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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPACKET Transportation Advisory Board 2015-7-15 A EP TOWN OF ESTES PART, Transportation Advisory Board Agenda July 15th,2015 Current Members: Bryon Holmes(03/31/16) 12:00 PM—2:00 PM Stan Black(03/31/17) Cory La Bianca(03/31/18) Rooms 202 &203 Kimberly Campbell(03/31/18) Belle Morris (03/31/17) Estes Park Town Hall Ann Finley(03/31/17) Gregg Rounds(03/31/18) 170 MacGregor Ave Amy Hamrick(03/31/16) Thom Widawski(03/31/16) Public Comment Approval of June meeting minutes Chair Kimberly Campbell Shuttle Committee Update Sandy Osterman Town Projects update Director Greg Muhonen Town Engineer Kevin Ash Parking Strategy Chair Kimberly Campbell Other Business Adjourn The mission of the Town of Estes Park Transportation Advisory Board is to advise the Board of Trustees and the Public Works staff on Local and Regional Comprehensive Transportation Planning Policies; Maintenance, Operation and Expansion Programs; and Transportation Capital Projects. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado, June 17th, 2015 Minutes of a Regular meeting of the Transportation Advisory Board of the Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Meeting held in the Rooms 202 & 203 of Town Hall, in said Town of Estes Park on the 17th day of June, 2015. Present: Kimberly Campbell Thom Widawski Amy Hamrick Belle Morris Stan Black Gregg Rounds Bryon Holmes Also Present:Greg Muhonen, Director of Public Works Kevin Ash, Public Works Civil Engineer Jen Imber, Public Works Administrative Assistant Brian Wells, Shuttle Coordinator John Ericson, Town Board Liaison Abscent: Cory LaBianca Ann Finley Chair Campbell called the meeting to order at 12:03 p.m. GENERAL DISCUSSION Public in attendance declined to comment. Minutes from the March 18th regular meeting, March 31st special meeting, April 15th regular meeting and May 20th regular meeting were reviewed by members. It was moved and seconded (Black/Hamrick) to approve all aforementioned minutes, with the motion passing unanimously. Brian Wells presented a brief shuttle update. Trolley numbers are in for the limited service that was offered in the spring and the 2015 numbers are ahead of 2014. A special Thursday morning service starting at 7:45 will be offered in July, running from the Fairgrounds to Bond Park for the Farmers Market event. TAB members suggested this could be marketed as a test run for downtown business employees. A shuttle rider appreciation event will be held August 5th, with the 500,000th rider receiving a goody bag from the Mayor. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Transportation Advisory Board — June 17th, 2015 — Page 2 Charley Dickey gave a brief presentation of the results of the recently conducted downtown parking survey. Estes Valley Partners for Commerce and the Downtown Business Partners Committee of Government of Affairs created the survey and distributed it to the community. Trustee Ericson commented on the grant received by the Community Development Department for neighborhood development of the downtown district. A request for proposal is currently underway to hire a consultant for the project. Trustee Ericson expressed an interest in seeing TAB integrate efforts with this grant. TAB discussions would be more philosophical in nature, while letting the experts get into the nitty gritty details of concept and design. It would be helpful if TAB began defining areas as downtown, peripheral and remote when discussing parking concepts. STAFF UPDATES ON TOWN PROJECTS A public meeting on was held on Thursday, June 11th, on the Dry Gulch Project. The biggest concern voiced by citizens was the full road closure for two months, especially in regard to emergency services. The Town is addressing this by attempting to create a path around the construction for emergency services vehicles. The project currently is out to bid and will close on July 2nd. Negotiations with private property owners are still underway regarding easements. A reconstruction project on Highway 7 is beginning, with culvert replacement and then overlay. Belle Morris requested an opportunity for input for bike lanes. Amy Hamrick inquired about the school zoning on Hwy 7. Trustee Ericson recommended speaking with Rick Life of the Police Department for details and information. Fall River Trail Extension project is underway with consultant Loris and Associates. The consultant is exploring trail placement along Fish Hatchery Road and into Aspen Glen campground in RMNP. Public outreach for this project will begin mid to late July. CDOT is going to reconfigure north-bound double left turn of Hwy 34/36 intersection on June 22nd and 23rd CDOT shared the bid for the requested Barnes Dance study in the downtown corridor. CDOT will pay the $30,000 for a two-weekend study, but the additional $30,000 for two extra weekends would have to be paid for by the Town. Director Muhonen will present the Town Board with an action item for this project at the June 23rd meeting. