City of Vancouver

PARKING ADVISORY COMMITTEE Regular Meeting Minutes Wednesday, July 27, 2016 7:30 am City Hall, Council Chambers 415 West 6th Street, Vancouver, Washington

Members Present: Paul Schlesinger, Ryan Palmer, Jim West, Bruno Amicci, Carly Lowder

Members Absent: Nelson Holmberg, Stephanie Lynn

Staff: Mike Merrill, Parking Manager Brent Boger, Assistant City Attorney Tina Picchioni, Administrative Assistant Karen Kumpula, Parking Enforcement Supervisor

Guests: Greg Tuner, Development Review Planning Manager

Meeting called to order at 7:33 a.m. by Schlesinger, Acting Chair.

1) Roll Call; Consent Agenda.

a) Picchioni proceeded with roll call.

b) Agenda

Agenda for July 27, 2016

MOTION: Palmer moved to approve the agenda. Second: Lowder. Discussion: None. Vote: Motion Passed. Aye: Schlesinger, Palmer, West, Amicci, Lowder; Nay: None; Abstain: None; Absent: Holmberg, Lynn. c) Minutes

Minutes for June 22, 2016 regular meeting

Schlesinger noted an extra “is” at the bottom of Page 9 of 11 of the June 22, 2016 meeting minutes should be removed.

City of Vancouver Parking Advisory Committee Minutes June 22, 2016 Page 1 of 12 MOTION: Palmer moved to approve the minutes for the June 22, 2016 regular meeting with the correction as noted by the acting chair. Second: West. Discussion: None. Vote: Motion Passed. Aye: Schlesinger, Palmer, West, Amicci, Lowder; Nay: None; Abstain: None; Absent: Holmberg, Lynn.

2) Parking Manager Report

a) Update on Parking Projects

Merrill presented the project spreadsheet.

Merrill reported that the City Center Redevelopment Authority (CCRA) met last Thursday where Merrill presented a parking services update and Rick Williams, Parking Consultant, presented Parking Management 101. Merrill reported that Rick Williams has agreed to present Parking Management 101 to the Parking Advisory Committee (PAC) at their August meeting.

Merrill reported that the code rewrite is scheduled for first reading on June 27, 2016, and public hearing on July 11, 2016.

Merrill reported that City Council will conduct a work session on July 18, 2016, to discuss the parking code update six year plan and immobilization and impoundment.

Merrill reported that Parking Services staff and City Operations Crewmembers will meet with the parking paystation equipment vendor subcontractor this afternoon to determine where paystations should be located in the Government District.

Merrill asked if the committee would like to tour the municipal parking facilities. The Chair asked staff to send a reminder to the committee members to begin determining a date and time for the tour.

b) Enforcement Report

3) Unfinished Business

a) PAC Subcommittee Report – Loading Zones.

Merrill summarized the purpose of the committee loading zone subcommittee. Merrill indicated that at last month’s meeting the subcommittee reported findings and options and indicated that a more formal report would be prepared.

The Chair apologized for not preparing the formal report since the last meeting. Merrill asked if committee members had received the written comments dated June 2, 2016, from Steve Valenta, The Mighty Bowl, about loading zones on 8th and Washington Streets. The committee acknowledged receipt of the written comments.

A committee member agreed with the comments from Mr. Valenta. The committee member indicated that limiting the entire block between Main and Washington Streets for loading during the morning hours may not be the best option, especially with the new information that businesses in this area will be open for breakfast. The loading zone on the east side of Washington Street at the intersection with 8th Street is a bit larger than a single parking space.

A committee member said it was not known that businesses on 8th Street would be open for breakfast when the subcommittee began observing loading activity in the area of 8th Street, Washington Street, and Main Street. A loading zone limited to the morning hours would not work for businesses serving breakfast. This may be an example supporting the committee taking time to observe, gather facts, and consider and deliberate and not be too quick to make a recommendation when responding to a citizen request.

A committee member indicated that the committee desires to be responsive to requests and take a more proactive approach.

A committee member said that after considering the initial request for loading zone needs on 8th Street, the subcommittee realized that the loading zone issue was more widespread than 8th Street.

A committee member said the committee needs to keep working on loading zones in general. The committee will need to look many factors affecting loading and traffic movement before making recommendations.

The chair said the committee needs to consider safety factors and not make recommendations that may have a negative impact on traffic movement and safety downtown.

A committee member said traffic safety information is needed.

A committee member said there are underutilized loading zones that can be brought back into the public parking inventory.

Mr. Valenta was recognized by the Chair.

Mr. Valenta thanked the committee for the time effort considering loading zone issues 8th Street as well as throughout the city. Adding a single loading zone on the north side of 8th Street between Main and Washington still merits consideration as well as possibly expanding the size of the existing loading zone on Washington Street.

City of Vancouver Parking Advisory Committee Minutes June 22, 2016 Page 3 of 12 A committee member asked if there is still a need for a loading zone 8 th Street because the written comments provided by Mr. Valenta indicate that conditions are working well at this time.

Mr. Valenta said the comments reflect how loading activity is working for his business, but there are other businesses in the area that still have loading needs. The need for an additional loading space on 8th Street is still merited for other businesses.

