Submitted By
Tammie Grossman, Director Development Customer Services
Reviewed By
LKS
Agenda Item Title
Title
A Motion to Accept Staff’s Recommendation Regarding Changes to the Overnight Parking Ban and Direct Staff to Prepare the Necessary Ordinance Amendments
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Overview
Overview
Pursuant to 15-1-2 of the Village Code, the Chief of Police has the authority to make or enforce temporary traffic and parking regulations to cover emergencies or special circumstances. Since March 13, 2020, due to the Covid 19 emergency, the Chief of Police has authorized the relaxation of all of the on-street daytime parking restrictions including street cleaning restrictions and the overnight parking restrictions. On July 27, 2020, the Village Board extended the relaxation of the overnight parking ban to September 30, 2020 and directed staff to bring back alternatives expanding overnight parking options.
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Recommendation
Recommendation
Staff is proposing two recommendations to expand overnight parking options for residents. Staff recommends the followin:
Expand the zone: Expand the overnight on-street zones by changing the ordinance to allow the overnight zones for on street, overnight parking zones to include street frontage adjacent to property within 750 (instead of 500) feet of an R-7 multi-family zone or within 750 (instead of 500) feet of a retail or commercial zone adjacent to an R-7 zone. (See attached map). The Map is for illustration purposes only. The new areas would need to be reviewed and verified in the field. Staff would bring the new zone boundaries to the Transportation Commission for review and recommendation to the Village Board for final approval.
Expand the Passes: Expand the overnight parking pass program from 10 passes to 15 passes per month. The Village issues parking passes that override posted parking restrictions to provide short-term relief under specific circumstances. The quantity of parking passes is subject to limitations. A parking pass applicant is expected to identify the purpose of the request, vehicle and driver information. Parking passes are not issued to vehicles with outstanding parking tickets.
There are two types of passes: a single overnight pass or an extended pass. Staff recommends increasing the overnight parking passes from 10 passes (3 free and 7 at $7 each) to 15 (or some higher number) passes (5 free and 10 at $7 each) between the months of April 1st to October 31st each year. In order to not interfere with leaf collection and snow removal, from November 1st to March 31st, each vehicle would only be allowed the 10 total overnight passes. Passport would be able to make this configuration change for us at no charge to the Village. We could also allow these passes to over ride daytime restrictions except for street cleaning and rush hour restrictions. We would then be able to eliminate the Village’s administrative pass system and have all passes be requested through the Passport App. This would also reduce administrative upkeep in managing the pass system.
Fiscal Impact
As part of the budget amendments approved by the Village Board on June 15, 2020, the Parking Fund revenue was decreased by $3,612,920 or approximately 48%. This estimate was predicated on the assumption that overnight parking restrictions would resume in the near future. Due to the continued relaxation of the overnight parking ban coupled with the 50% discount for Q2 and Q3 permits, parking revenue is anticipated to fall below the already reduced budgeted amount.
Attachment 13 of this agenda item summarizes the parking permit revenue collected by quarter (from Q2 of 2019 to present), broken down by parking lots, garages and on street night permits. It should be noted that Q4 2020 revenue only includes revenue collectected to date. When comparing total permit revenue collected for Q2 and Q3 of 2020 to the same period last year, the Village has collected approximately 80% less in revenue. Even with the $1,231,118 in expenditure reductions approved by the Village Board on June 15, 2020, the Parking Fund is projected to end the year with a negative fund balance.
The Parking Fund’s debt service obligations include principal and interest payments for the following bond issuances: 2010C (70% of total paid from Parking Fund), 2016B, 2016E, and 2020A (fiber optic ring project). Due to the timing of the 2020A issuance, we do not yet know what the annual debt service will be on this. Attachment 14 of this agenda item summarizes the Parking Fund’s outstanding debt obligations. Existing debt obligations should be a primary fiscal consideration in making any changes to or relaxation of parking restrictions.