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Transportation Advisory Board — June 17th, 2015 — Page 3 On July 1st, two variable message boards will be added along Hwys 36 and 34 to best direct guests to the two RMNP east side entrances. A public meeting on the Estes Park Transit Facility Parking Structure was held on June 10th. Twenty comment cards were received from community members, with positive feedback. The consultants are currently working on submitting an application to the Estes Valley Planning Commission. The new pothole repair spray patcher has arrived and is ready for operation. The Public Works crew is trained and working to repair potholes. The new equipment will be debuted with a public event featuring live demonstrations on June 25th DOWNTOWN PARKING STRATEGY Chair Campbell passed out an outline of the parking strategy plan, as well as the portion of the plan Stan Black drafted since the last meeting. TAB members agreed more parking is imperative. Studies indicate an additional 500 spaces are needed, with the additional parking spaces from the construction of the parking structure still leaving the Town 200 spaces short. TAB members considered if additional parking should be provided in the downtown district or on the perimeter of the downtown corridor. Downtown parking maps were provided to each member and viable options were explored for a future parking structure. Extensive discussion centered on the Post Office parking lot site. Downtown business owners want more downtown parking, not an exchange of parking for additional business space. Mixed development would find more support from the downtown district. Also heavily discussed as an ideal location for a parking garage was the Piccadilly Square site, which is currently privately owned. With no other business to discuss, Chair Campbell adjourned the meeting at 2:03 p.m. INTRODUCTION: The Transportation Advisory Board has been discussing the development of a Parking Master Plan.The thought is that a comprehensive master plan for parking will identify priorities, help staff identify appropriate grant opportunities, and guide decision making. The TAB has discussed a range of parking related topics. We reviewed the recommendations in the Transportation Visioning Committee report as well as the recommendations from the 2013 Estes Park Transit& Parking Study. Below is a collection of the key points we would like to see included in a Parking Master Plan. Many of these key points are highly interrelated, and implementation must be coordinated to ensure an optimal outcome. If the Trustees agree with the notion that a Parking Master Plan would be beneficial to the Town's long term planning, and if the Trustees find the attached key points agreeable, then Transportation Advisory Board asks the Trustees support the development of such a plan. (TAB—SHOULD WE OFFER TO WRITE A MASTER PLAN BASED ON THE POINTS WE COMPILE, OR SHOULD WE ENCOURAGE THE TRUSTEES TO HIRE A CONSULTANT TO REVIEW OUR KEY POINTS, REVIEW THE OPPORTUNITIES AND WRITE A REPORT?) BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Over the years, the Town of Estes Park has commissioned a variety of transportation studies. Some of these specifically studied the downtown parking inventory and its utilization. Below is a summary of the key findings of the most recent reports: Estes Valley Transportation Alternatives Study: In 2003,the Estes Valley Transportation Alternatives Study(April 2003)was conducted to "develop a well-balanced, multi-modal transportation system that addresses existing deficiencies and accommodates future travel needs for the Estes Valley in a safe and efficient manner." (page E-1). One aspect of the study was an analysis of the utilization of existing downtown parking spaces. According to this study,the Town is projected to need 545 additional parking spaces by 2020 (page ES-3 and page 59)to accommodate demands from an increase in tourists visiting Estes Park and RMNP, as well as a growing Estes Valley population and continued commercial development.The report anticipates that current over-capacity parking conditions could increase from 25 days per year to 75 days per year in 2020 (page ES-3). Key parking recommendations from this study were fixed route transit routes through town with increased intercept parking east of downtown. Table? Year Actual RMNP Attendance Projected Attendance from Estes Valley Transportation Alternatives Study 2000 3,185,392 3,379,800 2005 2,798,368 3,732,600 2010 2,955,821 4,173,800 2015 3,434,751 in 2014 4,731,900 2020 TBD 5,446,600 Source:Estes Valley Transportation Alternatives Study,Table 8(page 49)and https://i rma.nps.gov/Stats/SSRSReports/Park%20Specific%20Reports/Annual%20Pa rk%20Recreatio n%20Visitation%2 0(1904%20-%20Last%20Calendar%20Year)?Park=ROMO While today we can see that while this study over-projected visitor growth in the National Park, it appears correct that overcapacity parking conditions continue to grow. Table ??? Year #of over-capacity parking days 2005 Republic Parking Study: In 2005,the Town commissioned the Republic Parking Study. Republic Parking conducted a comprehensive analysis