[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Parking in CAGID lots Downtown

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Cowles, Macon

Molly, thanks very much for the information that you have provided about downtown parking in City lots and City structured parking facilities.

You know far more about this than I do. It would be helpful for staff to present in a chart the charge for City parking in city facilities and other lots and structured parking facilities downtown. Because I was on Planning Board at the time of
their approval, I know that One Boulder Plaza has 511 parking spaces in 4 different structures in the core, downtown area.

One Boulder Plaza currently charges $200 per month for parking spaces. Like the City, they oversell the spaces in order that the spaces are not empty for a substantial part of the time. City structures downtown charge $110 per month and city lots charge $67 per month. While Wells Fargo has only surface parking, their hourly charges are the equivalent of $200 per month. I wonder what a current survey of the parking lots at Trinity Lutheran(Broadway and Pine), 1360 Walnut, 1350 Pine St, 1317,1319 and 1327 Spruce St. would reveal about their parking charges?

It is not surprising that we have several hundred people on the wait list for city parking, as our rates appear to be substantially below market. One might look at this as a subsidy that is provided to people who drive downtown.

It may be good policy for the City to charge only half of what private property owners charge for parking. But if so, it would be helpful to review the rationale and consider whether this subsidy is good for the City’s overall goal of reducing traffic, congestion, carbon, search traffic and the other impacts associated with cars in the downtown.

Bill Cowern kindly provided information about the number of spaces in the Civic Area, between the West Senior Center and 14th Street. If there is low cost parking for City employees, that also needs to be reviewed. It is my understanding that the City charges employees and contractors even less than is charged for CAGID lots and structures. How much do we charge people for these spaces. Are there scratch coupons available for only $2 per day, or am I thinking of another time and place?

Finally, there are the NPP spaces adjacent to downtown. What are we charging for them, and what is the rationale for that? Clearly, such parking is not for shoppers, but only for commuters. It is fair that commuters pay to park on the side streets adjacent to downtown, but is the pricing adequate?

Jane, I would like to know if there is a time on our schedule when the Council can be presented with the full array of costs and revenues associated with downtown parking spaces. It really is a policy decision as to whether this subsidy for downtown parking is consistent with the City’s goals.

There is no doubt that inexpensive, short term parking needs to be available to shoppers downtown. Further, parking for shoppers should also be convenient for shoppers—they should not have to go to the fourth floor of the lot at 15th and Pearl to find a spot, because all of the first in spots are taken by commuters who pay only 60% of what they would at another structured lot in town.

Thanks very much for your consideration of these issues. They are interesting and important.

Macon Cowles
Boulder City Council Member
1726 Mapleton Ave.
Boulder, Colorado 80304
CowlesM at bouldercolorado.gov
(303) 638-6884


On Jul 16, 2015, at 2:07 PM, Winter, Molly <WinterM at bouldercolorado.gov> wrote:

Hi Macon,

Molly forwarded your email request to me.  A staff team has been working on a proposal for parking management in the Civic Area in response to the 2A Bond – Civic Area Park project that is forthcoming and the related increases in access demand and likely decrease in parking supply.  As a part of that effort, I have developed a summary of the existing parking within the Civic Area.  I should note that when it comes to City of Boulder employee parking this covers the majority but not all of the parking.  There is some office space east of 13th Street which the city leases and there is parking on those private lots that the employees who work there can use for parking.  Probably about a dozen or so spaces.
I hope this information is helpful.  Should you have any questions please let either Molly or myself know.

Sincerely,

Bill Cowern
Transportation Operations Engineer
City of Boulder
(303) 441-3266

From: Winter, Molly 
Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2015 12:45 PM
To: Cowles, Macon
Cc: HOTLINE; Brautigam, Jane
Subject: RE: Parking in CAGID lots Downtown
Dear Macon:

I will assemble the data and pass along.  This parking information was updated recently with the civic area planning effort and will be changing as the civic area plan nears implementation.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Molly Winter


From: Cowles, Macon 
Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2015 11:32 AM
To: Winter, Molly
Cc: HOTLINE; Brautigam, Jane
Subject: Re: Parking in CAGID lots Downtown
Molly, thank you very much for this timely information.

There is at least one other parking “asset” that I may have forgotten, and that is City Lots that are available or used to park the cars of city employees and city vehicles. Can you please provide the number of spaces that we have in such lots, and how we are using those spaces. What do we charge to employees or others who use those spaces?

Thanks very much.


Macon Cowles
Boulder City Council Member
1726 Mapleton Ave.
Boulder, Colorado 80304
CowlesM at bouldercolorado.gov
(303) 638-6884