Purpose

This memorandum is a continuation of investigations into the direction and development of options for managing the downtown public parking system. This report discusses direction given by City Council at the June 16, 2007, parking management update presentation.  Council requested staff to investigate further the following action items:

1. Enhanced enforcement for the downtown area,

2. Redirection of parking enforcement revenue from the downtown area into the Parking Authority fund,

3. A functional test of gated/pay parking for the downtown area in one or more City-owned parking structures, and

4. Reallocation of funds set aside for the Courthouse parcel purchase for capital purchases needed for parking management.

BACKGROUND:

The Parking Authority cash flow does not sustain the cost of maintenance and operation of the downtown parking system.  Parking Authority revenue has fallen below expenses since 2002, resulting in a fund reserve balance deficit during Fiscal Year 2007/08.  The reserve balance deficit was postponed from Fiscal Year 2006/07 when the Parking Authority�s bond indebtedness fund was dissolved and the remaining balance allocated to the Parking Authority�s operating fund.

The downtown parking system supports the redevelopment efforts that began in the 1990s.   This parking system is used at no cost by all downtown business owners, visitors and employees.  The Parking Authority�s main revenue sources are the monthly permit parking program (42% of the total fund income), contractual assessments (32% of the total) and leases (26% of the total).  Thus, the downtown parking system is enjoyed at no cost by all users, but supported by a small population of downtown employees who participate in the monthly parking permit program.  This report reviews options that may provide additional revenue for the Parking Authority and may offer some parking management controls for the downtown parking system.

ANALYSIS

1.      Enhanced Enforcement:

Council requested information for a significantly higher level of enforcement than currently exists, with two enforcement options: a) privatized enforcement and b) increased City staff enforcement aided by the use of new enforcement technology.  Staff completed a preliminary evaluation of both options.  Very strict parking enforcement, however, has two major drawbacks.  Enforcement is a very negative and overbearing method of collecting revenues, which often drives repeat visitors to less restrictive commercial areas; and after a sustained period of heavy enforcement, violations and resulting revenues will decline significantly.

Private enforcement, at a personnel cost of $15 to $18 per staff-hour, costs less than using City staff to provide enforcement in the downtown area.  However, the current level of enforcement is included within the Police Department budget as a part of their overall enforcement program, and it is funded largely by revenues from parking citations within large beat areas throughout Burbank.  Private enforcement or enhanced enforcement in the downtown area would be funded through the Parking Authority, and it is doubtful that parking citations alone would fund a private enforcement operation.

Private enforcement has several obstacles to implementation, such as employee bargaining unit issues, authority for issuing citations, citation processing, and citation challenge resolution. The City of Pasadena has contracted with Intercon, a private security firm, for a number or years.  Intercon provides personnel for enforcement throughout Pasadena commercial areas and for operation of the staffed parking structures in Old Pasadena.

The cost of private enforcement for three personnel operating at 12 hours per day per man (13,200 staff-hours per year) plus administrative costs is about $260,000 annually.  A comparative cost for police personnel would be about $400,000 per year.  Revenues produced by this enhanced enforcement are not predictable at this time. 

Advanced enforcement technologies improve the efficiency of enforcement.  Thus, appropriate technologies would increase the number of citations issued per staff-hour worked.  There are two technologies in the marketplace that can improve efficiency of enforcement by utilizing laser imaging to automate inefficient manual tire chalking.  These technologies are AutoVU and AutoCHALK.

Both systems involve vehicle-mounted cameras that record parked car information as the enforcement vehicle passes parked vehicles.  AutoVU digitally captures the license plate and tire orientation of a parked vehicle, while AutoCHALK captures the license plate and vehicle profile.  Both systems can be fitted with global positioning systems (GPS) to recognize the same vehicle parked in the same block.  AutoVU can be customized at additional cost to locate scofflaw vehicles and stolen car information.  The cost of a basic unit for either system is approximately $55,000 plus installation, training, and extended warranty costs, for a total installed cost of about $80,000.   Citations would be produced mechanically with existing AutoCITE equipment currently used by the police.

Police Department staff has reviewed informational material for each system and they indicate that current staffing levels do not support an increase in enforcement staff-hours in the downtown area.  The new technology would require dedicated staff and a dedicated vehicle to use the system effectively.  Current time restrictions in the downtown area are in effect from 8AM to 6PM.  This period would have to be expanded by at least four hours to effectively enforce parking in the downtown through the highest parking demand periods.

Enhanced enforcement would change parking habits, but without an overall parking management plan that includes opportunities for visitors to conveniently park for extended periods within the law, expanded enforcement should be viewed as a very unfriendly form of parking management.

2.      Redirection of Citation Revenues

Any increase in downtown enforcement would initially result in an increase in citation issuance, and revenue. This revenue may offset the costs of either privatized enforcement or the capital outlay for technology.  At $30 per ticket, a citation rate of about 25 tickets per day is needed to amortize the automatic citation equipment over a year with additional City staff to operate the equipment or to contract with a private enforcement firm for the same year.  It is difficult to predict the rate of ticket issuance without additional information.