of the parking supply and utilization.Their recommendations (page 193) included improved signage,visitor and employee shuttles, alternate employee parking and some unique options such as golf cart shuttles and valet options.What was missing was a recommendation for a significant expansion of downtown parking capacity.Their analysis questioned whether a structure would be cost effective, given the high construction and maintenance costs and seasonal usage. Roadmap to the Future: 2015 Downtown Parking Survey: in May, 2015, an informal survey of Estes Valley residents was created by????to determine the public sentiment toward the current parking situation and to determine preferred parking solutions. This survey was distributed by email and Facebook. While not scientific in its approach, it did get over 800(??) participants and remains a valuable indicator of current public sentiment. Currently, plans are in place to construct 100 net new parking spaces at Visitor Center South lot (with the potential to build up to 308 net new spaces at this location). Guiding Principles: When developing any transportation or parking improvement,we encourage the Town Trustees to key in mind the following guiding principles: o Protect the natural environment: o Be careful when planning developments along water ways.These cannot be returned to their natural state. Keep these areas accessible to people, not vehicles. o Encourage alternate modes of transportation. Provide wide sidewalks, bike lanes, shuttles. o Balance the desire to park downtown with a strong shuttle experience to protect our natural environment and reduce vehicle emissions. o Design downtown to be a fun,family friendly destination, not simply a connector to RMNP. Emphasize the pedestrian experience. Maintain green spaces, riverfront plazas and create strong pedestrian and cyclist connectivity. Do not allow vehicles to become the driving characteristic of Estes Park. o Keep it simple: o Centralize parking in large, easy to find lots. o Provide good wayfinding signage. o Create easy to use shuttle systems. o Design is important: If parking structures are a chosen solution, ensure that they are designed to fit architecturally within their location—balanced in size and scale with their surroundings and enhanced with architecturally appealing characteristics. Parking Supply, Location & Strategy: Currently,there is a strong public sentiment that additional parking is needed in downtown Estes Park. A new lot providing 100 net new spaces is currently planned for the Visitor Center South lot.This location is anticipated to ease pressure on the downtown parking supply, but not satisfy the need for additional parking. It is difficult to quantify how much additional parking is needed to adequately accommodate the locals and tourists desiring to park downtown during the peak summer season. What is known, is that each time a vehicle is unable to find parking downtown, local businesses lose a revenue opportunity and the Town misses out on potential tax receipts. While there are no simple, obvious parking solutions, a few key points will be valuable in guiding future parking solutions. Build new parking inventory in downtown or perimeter locations: While the Town shuttles remain a valued amenity, it is challenging to overcome the American desire to park near their desired end- destination. As such, public sentiment appears to prefer downtown parking spaces. When evaluating prospective parking lot locations, we define three parking zones: 1) downtown, 2) perimeter (or downtown adjacent), and 3) remote (locations that require shuttle service to downtown). When selecting a location for future parking expansion, we recommend that additional spaces should be built in a "downtown" or"perimeter(aka downtown adjacent)" location. Remote parking, as evidenced by the usage of the fairgrounds parking lot and the results of the 2015 Downtown Parking Survey, is not a preferred location for new parking inventory. Due to the limited availability of land on which a new surface lot could be built in or near downtown,we have focused our analysis on those existing downtown and perimeter parking lots or pieces of land which are large enough to support the construction of a moderate sized parking structure. Table 1: Parking lots capable of supporting a parking structure Lot Name Width Length Estimated# Location Spaces Visitor Center South 125' 255' Perimeter (in progress) Town Hall—back 125' 431' Downtown portion Town Hall— 142' 253' Downtown front/library portion Riverside Lot 157' 275' Downtown Post Office Lot 132' 350' Downtown Moraine/Weist 116' 241' Downtown (along Moraine) Piccadilly Square Perimeter Visitor Center North Perimeter Current public sentiment appears to prefer a parking structure at the Post Office Parking lot. Interestingly, the 2005 Republic Parking Study found that preferred parking structure locations were the Weist Lot and the Municipal lot.The key point is that the preferred location of the structure changes with the times, but the perception that additional downtown parking is needed continues to thrive. Table 2: Public preference for downtown parking lot 2015 Estes Park Downtown 2005 Republic Parking Study Parking Survey Question 5:Where would you like to "What do you feel needs to be see more parking? done to improve the parking?" Survey participants could select multiple 36%of business owners surveyed options. felt a parking garage was the best solution.