[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: RE: Questions on Item 6A (2/3/2015) Trinity Commons

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Winter, Molly

Dear Mary:
Please see my responses below, in  green.

Best
Molly

From: Young, Mary

Sent: Monday, February 02, 2015 8:32 PM
To: Winter, Molly; Appelbaum, Matt; HOTLINE
Subject: RE: Questions on Item 6A (2/3/2015) Trinity Commons


Thank you for the detailed answers Molly. A couple of additional clarifications embedded in red below.
 
Mary Dolores Young
Boulder City Council Member
303-501-2439

From: Winter, Molly
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2015 7:55 PM
To: Appelbaum, Matt; Young, Mary; HOTLINE
Subject: RE: Questions on Item 6A (2/3/2015) Trinity Commons



Response to Hotline Questions

Trinity Lutheran/CAGID Public/Private Partnership

February 2, 2015
 
Please find below responses to the Hotline questions regarding the Council agenda item addressing the public private partnership between CAGID and Trinity
 Lutheran.  City housing staff and Trinity Lutheran provided information for this response.

 
Given that surface lot spaces are currently leased to downtown employees, what will the net increase in the number of parking spaces be after the 55 are built?

There are currently 71 parking spaces in the surface parking lot.  After the project is built it will have 86 total spaces (26 spaces in the lot off of Mapleton; 55 CAGID spaces and 5 spaces long the north and south edges of the alley).   During the week, the current spaces are currently used by both the church and permitted to 53 downtown
businesses/employees.  The CAGID garage will maintain the existing 53 permits and add at least two.  Depending on the parking permit utilization, DUHMD/PS will oversell the permits; a practice employed in all other garages and surface lots.
 
Of the 55 parking spaces, 5 will go to the congregation, how many will go to resident seniors (or other residents)?

None of the 55 CAGID spaces will be used by the resident seniors.  There will be two parking garages.  The housing portion of the development will have their own spaces providing parking for the housing units as well as church uses.


Who will qualify for the affordable senior units?

Trinity Commons will offer 16 permanently affordable one-bedroom rental homes benefiting low and moderate income seniors (55+) earning less than 60% area median income.

Who will manage them?

As of now, Trinity Lutheran Church intends to hire a third-party property manager to manage the residential units located at Trinity Commons. The property manager will follow a fair marketing plan to ensure the availability of the units to all that qualify. Trinity will have no active role in the management of the residential portion. 

Will they be built using Cash-in-lieu funds?

The development of Trinity Commons will include a variety of funding sources including: State of Colorado CDBG-DR funds, bank qualified debt from a local lending source and a $1.12 million grant using City of Boulder Community Housing Assistance Program (CHAP) funds which are capitalized primarily with property taxes and the Housing Excise Tax.


Is the 2014 Intercept survey referenced on page 122 of the preliminary packet that indicates 56% auto use downtown the same survey that previously indicated 64%, are we comparing apples to apples?

The percentages are from two different surveys.  The 56% figure is from the biannual intercept survey that is conducted downtown.  Individuals are intercepted by survey takers and asked numerous questions including how they arrived to the downtown.  The individuals are visitors, shoppers, employees, etc.  The survey is co-funded by the city (DUHMD/PS), the downtown BID and the Boulder Convention and Visitors bureau and has been conducted since the mid 1990’s by RRC.

The 64% figure is from a different survey:  the downtown Boulder employee travel survey that is also conducted biannually in conjunction with the citywide travel survey.  Downtown businesses are randomly contacted to participate based on a representative sample and employees are asked to respond to the survey.  It is conducted by the National Research Center and also has been conducted since the mid 1990’s.

 What is the underlying cause of exponentially increasing demand for parking permits (297 in 2012 to 1,410 in 2014)?

There are several reasons for the increase. Parking demand is closely tied to the economic health and vitality of downtown.  Listed below are a variety of indicators of the growth in downtown Boulder. 

 
Office Occupancy
Downtown office vacancy has substantially decreased from 2009 at 8.5% to 2.65% in 2014. This is an indicator of increased occupancy of downtown businesses
 and increased employees. 
 
Additional Employees added to existing space:
The following is a sampling of different businesses that have experienced or anticipate an increase in their employees:

Boulder Associates plans to add 30 employees in 2015
JVA plans to add 15 employees
Solid Fire hired 200 employees last year; they plan to add more and are looking for additional office space.
Bing will be adding approximately 150 contract employees by April 2015.

