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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-03-21 DTPC PacketTHE BIRTHPLACE OF MINNESOTA DOWNTOWN PARKING COMMISSION AGENDA Thursday, March 21, 2013 8:30 AM Conference Room 213, City Hall 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 3. APPROVAL OF NOVEMBER 15, 2012 MINUTES 4. NEW BUSINESS 4.01. Grand Buffet Request for Discount Ramp Tickets 5. SPECIAL EVENTS 5.01. Cruisin' on the Croix 5.02. Nature Valley Grand Prix 5.03. Stillwater Log Run 5.04. Stillwater Lift Bridge Road Races 5.05. Spring Art Fair 6. OTHER BUSINESS 6.01. Update on Council Decisions 6.02. Hire of Parking Ramp Attendant 7. ADJOURNMENT ENE NINTMPLACE Of MINNESOTA DOWNTOWN COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES November 15, 2012 REGULAR MEETING 8:30 P.M. Chairwoman Pelletier called the meeting to order at 8:35 p.m. Present: Chairwoman Pelletier, Commissioners Helmberger, Korte, Anderson, Hopfe Franke, Council Representative Menikheim Absent: Commissioners Johnson and Junker, Parking Enforcement Officer Pasket Staff: City Planner Pogge, Police Chief Gannaway, Community Development Director Turnblad APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion by Commissioner Helmberger, seconded by Commissioner Korte, to approve the September 20, 2012 meeting minutes. All in favor. NEW BUSINESS Judd Sather Parking Request Community Development Director Turnblad explained that Judd Sather has recently opened an event center in 4,500 square feet of space that he leases at 214 South Main Street. It is available for private parties, small weddings, and concerts with a capacity of around 175 to 250 people. The previous use's five spaces are credited against the 83 required for the event center, leaving a shortage of 78 parking spaces. Mr. Sather could lease the adjacent US Bank parking lot's 38 spaces during event hours, but there will still be a deficiency of 40 spaces. Unless these spaces can be leased from other nearby businesses, the deficit will have to be made up by purchasing 40 monthly passes to park in City parking lots, which would cost Mr. Sather $400 per month (at current permit rates). He is requesting that the Parking Commission discount the cost. Applicant Judd Sather reported that the building, which houses his photography studio business, provides a unique backdrop for photography. He has had requests from people who wish to rent it for private events. He does not plan to have a kitchen or serve food, but would use other local businesses for catering if needed. Because he cannot make up the cost through food sales, the cost of leasing spaces at the US Downtown Parking Commission November 15, 2012 Bank location and paying for permits for the City ramp is a hardship and he would prefer to simply direct his customers to use the City ramp. Chairwoman Pelletier commented the proposed charge to Mr. Sather seems excessive considering that customers who use the City ramp would be paying their own parking fees. Commissioner Anderson remarked that the process seems inconsistent for this type of situation, with business owners essentially paying into a fund to support the parking system. Community Development Director Turnblad noted that 12 is probably the maximum shortage that any other business has had. Chairwoman Pelletier noted it's likely there would be vacant spaces in the ramp for events, so in general she doesn't feel there's a lack of parking. The issue is how to pay for parking. Mr. Sather suggested he pay the same amount toward parking permits as the maximum that another business pays. Commissioner Helmberger said he feels a monthly parking charge of around $100 is fine if Mr. Sather agrees to direct customers to the City ramp. Motion by Commissioner Helmberger, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to approve the variance with a $120 /month charge, and to revisit the issue once a year. All in favor. OTHER BUSINESS Larry's Floor Covering Request - Larry O'Connor Community Development Director Turnblad reported that a long -time gentleman's agreement that Mr. O'Connor could park his van in a space near the old Connolly Shoe Building has become a problem for the new owner of the building. Council Representative Menikheim noted he had tried without success to mediate the problem with Greg Gartner, who owns the Connolly Shoe Building. He feels Mr. O'Connor has waited long enough for resolution. He suggested that the City allow Mr. O'Connor one reserved space near his shop. Larry O'Connor recounted difficulties he had with Gartner Studios employees not letting him use the parking space. He needs to be able to get the end spot so his van is not boxed in. Page 2 of 3 Downtown Parking Commission November 15, 2012 Community Development Director Turnblad stated a sign could be made indicating the spot is reserved during certain hours as in several other spots downtown. Motion by Commissioner Helmberger, seconded by Chairwoman Pelletier, to designate the first spot to the west in front of Larry's Floor Covering "Reserved." All in favor. Update on City Council Decisions - Parking Fines Community Development Director Turnblad informed the Commission that the City Council increased the parking fine to $15. OTHER BUSINESS Community Development Director Turnblad reported on the progress of trail construction. