Title
Discussion of the Historic District Parking Study - Phase I - Guidance
Body
Action Required:
Guidance
Description:
Staff has been working on the Historic District Parking Study - Phase I, located on Canton Street, since the end of March. The City's parking requirements within the Historic District are generally reasonable, with the exception of restaurants. The parking demand for restaurants is more than double the City's restaurant parking requirement (demand of 19 spaces/1000 s.f. weekdays and 20 spaces/1000 s.f. Saturday vs. City requirement of 8 spaces/1000 s.f.). Ideally new high quality restaurants should be required to provide 20-21 spaces/1000 s.f. Parking demand exceeds supply on Friday and Saturday nights due to the restaurants in the southern two blocks of Canton Street. New restaurants are opening further north, and this is likely to create a need for additional parking. For existing conditions, this area is 69 spaces short only on Friday and Saturday nights. This assumes a 10% vacancy factor. One complicating factor is that employees park in the closest spaces. The provision of a new parking supply catering to employees would leave the most convenient spaces at the south end of Canton Street for customers.
Short Term Recommendations:
1. Approach Minton House about a shared parking arrangement on Friday and Saturdays nights (47 Spaces);
2. Provide valet parking Friday and Saturday nights for restaurants in Blocks 2 and 3 with parking at Wells Fargo Bank;
3. The Mimosa Extension parking lot resulted in the elimination of the Wells Fargo Bank drive-thru lane. This area could be studied and improved with minimal cost to add several additional spaces.
4. Consider long term lease or purchasing the lot from American Towing on Green Street and build a parking lot with lighting and landscaping (75 possible spaces). Designate this for employees (perhaps using a decal or permit system) to create more convenient customer parking. This lot could be operated by the City or a contractor with the primary purpose of providing reasonably priced, convenient, and safe employee parking. The approximate cost to purchase this lot is $150,000.
Long Term Recommendations:
1. A small stand-alone parking deck to meet the existing 69 space shortfall is not cost efficient and is not recommended at this time. When considering some growth in demand to 150 or 200 spaces, a parking deck is currently not justifiable. When considering land cost, a parking lot can be constructed less expensively than a parking deck on a cost per space basis. The City should look for opportunities to partner with new development projects to build a cost efficient parking deck.
The City should investigate a new development on centrally located property which could include a new joint-use parking deck. The building could be sited along Canton Street with the parking deck in the rear. Parking decks generally cost approximately 10 times more than parking lots on a cost per space basis and are in the range of $15,000 to $20,000 per space. Generally the larger the deck the lower the cost per space.
2. Parking for "Alive After 5" is handled efficiently with shuttle buses from local churches. There are 400 convenient spaces at City Hall that could be directly linked with Canton Street, particularly for "Alive After 5". One of the major recommendations of this parking study is to provide a cut and cover graded, separated tunnel under Alpharetta Street (SR 9/120) and an improved lighted multi-use trail to City Hall for an estimated cost of $2.5 to $3 million. A phased approach would provide for lighting the current sidewalk connectivity between City Hall and Alpharetta Street until a multi-use trail and/or tunnel could be approved and constructed.