Background
Attached to the agenda item is a history of the Village’s Overnight Parking ban.
On May 14, 2018, staff presented a parking pilot program that would have altered the overnight parking ban to allow residents that purchased an on-street overnight parking permit to park throughout the Village and parkers would not be restricted to specific overnight zones. On street overnight parking permits currently cost $117 to $137 per quarter or $468 to $546 annually depending on location. In high demand areas, only one car per address may purchase a permit unless there are available spaces for a second car which is handled at the end of a quarter through a waitlist system. Since the overnight parking zones can cover a large geographic distance, sometimes parkers are required to park blocks away from their home.
Due to the overnight parking ban, parkers are required to park on designated streets but there may be a closer street nearer their home. The staff proposal would have allowed residents greater flexibility to park by allowing permit holders to park on any residential street with a valid permit rather than specific areas. As an alternative, staff presented a back-up proposal to expand the overnight zones to nearby parking meter locations instead of residential
streets. The Village Board decided to move forward with the alternative proposal to allow permit holders to park at meters. See attached May 14, 2018 PowerPoint and Board minutes.
On July 16, 2018, staff presented a follow up parking pilot presentation to address additional non-overnight parking issues that were raised during the May 14, 2018 presentation. See attached July 16, 2018 PowerPoint and minutes.
On October 15, 2018, the Village Board adopted the Parking Pilot recommendations. As a result, the following changes were made in the parking pilot area bordered by Harlem and Oak Park Ave and Harrison and South Boulevard. See attached History of the Parking Pilot meetings.
o Standardized all on-street daytime restrictions to 3 hours.
o Established a pass system for residents to request an override of the on-street daytime restrictions for guests
o Allowed on-street overnight permit holders to park at designated meters to increase spaces available in overnight on-street zones
o Extended parking meter collection to 8pm in Downtown Oak Park, Pleasant and Hemingway Districts
o Established a graduated parking pricing structure for the business district parking meters to encourage long-term parkers to go to the parking garage structures
On March 2, 2020, the Village Board amended the daytime parking restrictions in the pilot area to remove the 3 hour daytime restrictions from two residential blocks and add a 2 hour daytime parking restriction to the parking pilot area.
Staff had planned on conducting an extensive survey of the residents in the parking pilot area in the Spring of 2020. However, due to the Covid 19 crisis and the relaxation of the parking restrictions, staff believes that the survey should be put on hold. After the survey was conducted, the Transportation Commission was going to hold a series of public meetings. The results of the survey and public meetings would have been presented to the Village Board for a review of the Parking Pilot. While initially the staff did receive some negative feedback
about the pilot specifically the addition of meters on Madison, the majority of residents have expressed positive comments to staff. In particular, residents like the ability to expand the overnight zone by using the meters and residents like the Passport pass system which allows their guests to override the daytime parking restrictions.
Alternatives
An alternative would be to eliminate overnight zones completely and allow all residents the ability to purchase an overnight parking permit that would enable the resident to park overnight anywhere within the Village. We would need to evaluate the charge of our current rate of $117 to $137 per quarter or $468 to $546 annually depending on location. However, staff believes that we would need to set a maximum number of overnight parking permits and a priority system for ability to obtain. For example, residents of multi-family buildings without on-site parking would be a number one priority.
Previous Board Action
On July 27, 2020, the Village Board extended the relaxation of the overnight parking ban to September 20, 2020 and directed staff to bring back alternatives expanding overnight parking options.
On March 2, 2020, the Village Board amended the daytime parking restrictions in the pilot area to remove the 3 hour daytime restrictions from two residential blocks and add a 2 hour daytime parking restriction to the parking pilot area.
On October 15, 2018, the Village Board adopted the ordinance establishing the Parking Pilot Program.
Citizen Advisory Commission Action
See attached history of Parking Pilot Meetings before the Transportation Commission.
Anticipated Future Actions/Commitments
Adoption of ordinance.
Intergovernmental Cooperation Opportunities
NA