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Commissioner Helmberger, seconded by Commissioner Korte, to adjourn the meeting at 9:32 a.m. NEXT MEETING The next meeting of the Downtown Parking Commission will be December 20, 8:30 a.m. in City Hall Conference Room 213. Respectfully Submitted, Julie Kink Recording Secretary Page 3 of 3 THE BIRTHPLACE OF MINNESOTA TO: Downtown Parking Commission FROM: Bill Turnblad, Community Development Director DATE: March 18, 2013 RE: Grand Buffet Request for Parking Ramp Tickets BACKGROUND Mr. Dick Anderson, owner of the Grand in downtown Stillwater, has requested consideration for issuance of discount parking ramp vouchers. Frequently when the Grand hosts large wedding receptions, parties and other events, the parking lot at 2nd and Olive as well as 2nd and Nelson become filled. Consequently, Mr. Anderson would like to be able to validate parking vouchers for use in the parking ramp during these events. The City currently provides any downtown business that is interested with a validator at cost. However, the business would normally be charged full rate for the validated ramp voucher. In reality, the Lowell Inn is the only business that has purchased the validators from the City. And, we do not actually keep track of the validated vouchers. Instead, the Lowell Inn pays 1% of its gross sales receipts to the City quarterly for use of the ramp. The proposed discount would be $1 during the off - season and $2 during the peak - season. In other words, the Grand would be billed $2 for each validated off - season voucher and $3 for each validated peak- season voucher. COMMENTS Except during the July 4th fireworks event and Lumberjack Days (when the event was still being held), the parking ramp can always accommodate more vehicles. So, perhaps the proposed discount can be beneficial to both the Grand and the City. STAFF REQUEST Staff requests the Parking Commission to discuss the proposal and give staff direction on how to proceed. bt T H E B I R T H P L A C E O F M I N N E S O T A TO: Downtown Parking Commission FROM: Bill Turnblad, Community Development Director DATE: March 15, 2013 RE: Special Events SPECIAL EVENT PERMIT APPLICATIONS Currently there are five pending event permits that have requested the use of the Downtown Parking System's lots or on- street parking areas. The fees established by the adopted fee schedule have been calculated and they are included below in the text for each of the events. Also, if there have been requests for a waiver or reduction of the fee, they are noted as well. Events this summer will all be impacted to one degree or another by the Army Corps of Engineer's work on the third and final phase of their levy project. As work occurs in individual lots, the impacted lot will be closed. But only one lot will be closed at a time. The earliest that a notice to proceed will be issued by the Corps to their general contractor will be April 22, 2013. The anticipated completion date for construction is August 30, 2013. In addition to the one - lot -at -a -time that will be closed during construction, the gravel lot north of Mulberry will also be closed for the staging area. More details on timing and closures will be available and presented at the April Parking Commission meeting. A. Cruisin' On the Croix The Greater Stillwater Area Chamber of Commerce has made application for Cruisin' on the Croix. The vintage and hot rod car show would be held from 4 — 9 PM on 13 Wednesday evenings from June 5 — August 28. Since it is impossible at this point to know exactly when the lots will be closed that Cruisin' normally uses, the event organizers have requested the use of City Lot #9 and has received permission from Paradeau and Desch to use their private parking lots. These three lots may be sufficient to handle the demand for parking to display the vintage cars. If not, the organizers would like to be able to add Lot 8 if necessary, and then Lot 7, in that order. Since Lot 7 is used Special Event Permits Page 2 heavily by downtown employees, it would not be used before 5 PM. The barricades and signage for Lot 7 would make it clear that parking by the public is fine before 5 PM, but that the lot should be cleared after 5 PM. [See the attached air photo for location of the subject parking lots.] The employees in Terra Springs use Lot 9 for parking during business hours. They pay for this through their monthly parking permits. Therefore, staff believes that the 23 spots in the row abutting Main Street should be left for their use until at least 5:30 PM. Staff recommends requiring Lot 9 to be paid for with the issuance of the event permit. But we recommend not charging for Lots 7 and 8 yet. Those two lots could be paid for after the fact if they are used. The weekday rate during the peak season for Lots 3 -9 is $1.50 /space /day. Lot 9 has 103 spaces. This is $154.50 for each event day. The event will be held 13 dates. So the total for the whole season would be $2,008.50. For comparison purposes, last year Crusin' on the Croix would have paid $2,325.00 for the season according to the adopted fee schedule. For the 11 event dates and the spaces that were rented, that would have worked out to $211.36 per event date. Upon request, the City Council reduced that fee by 50% to $105.58 per date. For Lot 9, staff recommends the adopted fee of $154.50 per date, but no less than the $105.58 per date that Council approved last year. In addition, if Lots 7 or 8 are needed, staff would recommend that at least 50% of the adopted fee be charged for their use as well. B. Nature Valley Grand Prix Nature Valley Grand Prix has made application for a permit to hold their 12th annual Stillwater Criterium Race on June 16th The organizers of the event have requested that the City close each street in the course and reserve two parking lots for their exclusive use. From the Downtown Parking Commission's point of view, the request is to reserve all of the on- street parking along the course and to reserve Parking Lots 12 (Olive St Lot) and 13 (UBC Lot). The course and lots involved are shown on the attached map. Parking Lot Reservations Lot 12 (Olive St Lot) would be used