* Location %Support _ %Support Post Office Parking Lot 52% 2.04% Additional Levels at Visitor Center South lot 49% Municipal Lot/Library 28% 10.2% Lot Weist Parking lot 28% 10.2% Additional Levels at Fairgrounds parking lot 28% Cleave Street lot 4.08% *Page 83 of the 2005 Republic Parking Study [CAN WE SAY THAT WE PREFER TO BUILD ALL 4 LEVELS OF THE STRUCTURE AT THE VC SOUTH LOCATION, BEFORE ADDING NEW INVENTORY DOWNTOWN?ONCE COMPLETED, CONDUCT A NEW PARKING UTILIZATION STUDY TO IDENTIFY THE REMAINING NUMBER OF PARKING SPACES NEEDED.] Build parking inventory that addresses our critical traffic flows: Estes Park is unique in that it is a small mountain community with a significant seasonal influx of visitor traffic that puts strain on infrastructure. This inflow of vehicles come from three primary traffic flows: [CREATE GRAPHIC] o Inbound traffic from Highway 36:This traffic has the opportunity to park at the planned Visitor Center South lot and thus are a lower priority. o Inbound traffic from Highway 34:This flow's first significant parking source is the Town Hall Lot, which fills quickly. o Outbound traffic from Rocky Mountain National Park: this flow largely occurs in the afternoon. Outbound visitors from the National Park often seek food, refreshment, shopping and relaxation and need a convenient, easy to find parking location. Any new parking inventory should take into consideration the ability of the parking lot to mitigate one or more of these flows of traffic through downtown Estes Park. Ingress and egress patterns should be evaluated for each proposed location.The attractiveness of a particular destination may vary depending whether the Town proceeds with the Downtown Loop project and its modified traffic flow or not. Simplify: Estes Park's parking can be difficult for visitors. It is broken down into 12+downtown parking lots and on high traffic days, visitors often find themselves driving around aimlessly searching for a new lot with a vacant space.A simplification of the parking strategy into fewer, larger parking destinations will benefit all visitors. As such, any new parking inventory should be moderate to significant in volume. Small lots fill quickly and encourage drivers to circulate through downtown seeking available spaces. A parking strategy focused on a few centralized locations can facilitate getting the majority of vehicles into available spaces efficiently and with a less cluttered signage system. Once the primary parking supply has been expanded,the Town should simplify the overall parking availability downtown. This can be achieved by: o Limiting downtown parking on residential streets. o Converting small parking lots to new purposes.These may include: 1. Selling for commercial development, 2. Dedicating use for special use groups, such as handicapped parking, reserved employee parking, etc., or 3. Converting to park or other recreational use. [CREATE APPENDIX WITH GRAPHIC OR LIST OF PROPOSED MODIFICATIONS] SHUTTLES STRATEGY o March meeting: ■ 4 votes for shuttle with remote parking ■ 4 votes for balance of downtown parking and shuttle use ■ 0 votes for focus on downtown parking Employee parking: o Previous reports had speculated that there are 200—300 downtown employees. o After personally walking Elkhorn from Kind Coffee to Performance Park, I counted over 200 retail businesses,with over 10% being restaurants or bars. o Interviewed several store owners representing 8 stores to determine summer staffing levels. o Concluded that at least two staff shifts are generally required and there is some overlap, making parking an even greater issue. o Using the following assumptions: o At least two employees per day per retail shop o At least five employees per day for F&B stores. o 500 is a very conservative estimate of downtown employees, probably much higher in afternoon. o Providing for carpooling,walking, bikes; I would suggest 250 as a conservative number of parking spaces being consumed by employees and business owners. o Following example being set by Town staff, issues remain: o Expansion of shuttle/special express service to a few Elkhorn stops 9:00-10:OOAM and possibly at 9:30-10:30 PM. o Establish incentives; who pays? ■ Employers? ■ Town? ■ Revenue from paid parking? Summary The problem is real. Estes Park does indeed have well over 20%of downtown parking spaces consumed by private business employees (not including Town and Library employees) during the peak season. With new construction of spaces being controversial, unfunded, and costing over$50,000 each (250 spaces = $12.5M) and downtown parking being reduced further by the FLAP Loop and RMPAC, it only makes sense to maximize use of remote lots by employees. For this to be successful,the Town