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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-07-20 DTPC MIN DOWNTOWN PARKING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES July 20, 2017 REGULAR MEETING Chairwoman Pelletier called the meeting to order at 8:32 a.m. Present: Chairwoman Pelletier, Commissioners Hopfe, Anderson and Lettner, Council Representative Junker Absent: Commissioners Glynn and Johnson Staff: Zoning Administrator/Assistant Planner Olson-Williams, Parking Enforcement Officer Pasket, Police Chief Gannaway, Community Development Director Turnblad APPROVAL OF MINUTES Approval of June 15, 2017 meeting minutes Minutes were accepted as presented. SPECIAL EVENTS Cruisin’ on the Croix Community Development Director Turnblad stated that River Market Co-Op Manager Mead Stone had requested that the Downtown Parking Commission reconsider the special event permit issued for the Cruisin’ on the Croix Car Show because the show did not provide a parking attendant as promised, necessitating the Co-Op to use their own staff to divert car show attendees from parking in Lot 8a. Mr. Stone informed the Commission that Mr. Fabio is now paying for a River Market parking attendant to staff the lot during the event, so he is no longer requesting a change for this year. Mr. Stone added that he understands the City needs events like this to stay viable, but his is one of many businesses that do not benefit from these types of events. Scott Berger remarked that his coworkers in the Maple Island Office Building are upset that the parking lot is cordoned off for the entire day for the car shows. Chairwoman Pelletier commented that the Commission previously considered that the event may be growing too big for downtown. She would like to revisit this issue before dates are published for next year. Downtown Parking Commission July 20, 2017 Page 2 of 2 Frank Fabio, coordinator of Cruisin’ on the Croix, reported that the person he had hired to watch Lot 8a fell through, so he offered to pay one of the River Market employees to monitor the lot. He added that downtown businesses show increased revenue on Wednesdays and that downtown Stillwater needs events in the summertime especially with the bridge closing. Council Representative Junker urged Mr. Fabio to think about creative ways to avoid having to close the parking lots all day and for next year, to request eight or fewer events. Mr. Fabio responded that in a dry year, the car show could be held on the grass by the river but there would still need to be a contingency plan. He is willing to work with the City. Water Street No Parking Sign Request Zoning Administrator/Assistant Planner Olson-Williams stated that Mead Stone, manager of River Market Co-Op, has requested that two on-street parking spaces on Water Street be marked “No Parking” between the hours of 7:00 AM and 12:00 PM Monday through Friday. If approved, staff recommends that the cost of the signage be the responsibility of the Market. Mr. Stone stated the reason for the request is that the spaces are located opposite the Market’s loading dock and some delivery trucks have had difficulty backing into the dock with cars parked in this location. Parking Enforcement Officer Pasket stated he is not opposed to the sign but questioned why drivers have a problem backing in. He believes there are a lot of inexperienced tractor-trailer drivers today. Council Representative Junker noted that traffic patterns will change somewhat when the lift bridge closes. He suggested revisiting the issue next year. Motion by Chairwoman Pelletier, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to deny the River Market request for no parking signs on Water Street. All in favor, 4-0. Jersey Barriers Police Chief Gannaway informed the Commission that jersey barriers are now being used to block traffic for Lumberjack Days and other events due to crowd safety. Fall Colors Festival Mr. Olson-Williams stated that Robin Anthony, Stillwater Area Chamber of Commerce, has applied for a special event permit for its annual Rivertown Fall Art Festival. The proposed venue includes Lots 5, 9 and 11 and North Lowell Park (north of the gazebo). The event will be held on Saturday and Sunday, October 7-8, with setup on Friday and clean up Sunday evening. The Chamber is asking to reserve Lots 5, 9 and 11 and eight street spots for three days. The fee would be $405. Downtown Parking Commission July 20, 2017 Page 3 of 7 Motion by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Hopfe, to approve the parking request for Lots 5, 9, 11 and eight street spots for three days, for a fee of $405. All in favor, 4-0. Bridge Closing Party Community Development Director Turnblad stated that Councilmember Polehna submitted a special event permit application on behalf of the Stillwater City Council to hold a Lift Bridge Closing Celebration. The celebration is planned as a two-part party. The first part, called “Cruisin’ to Closure”, would take place on the actual closing date, Wednesday, August 2, 2017. The second part would be a street polka party on Saturday, August 12, 2017. This event would involve closing Chestnut Street for the dance floor, with the band stage using the bridge concourse. The dance would occur from 5 PM to 10 PM. South of the “dance floor” would be the beer garden, vending and porta-potties. 