Citation revenue is currently deposited into the City�s General Fund.  Council could choose to form a citation district which would allow downtown citations to be processed separately from other citations written throughout the City.  Another option would be an annual cost allocation from the General Fund to the Parking Authority based on the citation revenues from the downtown area.

3.      Parking Structure Control Systems

Council directed that staff investigate a staffed parking fee system with or without control gates for the Old AMC structure (Structure A), the Orange Grove structure (Structure G), or the Courthouse structure (Structure M) in the downtown area.  Each of these structures has physical and institutional issues that must be addressed with any fee based parking system, and the issues are different for each structure.  Following is a summary of gated parking systems in each structure.

Typically, a basic gated parking control system costs between $55,000 and $75,000 per access point to install.  Cost elements include gate control system (two gates) - $8,000; Control House - $10,000 to $12,000; payment and cash control system - $20,000; access card reader - $5,000; and construction / installation - $15,000 to $30,000.  Additional features that can be installed that were not priced include intercom systems, license plate recognition systems, fee computers, fee displays, transaction monitoring systems and integration and control software.  Operating personnel to staff the gate and manage the parking control operations can be City staff or private operators.  Staffing costs would range from $70,000 to more than $150,000 depending on the staff level and hours worked per day.

A parking fee collection system could be installed without control gates, using only a parking attendant that collects parking fees in a parking control house.  The control house would cost between $10,000 and $30,000, depending on the facilities and amenities provided (lighting, air conditioning, cash control system, etc.).  The discussions in this report are based on a gated parking control system; however, a staffed system can be installed wherever a gated system can be installed.

Construction requirements and facility needs are major cost factors in the implementation of a parking control gate system.  Modification of the existing structure to fit the parking control components can be extensive, particularly when the original structure was not designed for a parking control system.  Electrical and communications systems can also add to the retrofit costs of the parking control.

An efficient parking control system must be designed with the physical features of the structure and the structure usage needs in mind.  The design must include the following:

• Storage areas for vehicles waiting to enter or exit the structure,

• Gate location to facilitate maneuvering within the structure,

• Lighting and signage at the gate to minimize driver confusion,

• Number of gates based on demand characteristics and number of parking spaces in the structure,

Old AMC Parking Structure (Structure A) � This first public parking structure in downtown Burbank was built with bond funding through an assessment district involving four participants; AMC Theaters, Islands Restaurant, Kabob Factory and Hanson�s Food Court (Market City Caf�, Ben & Jerry�s, Greek Mediterranean Restaurant, and Sweeties Candies).  A fifth participant, the Collection, will soon join the assessment district members.  The Old AMC parking structure design and operation has a number of important issues that must be considered with any gated parking control system.

The AMC structure was built with a sloping floor design that essentially makes the parking system a half-mile long, double loaded parking aisle with one access point.  If all parking spaces are full, a driver must turn around at the top of the structure.  Although the structure has two access driveways to Orange Grove Avenue, the easternmost driveway is by far the most heavily used.  This structure has 485 existing public parking spaces on five floors, and the structure is often virtually full, generally on weekends.

The Collection project, now under construction, will connect to the AMC structure at two access points, and the new structure will have one direct access point to First Street.  The new facility will add over 460 public or commercial parking spaces and 225 private parking spaces to the AMC parking system.  Although the Collection access driveway at First Street is vital to the structure operation, turning restrictions to this public street will force many parkers to use the two existing driveways to the AMC structure (which have no turning restrictions).  Each of the two existing AMC access points will directly serve about 80 Collection parking spaces (as the closest entering and exit point), and an additional several hundred Collection parking spaces will be served by the AMC driveways as the most convenient path into and out of the Collection structure.

The Collection structure is also designed as a sloping floor facility with one long, double loaded parking aisle.  The Collection structure interface with the AMC structure will tend to direct vehicles to the less important AMC western driveway to Orange Grove Avenue; however, the connection will also add more vehicle demand to the highly used eastern driveway at a less than desirable internal connection point.  The eastern connection point to the AMC structure will add demand from about 100 Collection parking spaces to the already strained eastern access driveway to Orange Grove Avenue.  The total traffic demand at this driveway will necessitate careful manual control to minimize traffic congestion.

The AMC structure parking easement agreement poses some unique challenges to a parking control system design.  Each of these assessment district participants has specific parking rights to free parking for their patrons in the structure, which raises several issues.  Some type of validation system is required for patrons of the easement group, and a validation maximum time length must be determined.  The Collection and AMC structures are intimately linked, but the Collection structure public parking is not subject to the easement conditions (free parking).  The First Street Collection access should also be controlled by gates if gate control is established for the AMC structure, but residential and designated commercial parking spaces must remain free.  Finally, the complexity of the dual structure access and circulation system could lead to long queues of vehicles waiting to enter or exit the system from either Orange Grove Avenue or First Street.

The current variation in patron usage of the AMC structure also produces issues with a gated parking control system.  The most significant parking demand in the structure originates from patrons of the new AMC Theaters, particularly on Friday and Saturday evenings when the structure is most heavily used.  Very high theater patron usage also occurs during premiers of high profile films on weekdays.  Restaurant parking demand is also a factor in the design, but restaurant demand has much lower peaking characteristics.