for the Festival Expo and serve as the location for the race jumbotron. The expo will include a number of vendors offering bicycles, bicycle accessories, fitness equipment, food and booths for festival sponsors. Portable restrooms will also be located in this lot. The City's 2013 fee schedule sets a price of $3 per space per day in this lot. Since all 47 spaces would be reserved, the total fee for the lot would be $141. Special Event Permits Page 3 Lot 13 would be the location of the "pit" for race participant bike repairs. It will also function as a base of operations for the event organizers. So, all 103 spots are requested to be reserved. As with Lot 12, the fee for this lot is $3 per space for the day. The total fee for this lot would therefore be $309. On- street Parking The race requires closure of the course streets. (See attached map.) Closed portions of both Second and Third Streets are in the Downtown Parking District and the City charges for reserving the on- street parking spots. Second Street up to the foot of Chilikoot Hill is considered part of the Downtown Parking District. It has marked on- street spots. Third Street up to Pine Street is considered part of the downtown parking system as well. But, its parking spaces are unmarked. The total number of on- street spaces is 79 (51 un- marked and 28 marked). The fee for each reserved on- street parking spot is $3 for the day. The total would be $237. Last year the Parking Commission recommended charging only for the 28 marked spots on Second Street. Staff recommends the same for this year, which would be a fee of $84 for on- street parking. Total fees Staff recommends charging $534 for the use of the two lots and the marked on- street parking. This is the same fee as was paid last year. C. Run Stillwater, Inc Races Run Stillwater, Inc has made application for three race events this year. The race operations are to be handled by Mastel Event Management. Two of the events are planned to impact parking in the downtown district: 1) Stillwater Log Run (July 20), and 2) Stillwater Lift Bridge Road Race (October 19). 1. Stillwater Log Run • Event date and time: July 20 o Setup: 6 am — 8 am o Actual event: 8 am to 11 am o Cleanup: 11 am to noon • Event course: Square Lake to Mulberry Point. Starting lines vary for each race. Finish line is at Mulberry Point for each race. • Races offered: 10 mile, 5 K, Kids Run, Toddler Trot • Expected participants and spectators: 500 runners; 200 spectators • Impact upon public streets: No parking on east side of Main Street from Zephyr Depot to Mulberry. o Since the east side of Main Street is to be coned off from the Zephyr Depot to Mulberry for a running lane, reserving the on- street parking spots will have to be approved by the Council. (By policy established in Resolution 2013 -12, on- street spaces on Main Street cannot be reserved like this.) If approved by the Council, this July event would have a cost of $9 for each of Special Event Permits Page 4 the 34 reserved spaces. Total cost of reserving the on- street parking would be $306. • Impact upon public parks and parking lots: Given the congestion at the finish line, one of the abutting parking lots should be reserved for the event. The lot north of Mulberry (Lot #8) is preferred, because it is less disruptive to the rest of the parking system. This lot has 39 spaces. o The fee for Lot 8 is $3.00 for each of the 39 spaces for a total of $117. Staff recommends charging $423 to cover both Lot 8 and the on- street parking reservations for this peak- season event. 2. Stillwater Lift Bridge Road Races • Event date and time: October 19 o Setup: 7 am — 9 am o Actual event: 9 am to noon o Cleanup: Noon to 12:30 • Event course: Near Square Lake to Mulberry Point. Starting lines vary for each race. Finish line is at Mulberry Point for each race. • Races offered: Half marathon, 10 mile 5 K • Expected participants and spectators: 500 runners; 200 spectators • Impact upon public streets: No parking on east side of Main Street from Zephyr Depot to Mulberry. o Since the east side of Main Street is to be coned off from the Zephyr Depot to Mulberry for a running lane, reserving the on- street parking spots will have to be approved by the Council. (By policy established in Resolution 2013 -12, on- street spaces on Main Street cannot be reserved like this.) If approved by the Council, this October event would have an off - season cost of $3 to reserve each of the 34 on- street spaces. Total cost for this would be $102. • Impact upon public parks and parking lots: Given the congestion at the finish line, one of the abutting parking lots should be reserved for the event. The lot north of Mulberry (Lot #8) is preferred, because it is less disruptive to the rest of the parking system. This lot has 39 spaces. o The off - season fee for Lot 8 is $1.50 for each of the 39 spaces for a total of $58.50. Staff recommends charging $160.50 to cover both Lot 8 and the on- street parking reservations for this off- season event. bt attachments: Cruisin' on the Croix map Nature Valley Map Special Event Permits Page 5 Crusin' on the Croix map Special Event Permits Page 6 4- Road Closed Ahead 19- T3 Barricades 3- Detour Right/ Strut 2- Detour Left/ Strut 1- Double Arrow 1- Detour Right /T3 1- Detour Lett IT3 18- Road Closed 1- Road Closed TTT 6- Portable Delineators 40- Sandbags 2- TRWBC / in place Friday Detour Route Race Route Bringing 80 sandbags from Mankato which were om Mpls Pick up 120 sandbags THIS ROAD WILL BE CLOSED xxwxx 9AM -3PM HIGHWAY TECHNOLOGIES Deliver all equipment in place on Friday. Pick up on Monday. Customer and Police to set Deliver to lot across from US Bank on 2nd between Chestnut and Olive: 6- Portable Delineators 40- Sandbags Nature Valley Criterim