16 parking spaces in Lot 2 would need to be reserved, as would all of Lots 3 and 4. Lot 4 will be parking for staff, first responders, vendors and the band. Chairwoman Pelletier asked why the vendors could not be on Chestnut Street. Mr. Turnblad responded that the event will need electric hook-up and that if huge numbers of people attend, they want to have the option of increasing the size of the dance floor. Councilmember Junker predicted the event will draw more than 1,000 people. He asked if the parking lots will have to be blocked off Friday as well as Saturday. Chairwoman Pelletier said she would prefer to leave the Water and Main Street intersections open. Police Chief Gannaway replied it would probably work to barricade Chestnut just east of Water Street. Motion by Commissioner Lettner, seconded by Chairwoman Pelletier, to approve the request to reserve Lots 3, 4, and 16 spaces in Lot 2, with the following conditions: 1) Chestnut Street to be closed only from the east edge of Water Street to the bridge; 2) Water Street not be closed; 3) the north 16 spaces of Lot 2 to be closed Friday through Sunday; 4) Lot 3 signed on Friday for closure, but not actually closed until Saturday. All in favor, 4-0. NEW BUSINESS JX Event Center Parking Community Development Director Turnblad explained that in April 2016, Judd Sather, JX Event Center, requested four event drop-off spaces on Second Street and four event parking spaces on Commercial Avenue be reserved. The Parking Commission and City Council approved two drop off spaces on Second Street, which would be available to anyone on a first-come-first-served basis. The City also approved the curb cut on Commercial Street to stay in place to allow caterers to park temporarily on the sidewalk as they dropped off food. Parking has been a challenge for the event center for several reasons. One is that drop-off only for catering does not work well, since the caterers have to be present for extended Downtown Parking Commission July 20, 2017 Page 4 of 2 periods of time. Another challenge is that motorists tend to park in the two drop-off spaces on Second Street. The consequences of the challenges are parking tickets and blocked access. The event center’s solution to the blocked access has been to privately post no-parking signs at the Commercial Street curb cut and to paint the curbs yellow at both locations. Both of these solutions cause concerns for parking enforcement. Mr. Sather explained that caterers need to go to and from their vehicle during an event to replenish food. Since he paid to have the loading dock removed, he felt he could continue to use it as a loading area as needed for his vendors and staff. Officer Pasket stated that he seldom sees caterers park on Commercial Street. He sees event center employees park on Commercial and on Second. They are upset when they get a ticket because Mr. Sather told them they could park there. Mr. Sather replied he has other tenants in the building, and most vendors drive regular cars. It never occurred to him that he couldn’t use that as a dock area. Chairwoman Pelletier said she feels the spaces that are yellow should be for vendors, and employees should not park there. Commissioner Lettner stated there is a history of abuse of the 15-minute parking spots. The business owner should inform employees not to park there. Officer Pasket suggested changing the Commercial Street spaces from loading/unloading to three-hour spaces. Chairwoman Pelletier said she would rather keep the loading/unloading spaces and direct Officer Pasket not to enforce them. Motion by Commissioner Lettner, seconded by Commissioner Hopfe, that Second Street parking continue to be signed and enforced as it currently is; and that on Commercial Street, parking enforcement by the City for the loading zone will stop. The owner of JX Event Center will be responsible for deciding who in his building may use the loading zone spaces and for how long. He will also be responsible for enforcing his decision. All in favor, 4-0. The Crosby Parking Deck Operation Plan Community Development Director Turnblad stated that Midnight Real Estate LLC is proposing a hotel project at 232 North Main Street to be known as The Crosby. The development would include 66 rooms, a full service restaurant and a two level parking facility. The Downtown Parking Commission already considered the parking mitigation plan for this project. He explained that the plans have changed and the Commission must review the project again. The hotel itself is essentially the same with 66 rooms and a restaurant, though the coffee shop has been eliminated. Major changes have occurred for the rest of the project site. The office building has been deleted and the parking facility completely redesigned. The 101 space parking facility will have two levels. The lower level has one Downtown Parking Commission July 20, 2017 Page 5 of 7 access, which is on Mulberry Street. This level is exclusively for use by hotel and restaurant guests. The second level has access from Second Street and is a 52-space public parking deck. This version of the parking facility was presented to the City Council and found acceptable to them and the neighbors. The number of parking spaces required for this project is now 107 during the high-season and 104 during the off-season when the restaurant patio is closed. The hotel and restaurant require 76 parking spaces during the summer. The other 31 spaces are a replacement of the spaces in Municipal Parking Lots 13 and 14, which would be redeveloped as part of this project. Since the two-level parking facility is planned to have 101 spaces (49 surface lot; 52 public parking deck), there will be a shortage of 3 spaces during the off-season and a shortage of 6 spaces during the high-season. Mr. Turnblad explained three mitigation options. Staff finds the parking facility operations plan to be reasonable, and