's own for the next ten months. Curt Newcomb moved to approve this. Mike Rice seconded it. All parking commission members were in favor so lease was approved by parking commission. The question was asked if the lease starts on January 5` Bill Turnblad advised that yes, it does. Is that when construction starts? Bill Turnblad advised we're going to start plowing the snow at that point, even if we don't have the site as a staging area. I think it's just a good guy kind of a gesture to start plowing the snow in January. We won't actually put signs up until we move into the Lowell Inn parking lot. I don't expect that to happen until late January. Bill Turnblad is not sure how quickly AP will want to mobilize. We won't know until after Christmas and because he won't know until after Christmas he's guessing it won't be until late January that we have to use their lot. It's a good time of the year to start that project because there isn't much demand for parking at the Lowell Inn or anywhere else down there. CSO Pasket advised that regarding the spots at 2 Street and Olive Street that it needs to be made perfectly clear to him (the business owner) that in getting the 24 spots so that his people when they come that if they do not park in the spots signed for the Lowell Inn they're going to get a ticket and then he's going to be complaining. The owner of the Lowell Inn needs to make it perfectly clear to his customers where they can park to prevent them from getting tickets. This may be an issue. Chief Gannaway advised that he and CSO Pasket will have to go down and have a meeting with the owner of the Lowell Inn before this starts. It'll be up to the owner of the Lowell Inn to explain it to his guests so that they understand, maybe give them a map of where they are allowed to park when they check in. Mike Rice advised that it says by valet parking only, is he having valet parking? Bill Turnblad advised that that is what the owner is suggesting then they would have less chance of parking in the wrong spots. Maybe what he'll decide is it's better for his room guests to park there and then if they're parking their own cars who knows where they'll end up but it'll be his responsibility to advise his guests where they should park if they're parking there themselves. Bill Turnblad might wait until he knows for sure when we are going to take over that lot, which won't happen until around the first week in January. CAMERA UPDATE: Chief Gannaway advised that the latest vender gave a very high bid for downtown. The bid was $170,000.00 to do the whole downtown. Chief Gannaway believes the bid came in high on purpose and then the vender gave a second bid of $110,000 so we're going back to our other two venders to give us bids. These cameras do pick up motion. The question was asked if the other two have wireless options. Chief Gannaway advised that all of them are wireless. The last vender that Chief Gannaway talked to said that the server that will be put in the police department will work for the ramp also so we won't have to get an additional server. Basically it will be just putting up the cameras as there won't be any additional network stuff; a good portion of the network stuff will already be in. We need to figure out how many cameras we need for the ramp. There may be a need to hAve a transmitter (also known as a mesh vender's term). A mesh is like a wave point so there may be one on the bridge, on the Armory, and something on the ramp. Chief Gannaway advised that the status of the cameras is that we need to get two more quotes and we'll see what the come in at. Curt Newcomb asked what the target number for th6 cost was. Chief Gannaway advised that $110,000 is a little high. For eight cameras and building in the network the very first quote we got was $57,000. The second quote was $75,000 so it's probably going to be around $100,000 (a guess) for all of downtown, which would be between sixteen and twenty cameras. Mike Rice asked if this cost included the ramp. Chief Gannaway advised, not including the ramp. The ramp is going to take quite a few cameras -there needs to be cameras in the stairwells and blind spots. Chief Gannaway is guessing for the ramp itself it'll probably be the same amount of cameras or pretty close. Curt Newcomb asked if the purpose of the cameras is safety. Chief Gannaway advised, yes, and for evidence documentation and other stuff. STILLWATER MARATHON: There are issues with the marathon, but Chief Gannaway didn't see the downtown part as becoming such an issue. In the handout (number seven parking control) this stemmed from the downtown merchants issues with the marathon. They wanted to close all city parking lots south of Myrtle pursuant to a schedule established by the Stillwater Downtown Parking Commission and consultation with St. Croix Events and the Chamber of Commerce. At the council meeting, they suggested not just south of Myrtle, but north of Myrtle. The purpose behind this was to keep the lots open for downtown business, but we are also going to have to reserve some of them for how many people Mr. Eckberg is going to need for the start and end of the marathon. Dave Korte asked if at the last meeting we discussed closing them off until the race starts and then opening them up or maybe staggered openings. Some of them will have to stay closed, just like with Lumberjack Days. The marathon is capped at 5,700 runners. Hopefully they'll all park at the Government Center, Anderson Windows, the high school and the junior high and bus in. We're also looking at support staff and families. Stillwater will be busy that day. Curt Newcomb asked, if we're going to close these lots wouldn't they want them open for their customers. The lots will be reserved, which would be a better