must do its part to make it feasible and attractive to Employees. A formula for a solution combines this initiative with paid parking downtown, addition to shuttle service (an employee express bus), and a sufficient prize/incentive. It would be appropriate for the Town to fund the incentives and other implementation expenses. Perhaps local merchants would donate prizes, but this seems inconsistent and unreliable as a permanent solution. A change I would suggest to the recently initiated Town employee remote parking program would be to offer guaranteed incentives; i.e., if you park remotely,you will earn points to be used to purchase rewards from a prize catalog at any time. With a potential impact similar to a $12.5M capital project, it seems prudent to spend $20,000 to hire a consultant to design the program and develop the prize catalog(NOT to study the problem again). Special Needs Parking: During the busy season, most of the vehicle parking downtown belong to visitors to Estes Park, both day-trippers and overnight guests.There are a few subsets of these vehicles which demand special attention.These groups include 1) buses, RVs and oversized vehicles, 2) downtown employees, and 3) disabled parking. o Buses, RVs&oversized vehicles: Buses, RVs and other oversized vehicles create challenges in our narrow downtown corridor. In addition to our Town shuttles and Rocky Mountain National Park Shuttles, each day our town sees tour buses driving through on their way to the National Park or bringing their passengers for lunch and shopping downtown. Other visitors arrive in RVs and drive through town on their way to local RV parks or the National Park. Many of these oversized vehicles desire to park downtown. Currently,there is a total of 24 designated Bus/RV parking spaces in Estes Park (17 in the Town Hall lot,4 at the Visitor Center lot, and 3 at the Event Center).There are an additional 17 stalls at the Event Center lot that are extra- long, but not Bus/RV spaces (these spaces may not have sufficient ingress/egress to accommodate buses or RVs). The Town should adopt a policy on tour buses.This policy should dictate where tour buses may make drop-offs and pick-ups downtown, and where they may park while waiting for their passengers.This policy should be proactively distributed to Colorado based tour operators who operate tours in Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park. In addition,the Town should adopt a strategy that encourages RVs to avoid driving through downtown when possible.This can be accomplished by: • Encouraging RV parks to direct their customers to arrive/depart via alternate routes. Consider providing specific maps or marketing tools to help them communicated these routes to their customers. • Specifically discuss alternate RV routes in the transportation section of appropriate websites, such as www.visitestespark.com or http://www.nps.gov/romo/index.htm, and local maps. • Identify a central location with sufficient RV parking and mark it clearly with signage, on maps, and on local websites. o Disabled parking:According to Police Chief Kufeld, in summer there is a need for more disabled parking in the downtown area. [CAN WE GET STATISTICS FROM THE NATIONAL PARK ON VISITORS BY PERMIT TYPE? WHAT% OF VISITORS ARE SENIORS?WHAT% OF DOWNTOWN PARKING IS CURRENTLY DISABLED?WHAT IS THE REQUIRED% OF DISABLED SPACES? SHOULD WE CONSIDER PROVIDING A HIGHER% OF DISABLED SPACES?] PARKING SIGNAGE AND TECHNOLOGY o How can we get vehicles into available spaces more efficiently o Signage a relatively inexpensive first step o Adopt a consistent design for parking lot signage and implement it at all parking lots PAY TO PARK o What technology? Staff should research and recommend. o Hourly rates, enforcement periods, dates enforced o What should revenue be spent on? o When to implement? o Protect adjacent neighborhoods ■ Implementation of paid parking may cause additional cars to try to park on residential streets ■ Identify residential neighborhoods at risk of"tourist" parking • Virginia drive area • East Riverside • Third and Fourth Street during events at Fairgrounds ■ Develop parking strategies to discourage downtown visitors from parking in these areas • Permit only on street parking ■ Strategies should be implemented simultaneous with or before paid parking is implemented. Protect the neighborhood before they experience negative impacts, not after they've been inconvenienced. Table ???: Do you support paid parking downtown? 2015 Estes Park Downtown Parking 2005 Republic Parking Study Survey Yes 50.8% 40.88% No 49.2% 59.12% 0 SPECIAL EVENT PARKING MANAGEMENT PLAN o Develop a strategy for handling peak vehicle days (4th of July, Free RMNP Days, Labor Day weekend)to direct vehicles to available parking o Have special event overflow parking locations available o Extend shuttle hours on peak days Increase use of fairgrounds parking lots (and school district lots) --locals and foreign workers are using fairgrounds lot to catch shuttles to downtown --Unusually high#of horse trailers are taking up space in lot—could they park at schools?