A committee member asked if Mr. Valenta’s business has opened.

Mr. Valenta indicated that the business is scheduled to open in the late fall.

A committee asked if it would work to observe how loading activities occur until after the business opens and have open the discussion again.

Mr. Valenta said these are all good questions. What is the best location? Should a loading zone be added? Should an existing loading zone be extended?

A committee member said that addressing those questions is important. Sometimes the loading zone on Washington Street remains unused while several trucks double park on Washington Street blocking in cars parked at meters for 20 to 25 minutes at a time.

The chair said that one of the observations of the subcommittee was that at one time three long delivery trucks parked on 8th Street at the same time.

A committee member said when the subcommittee was making its observations there were no vehicles parked on 8th Street except for the delivery trucks.

Mr. Valenta said at this time, vehicles don’t usually show up on 8th Street until after 9:30 a.m., but when the restaurant opens for breakfast that may change.

A committee member asked if Mr. Valenta would report back to the committee after the restaurant has been open for a couple months, sometime after the first of the year.

Mr. Valenta said that he would and again thanked the committee and appreciates having business owners on the committee.

The chair thanked Mr. Valenta for participating in the discussion.

MOTION: Lynn moved to table the discussion until a later date. Second: Amicci. Discussion: None. Vote: Motion Passed. Aye: Holmberg, Lynn, Palmer, West, Amicci, Lowder; Nay: None; Abstain: None; Absent: Schlesinger.

4) New Business (a) Change parallel parking to angled parking north side of 12th Street between Washington and Columbia. (Parking Project 16-012)

Merrill summarized the request from the Proto-Cathedral of St. James to change parallel parking to angled parking north side of 12th Street between Washington and Columbia to replace on street parking spaces lost to the bus rapid transit station at Washington and 12th Street.

Merrill reminded the committee that C-Tran had reported to the committee that some on street parking spaces would be lost to bus rapid transit stations when they summarized the impacts of the transit system changes on downtown parking to the committee last year.

The chair recognized Mr. Powell, Proto-Cathedral of St. James.

Mr. Powell confirmed the summary of the proposal and said he would answer any questions.

A committee member asked how many current parking spots are there.

Mr. Powell said that there are eight spaces and will be going to 16.

A committee member asked if there are any safety hazards and if the spaces will be back in.

Mr. Powell said they are proposing head in parking and parallel parking will remain on the south side of the street.

A committee member asked if the street is wide enough for angled parking.

Merrill said before we know for sure how many angled parking spaces can be placed along the block between Washington and Columbia Streets, engineering plans will need to be prepared. The engineering plan process will also determine the angle and whether there is adequate width for angled parking at this location. Merrill said that 12th Street east and west of this site currently has angled on one side of the street and parallel parking on the other and that the width of 12th Street appears to be the same at this location as it is east and west of this location.

The chair expressed concern about having angled parking on both sides of the street.

Merrill said that if there is a request for angled parking on the other side of the street in the future, the request will be considered by the committee and engineering will be conducted to determine if the road width is adequate to have angled parking on both sides of the street.

A committee asked how many additional parking spaces will be added.

City of Vancouver Parking Advisory Committee Minutes June 22, 2016 Page 5 of 12 Merrill said looking at an unengineered drawing placed over the street map, it appears that it could increase from eight to 12 parking spaces.

Mr. Powell said there is an existing loading zone on the north side of 12th that will be given up because it is not used enough to warrant keeping it.

MOTION: West moved to approve the request to change parallel parking to angled parking on the north side of 12th Street between Washington and Columbia Streets. Second: Lynn. Discussion: None. Vote: Motion Passed. Aye: Holmberg, Lynn, Palmer, West, Amicci, Lowder; Nay: None; Abstain: None; Absent: Schlesinger. b) Immobilize and Impound (Parking Project 16-014)

Merrill summarized the committee’s efforts to consider the possibility of an immobilization and impound or boot and tow program. Merrill referred the committee to a staff report that has been prepared in advance of the City Council workshop on boot and tow scheduled for July 18, focusing on the summary at the end of the report about the committee’s efforts. Merrill referred the committee to a draft ordinance that has been prepared eliminating immobilization and authorizing impoundment for purpose of collecting unpaid parking citation debt.

The chair asked if staff is looking for a motion or direction from the committee.

Merrill said direction and confirmation of the summary in the staff report would be great. It would also be acceptable if the committee chooses to make a motion.

Merrill raised a couple of items that the committee hadn’t discussed very much previously. First, whenever a vehicle is impounded, Washington state law authorizes the vehicle owner to contest the impoundment in district court. Merrill said it may be possible to administratively dispose of the appeal.

Boger said in that case it would just be the City conceding the appeal and there would be no need to proceed to district court. If the City denied the appeal, the case would need to be forwarded to district court.

A committee member said if someone with unpaid citations has their vehicle towed and they contest the tow at district court, is there any defense to not paying parking tickets.

Boger said the court would consider mitigation.