 
New developments without parking:
Also, the wait list increased due to the new developments at Walnut and 13th (it is anticipated that 300 new employees could inhabit the space), the upper level addition at 16th and Pearl (location of Boulder Brands and Solidfire) and infill development at 18th and Pearl.  These developments are adding access demand without providing any additional parking. In the case of the project at Walnut and 13th, the existing parking will be decreased.   Hence, there is a greater demand for all modes, including parking.

---Future occupants of the buildings under construction are already on the wait list?

Yes, most of the building owners and businesses listed above
 are on the wait list. 
 
Co-Working Spaces
Over the last several years downtown is the location for at least four co-working spaces:  the Hub, Galvanize, Scrib and Fuse.  Further information is needed regarding the average memberships per square foot.  
 
Increased Eco Pass Distribution
Listed below are the numbers of Eco Passes purchased for full time downtown employees.  Between 2012 and 2015, the number increased by 423.

2012:  6190 Eco Pass
2013: 6362 Eco Pass
2014: 6392 Eco Pass
2015: 6613 Eco Pass
---Increased demand for Eco Passes causes an increase in demand for parking permits? Why is that?

No, I apologize for the confusion.  Providing  the downtown employee Eco Pass contract numbers  indicates the increase in the number of downtown employees  and thus the higher demand for multi modal access options.
 
Parking Punch Card Purchases:
As noted below, the number of parking punch card purchases have increased dramatically since 2012.

2012: 428
2013: 1540
2014: 2225
 
Would suspending the punch cards (428 sold in 2012 and 1540 in 2013) which are allegedly being used as surrogates for permits, further increase the demand for permits beyond the 1,410?

It could, however many of the companies who purchase the punch cards also are already on the wait lists for parking permits. 


Does the estimate for future parking needs reflect the trend of increasing employees/sqft?

No. As mentioned in the memo packet, staff will be working with the city’s consultant, Fox Tuttle Hernandez on an update of projected access demand during the first quarter of 2015.  The update will recalibrate a number of inputs into access demand:  the 2014 Downtown Employee Travel Survey results; specific numbers of parking spaces gained and lost with the Colorado Building and Pearl West developments; current parking utilization rates; as well as re-examining the employees per square foot data.   Fluidity of the downtown market and developments requires periodic updates to ensure our projections reflect current trends and dynamics.

Is the number of future needed parking spaces after projected development a net or gross number?

The numbers projected are net.  As mentioned above, the total spaces projected to be gained and lost will be updated to reflect the actual number as developments are completed.


Have we considered a partnership with 29th Street Mall to share parking spaces?

In the past, staff has had discussions with Mace Rich about using 29th Street parking for downtown employees with the HOP providing a shuttle between the downtown and 29th Street.  Mace Rich choose to preserve their parking for their tenants.  In a recent conversation, Kim Campbell, the manager for 29th Street and Flatirons Crossing, indicated a willingness to hear more about the possibility of remote downtown employee parking but cautioned that the amount of parking at 29th Street is calibrated to the specific type of uses and tenants at the mall and she did not initially feel optimist about the option.


What sorts of capital expenditures can be made with CAGID dollars?  Only parking. 

The Central Area General Improvement District (CAGID) funds are designated for parking and parking related improvements.  The funds cover the expenses of
 administration, operation, capital replacement and maintenance and financing of CAGID facilities:  five parking garages and one surface lot.  CAGID revenues also support a portion of programs that offset parking demand such as the downtown employee Eco Pass program.  
 
These are obviously expensive parking spaces.  If – a fairly big if, admittedly – city staff moves to the hospital site, that would free up a huge amount of employee parking downtown that would not need to be replaced (at least not for staff), and provide CAGID with some rather valuable property.  Presumably adding parking in the civic area would be cheaper per space, so why not wait until we know how that plays out and whether we could create sufficient parking
 for less money?
 
There are 171 city of Boulder employee spaces within the civic area. The current, interim plans for the Civic Area improvements using the 2A funding propose to  reduce the current parking for city employees by an estimated 50-55 spaces.  Should the city offices be relocated, the remaining spaces could be included in the CAGID reservoir of spaces and managed as part of the downtown inventory.  Another factor that will need to be considered in the short term is the additional access demand to the area created by the park improvements; an attractive area with more activities will attract more families and visitors.  The longer term civic area plan envisions creating park space and facilities by removing the existing surface parking lots and adding structured and underground parking garages at the “bookends” as part of developments at the east and west ends. A comprehensive access plan would include additional travel demand management programs and strategies to reduce overall parking demand. The potential garages would accommodate some proportion of the access demand and are not expected to be less expensive than comparable parking garages in other locations. 