way of putting it instead of closing the lots. Rob Gag advised that we need to figure out a lot or two that they can park in (they being normal people that want to come downtown or workers). Chief Gannaway advised that he would have to sign them, local traffic only, or something along those lines. Curt Newcomb advised that he thinks that some of the people would be at the start because they have a friend or relative in the race and then they'd walk over and have breakfast. Someone advised that they are more focused on getting the runners up at the Government Center to be bussed down that there might a lot of activity early. Chief Gannaway advised that maybe at the next meeting we should have Dave Eckberg and Jen Severson (from the Chamber) here and work a parking plan downtown. Keep in mind that this is a Sunday morning, Memorial Day, and the race starts at 7:00 so normal business will be minimal to none other than Starbucks. Most of the businesses don't even open until 11:00. There will be a number of people driving here that morning or that live here that want to see the start of the race that will have to park somewhere and then after that, like you said, after that they're going to look for a place to have coffee or breakfast and hang around. There are some that have someone in the race and they follow them; Ihey'11 be at the start to cheer them on and then drive ahead and wait for them at a certain place and do that several times throughout the route. The coffee shops and gas stations will be packed with people all day long; they're going to see great business. Dave Korte asked if the race was going to start and end downtown. Yes. Two of the four races will end downtown. A couple of the races end at Pioneer Park. There is a lot of interest in the marathon as it's a unique course, a difficult course. The council (Rob Gag) looked at the agreement the City of Duluth has. The City of Duluth is just happy to have the marathon in Duluth and it was a pretty good agreement; all the security expenses were paid by the promoter. It was very fair to the city. It's just going to be important to get the residents to understand where the course is going so they're not alarmed which is going to be the next hurdle. This marathon will be great for everybody downtown if they can embrace it. Has the council picked up negatives from the citizens or has it just been the merchants. Rob Gag advised that he can only speak for himself, he advised that he's only gotten negatives from merchants. But he has gotten some positive from merchants too. There weren't very many negative merchants either. Rob Gag advised that he is a little bit concerned about the start of the race. People will want to see the start of the race, get their picture taken, etc. and it's not the runners, it's the people watching them. Chief Gannaway advised it'll be a cluster. Curt Newcomb advised that a lot of people may be a couple of blocks away from the actual starting line because it's such a mass at the starting line so they go two or three blocks it starts to spread out a little bit and then they can actually see their runner. Chief Gannaway advised that when they start, they're going to start by the Andiamo building. The positive for Stillwater is it's not the runners so it's the car not just sitting there all through the course it's people moving and consuming. We might have to have more lots open than we were thinking. It's a tremendous opportunity for the City of Stillwater. Hopefully it'll all be done by 1:00. Chief Gannaway advised that there will not be any food venders. There may be a pancake breakfast afterwards. That means that there will be more people needing parking adjacent to whatever they're having. This won't be like Lumberjack Days where there's like 300 venders down there. VETERANS MEMORIAL: Rob Gag asked Curt Newcomb if he has to work with police to get Pine Street blocked off for Memorial Day. There were too many loud cars there last year. Because of the loud cars, the speakers were hard to hear. TRAFFIC COMMITTEE: Chief Gannaway was discussing with Dave Korte information on traffic committees. For example; when someone complains about speeding in their neighborhood, extra patrol is done in the area. With a committee you actually study the problem, you put out speed counters so you can actually tell when someone is legitimately speeding and it's based on these little things placed in the road and people drive over them and if it meets a certain criteria then you determine how bad the problem is and you either do A) enforcement, B) education, or a combination. The most effective thing they do is speed bumps. If this is that strong of an issue, one thing you might think about is speed bumps (not like at the mall). It's designed for people going over 30 miles an hour. They will be able to feel it if you're going 30 miles per hour or faster, but if you're going 20 miles per hour it's just a slow, gradual rise. There are also traffic circles kind of like Deerpath. Maybe some of the commission would be interested in forming a committee regarding traffic issues. Chief Gannaway does not want these issues to be part of the parking commission. The committee would basically be made up of people like Chief Gannaway, the city engineer, and a couple of people in the community and you form an actual committee where people can fill out complaints on -line, they can call in complaints and then they go to the committee that would meet maybe once a month or quarter and the issue is studied and the level of correction is determined. This makes sense as you know what issues you're dealing with and you're not jtist reacting, you're responding. AGENDA: Parking ramp update Levee project update Camera update Stillwater Marathon update