recommends either option one or three for parking mitigation. If option three is chosen, the overflow parking agreement will have to be fully executed, and a copy submitted to the City prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy for the hotel. Chairwoman Pelletier clarified that the City is not managing the public parking deck. Mr. Turnblad confirmed the deck will be a public parking lot but the equipment will be managed by the Crosby Hotel. Mike Hoefler, architect, stated that they hope that the hotel can fill 36 parking stalls. Motion by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Chairwoman Pelletier, to recommend approval of the parking deck operation plan and to satisfy the six space parking deficit (three spaces in off-season when restaurant patio is not open) by working out an agreement with Mills on Main to use their commercial parking garage (mitigation option #3). If an agreement isn’t reached before the Certificate of Occupancy is ready to issue for the hotel, then the deficit spaces would be subject to parking mitigation fees. All in favor, 4-0. Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Mr. Olson-Williams stated that in February 2016, a request for the installation of electric vehicle charging stations was brought before the Commission, but no conclusion was reached. The original request was made by Cameron Murray, and in the meantime, an additional request was made by Scott Berger. Staff would like the Downtown Parking Commission to reconsider and provide direction on this issue. Cameron Murray and Scott Berger both made statements in support of installing electric vehicle charging stations downtown. Currently, there are no charging stations in Stillwater. Mr. Murray added that he spoke to Anne Loff of the Crosby Hotel development about the possibility of having an electric charging station in their new parking facility and that she responded to him very enthusiastically. Last year, he approached River Market Co-Op and they too were very enthusiastic but indicated they don’t own their parking lot, the City owns it. He also stated he is aware of some potential funding options and will give this info. to Mr. Turnblad. Downtown Parking Commission July 20, 2017 Page 6 of 2 Motion by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Lettner, to support installation of an electric vehicle charging station by River Market Co-Op, taking up to two spaces in Lot 8a. All in favor, 4-0. Motion by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Lettner, to support installation of an electric vehicle charging station, taking up to two spaces in the Crosby Hotel’s public parking deck, and to waive the monthly parking mitigation fee payments if a charging station is installed. All in favor, 4-0. Rates for New Machines in Lots 2 and 3 Community Development Director Turnblad informed the Commission that new revenue equipment that is being installed in Lots 1 and 2 requires a fare level to be set. The Police Department recommends increasing rates in Lots 1 & 2 to $5 on weekdays, $10 on weekends and during special events. The consensus of the Commission was to leave parking rates as they are in Lots 1 and 2. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Lot 2 Attendant Shelter Mr. Turnblad reported that staff would like direction from the Parking Commission regarding the possibility of providing a shelter for attendants at Lot 2. This idea first came up as part of the Amano McGann presentation in April, but no conclusion was reached. The meter shelter offered by Amano McGann would total $8,111, including installation. Alternate options could include instructing attendants to use the awning by the restrooms in inclement weather or inquiring about sharing the booth located across the street from Lot 2. Parking Enforcement Officer Pasket said parking lot attendants may not be needed if the City gets new equipment next year. Consensus was not to install a parking attendant shelter in Lot 2. UPDATES Number of Food Truck Vending Permits Zoning Administrator/Assistant Planner Olson-Williams reported that a question was raised at June’s Parking Commission meeting regarding the possibility of placing a cap on the number of food trucks permitted in the Downtown area. Creating a formal restriction on the number of food truck permits issued would be a policy decision that the City Council would have to make. But, the Commission could choose not to approve parking mitigation for individual permit applications if they feel that the use of private parking spaces would place an undue burden on the public parking system. Downtown Parking Commission July 20, 2017 Page 7 of 7 Consensus of the Commission was to study the issue over the winter and potentially develop a policy limiting the number of food trucks allowed in private parking lots. PARKING RAMP ATTENDANTS Police Chief Gannaway asked the Commissioners to let him know if they are aware of responsible adults who are interested in being parking ramp attendants. STAFF UPDATES Mr. Turnblad reported that this year the City is working on resurfacing Lot 17 (Teddy Bear Park); installing new revenue machines in Lots 1 and 2; and has postponed resurfacing of Lots 13 and 14 because these two lots will be sold to the Crosby in exchange for ownership of the new parking deck as part of the hotel project. Commissioner Hopfe asked if more parking will be designated on Main Street with the bridge closing. Mr. Turnblad responded that staff is working with MnDOT to develop a plan. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 10:40 a.m. Respectfully Submitted, Julie Kink, Recording Secretary