The Boulder Community Hospital site with its parking facilities does present a potential for future downtown parking supply.  I will be meeting with Ron Secrist to discuss that topic on February 3rd. There are multiple possibilities.  In addition to the future potential of city offices and parking for city employees, I will be discussing the possibility of the parking facilities accommodating downtown employee parking in the near term.  Longer term, the possibility of a CAGID partnership for downtown employee remote parking would be dependent on the determination of a future use of the hospital facility. 

 
As a follow-on question to the above: if we build the parking
at Trinity, would the debt preclude us in any way from creating parking in the civic area?

No.  I have communicated with CAGID’s financial advisor and the expenditure of the funds for Trinity Lutheran would not have a negative impact on CAGID’s future bonding capacity.  As mentioned in the memo, CAGID will have several bond issues (approximately $1million annually for each facility – 1500 Pearl and 1000 Walnut) paid off in 2018 and 2023.  Should CAGID be a partner in providing parking in the civic area, the scale of the project would require a CAGID bond issue. 
 
If there are any unexpected cost increases in building this parking (e.g., soil cleanup, or just underestimated construction costs) is the city solely responsible?

This issue will be negotiated as a next step in the construction/development agreement between CAGID and Trinity Lutheran. 

Ignoring the value of the spaces to the church on Sundays and other specified times, are all of these during time periods when parking is generally available in the downtown area, so that there is no concern about removing 50+ spaces from the inventory?

The MOU proposes that the church have access to the garage on Sundays and Christmas as well as a limited number of spaces, based on availability, Monday through Thursday after 6pm.  Given the location of the parking and current parking trends, we do not anticipate that these times would be in great demand.  A primary goal of the CAGID parking would be to maintain, and slightly increase, employee parking at the location.


From: Appelbaum, Matt

Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2015 9:33 PM
To: Winter, Molly; Young, Mary; HOTLINE
Subject: RE: Questions on Item 6A (2/3/2015) Trinity Commons


 
A bit late
sorry
but I have a few questions as well:
 
-- These are obviously expensive parking spaces.  If – a fairly big if, admittedly – city staff moves to the hospital site, that would free up a huge amount of employee parking downtown that
 would not need to be replaced (at least not for staff), and provide CAGID with some rather valuable property.  Presumably adding parking in the civic area would be cheaper per space, so why not wait until we know how that plays out and whether we could create
 sufficient parking for less money?
 
-- As a follow-on question to the above: if we build the parking at Trinity, would the debt preclude us in any way from creating parking in the civic area?
 
-- If there are any unexpected cost increases in building this parking (e.g., soil cleanup, or just underestimated construction costs) is the city solely responsible?
 
-- Ignoring the value of the spaces to the church on Sundays and other specified times, are all of these during time periods when parking is generally available in the downtown area, so that
 there is no concern about removing 50+ spaces from the inventory?
 
Thanks --Matt
 


From: Winter, Molly

Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2015 10:55 AM
To: Young, Mary; HOTLINE
Subject: RE: Questions on Item 6A (2/3/2015) Trinity Commons


 
Dear Mary:
Thanks for your email.  I will compile the responses and get them back to you before the February 3rd meeting.

Sincerely,
Molly Winter
 


From: Young, Mary

Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2015 6:46 AM
To: HOTLINE
Subject: Questions on Item 6A (2/3/2015) Trinity Commons


 

Per CAC, questions  are coming ahead of time in keeping with our renewed effort to shorten meeting durations.

1. Given that surface lot spaces are currently leased to downtown employees, what will the net increase in the number of parking spaces be after the 55 are built?

2. Of the 55 parking spaces, 5 will go to the congregation, how many will go to resident seniors (or other residents)?

3. Who will qualify for the affordable senior units?

4. Who will manage them?

5. Will they be built using Cash-in-lieu funds?

6. Is the 2014 Intercept survey referenced on page 122 of the preliminary packet that indicates 56% auto use downtown the same survey that previously indicated 64%, are we comparing apples to apples?

7. What is the underlying cause of exponentially increasing demand for parking permits (297 in 2012 to 1,410 in 2014)?

8. Would suspending the punch cards (428 sold in 2012 and 1540 in 2013) which are allegedly being used as surrogates for permits, further increase the demand for permits beyond the 1,410?

9. Does the estimate for future parking needs reflect the trend of increasing employees/sqft?

10. Is the number of future need parking spaces after projected development a net or gross number?

11. Have we considered a partnership with 29th Street Mall to share parking spaces?

12. What sorts of capital expenditures can be made with CAGID dollars, only parking?

Thank you.

 




Mary Dolores Young
Boulder City Council Member
303-501-2439