This parking structure is so heavily influenced by the AMC theater patrons that access to the structure must currently be controlled by Parking Authority hired staff during peak theater parking usage.  Heavy entering traffic demand begins about 15 to 20 minutes prior to the beginning of a desired movie and very heavy exiting traffic demand begins about 10 minutes after the end of a movie and continues for 15 to 20 minutes.  The number of operating theaters results in highly fluctuating parking demand at the structure based on the number and timing of theater film scheduling.  Since movie times are staggered, entering and exiting traffic demands can coincide, causing significant congestion in the structure.  It is during this traffic demand characteristic that the structure access is manually controlled.

The highly unusual and variable theater parking demand with high entering peaks just prior to the beginning of a film, little activity during the film showing, and high exiting peaks after the end of a film showing requires special management and control of the structure driveways.  This parking demand must be acknowledged in any parking control design.  One gate system cannot handle the high peak demand entering or exiting activity, so multiple gates will be required to prevent significant vehicle queues on street or in the structure.  However, the structure design will not allow multiple access gates.  A scale drawing of the main AMC access to Orange Grove Avenue (Attachment 1) shows the existing limitations on an access control system.

If a control gate is located near the driveway (adjacent to the first parking row) the structure does not have sufficient depth to allow peak entering demand vehicles to queue without spilling on to Orange Grove Avenue, and exiting parking demand will completely overwhelm the ability of a gate system to service the demand effectively.  A gate control system located further into the structure will interfere with access to the Collection structure and cause issues with turning vehicles to access the up ramp of the AMC structure.  The narrow entrance aisle width will necessitate extensive renovation of the entrance to accommodate enough width for a gate control system.

Courthouse Parking Structure (Structure M) � This structure was built to accommodate parking demand from the County Courthouse and public parking demand in the downtown area.  It is also a sloping floor structure with 490 parking spaces, and it has one entrance to Angeleno Avenue (Attachment 2).

Physical constraints associated with the Courthouse structure are similar to those in the AMC structure.  The entrance area is very tight for installing a gated parking control system, and the entrance area must be redesigned to accommodate the system.   Although parking demand peaks are not as intense as in the AMC structure, early morning juror demand on Mondays will produce similar queuing problems for entering vehicles.  Exiting demand is significantly less hectic.

The Courthouse has some unique institutional arrangements that will require special attention in the design for a parking control system.  The Courthouse personnel and juror candidates have 200 free parking spaces for their use.  This parking allotment includes about 35 gated and controlled parking spaces for judges in the lowest parking level.  The Burbank Civic Plaza has leased 190 parking spaces at the topmost levels of the structure at a unit price of $70 per space, and these spaces are gated.  The Burbank Civic Plaza also has an option to lease an additional 75 parking spaces below the gated parking at the top of the structure.  Thus, the available public parking in this structure is currently 100 parking spaces, and will be 25 parking spaces if the second parking option is exercised.  All spaces (except the controlled judge parking) are available for public use in the evening hours after 6 PM.  The number of available public parking spaces is insufficient for this structure to be profitable without a relatively high fee structure.

Orange Grove Structure (Structure G) � The Orange Grove structure has a total of 304 parking spaces in an unusual over-the-street design.  It is a modification of the sloping floor, double bay parking design that allows a patron to turn around half way to the top of the structure.  The structure has two separated entrance and exit driveways which will necessitate two staffed toll booths and separate entrance gates.

Since entering and exiting driver sight distance is an issue, special attention must be given to adequate queuing lanes for entering vehicles.  A proper gate design will eliminate about 40 percent of the first floor parking (about 30 spaces).  The gate system will also eliminate any van accessible handicapped parking in this structure because of floor height restrictions in the garage.  This structure has adequate width and height to accommodate a gate system.

4.      Courthouse Land Parcel Fund

The Courthouse is built on three parcels of land, one of which still belongs to a private party.  The City entered into a lease agreement for the private parcel with the option to purchase the parcel after ten (10) years.  The lease / purchase option began on February 16, 1989, and it matures on February 16, 2009.  The purchase price for the parcel upon maturity is $600,000.  The current balance in the lease account is about $870,000, and the original source of the money was RDA bonds issued in the early 1980s.  Interest earned on the $870,000 principal is used to make the monthly $5,000 lease payments and annual property tax payments.  The Parking Authority fund balance makes up the difference in these costs when interest earned on the principal is inadequate.

The $870,000 in the lease / purchase account are Redevelopment Agency funds.  The City/Agency has several options with respect to the monies in this account.  The parcel can be purchased for $600,000, leaving $270,000 to be allocated for eligible infrastructure needs.  Other Redevelopment Agency funds can be used to purchase the property; thus, making $870,000 available for other uses in accordance with Agency guidelines and requirements.

RECOMMENDATION

Staff requests further direction on the four items discussed in this memorandum.

Attachments:          Attachment 1 - AMC Structure Entrance

                                   Attachment 2 � Courthouse Structure Entrance

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