Merrill said the court would not allow the vehicle owner to contest the citations at an impound appeal because the citation appeal periods would have already expired, but the vehicle owner could argue that they were not the registered owner at the time the citations were issued and are not responsible for them and contest the tow on those grounds. Secondly, keeping up with registration and ownership information is struggle currently with the daily parking operation’s administrative review of citation appeals.

Boger said a citation not appealed basically becomes a judgement.

Merrill said boot and tow would require Parking Services to create a separate scofflaw list with different criteria than the list prepared for the Department of Licensing scofflaw program.

Merrill said keeping up with registration and ownership changes would be critical when administering a boot and tow program to minimize the number of improper impounds.

Merrill said the City of Seattle includes the boot process because to reduce the burden on the vehicle to have it towed because the boot allows the vehicle owner to return to the vehicle to recover important items that may have been left in the vehicle. If the vehicle is towed it may make it more burdensome on the vehicle owner to recover important personal items left in the vehicle.

A committee member said it might be good to keep immobilization in the ordinance in case some day the city decides it would be an effective tool.

A committee member asked for clarification about the judgement.

Boger said the vehicle owner receives a piece of paper that says if you want to contest the tow, you file this paper with district court.

A committee member said the City doesn’t have to do anything but let the court deal with the contest. The city can watch to see how the court deals with the contests.

Boger said it is rare that the court finds in favor of the vehicle owner. Boger recalled one time where the City was found in error and had to pay the impound costs back to the vehicle owner.

Merrill said the number of contested tows would likely relate to the performance of the City to stay current with registration and ownership information, which is a significant administrative duty, which is why the costs for the program included a half time administrative position. Additionally, every case considered by district includes a charge to the City to cover court’s cost to adjudicate the appeal on the City’s behalf. Those costs are additional administrative costs to a boot and tow program.

A committee member said even if the program breaks even it would show customers that the City is serious about its parking regulations.

A committee member said that booting could send a very visual negative image to prospective downtown visitors and customers. The repeat unpaid citation offenders are not paying the citations by choice. If the vehicle is towed the vehicle is removed from the street and sends a very valuable message to the offender than immobilization.

City of Vancouver Parking Advisory Committee Minutes June 22, 2016 Page 7 of 12 The committee member reported witnessing a parking officer writing a citation for a vehicle parked too far from the curb on Sunday during the Vancouver Marathon event. Passersby were shocked that citations were being issued on Sunday and the vehicle owner complained to police about receiving the citation. There was a lot of drama over a parking citation which would be eliminated by towing the vehicle away from the area. There is a due process and if payment plans were offered it would help the offender to pay. It seems too expensive to use license plate recognition. It’s almost not worth paying a collection agency when we can take matters into our hands. We should just contract with a tow company, have the officers flag vehicles for tow using our existing resources and probably no need for admin support. Operate the program like Longview and enforce using existing resources.

A committee member asked if we are enforcing parking on Sundays.

Merrill said that there were two parking enforcement officer who worked with Vancouver Police Department during the Marathon event on Sunday.

A committee member said this all started with one guy with five years of unpaid citations but this program is not financially sustainable for one outlying offender.

The chair said reported seeing more and more people disregarding the traffic and parking laws.

A committee member said the commotion caused by a valid citation is an indicator of how customers might react to booted vehicles. We know the boot is for unpaid tickets, but the average guy sees at as a negative consequence for not paying the parking meter.

The chair said it is necessary to have a boot and tow ordinance on the books so that we can address the repeat unpaid ticket offenders whenever it becomes necessary, and it may not need to be a regular sustainable program.

A committee member said that if a vehicle is towed the vehicle owner panics wondering if their car has been stolen. We kind of want customers to see a booted vehicle to be aware that parking citations need to be paid.

The chair said this ordinance will require a lot of public outreach. Staff has already conducted significant outreach. City council consideration of the ordinance will ignite additional public dialogue about the topic.

A committee member said booting and raising meter rates makes me wonder how much business will be lost at a time when we need to be attracting people to downtown. We need more people to come downtown to be able to find parking. It is irritating to hear a customer say they couldn’t find parking close to my business so the drove to a competitor’s establishment.

A committee member is for having the ordinance but not operating an aggressive boot program. A committee member said a boot and tow program will disproportionally impact low income downtown residents which will have a negative perception.

A committee member said a boot and tow program is not intended to leave a vehicle on the street for months at a time, rather to capture the repeat offender’s attention.

A committee member said there are so many owners who cannot afford to pay parking tickets concentrated in certain areas downtown that boots would be on multiple vehicles for multiple 24-hour periods and cast a negative impression. The committee member asked if we are doing enough to assist low income residents with meeting parking needs and paying parking tickets.

A committee member asked if we should let vehicles be parked for prolonged periods, taking parking away from other customers.

A committee member said we need to find a way to help low income residents out with their tickets. A boot and tow program is a hammer. We have spent countless hours on a single outlier. A boot and tow program would never collect more than 25 percent of the unpaid debt.

A committee member said that if we had had a boot and tow program 10 years ago this debt would have been satisfied. The committee member asked why the low income residents are not working with the city to enter into a payment plan. Downtown has boomed in the past two years from the ghost town it was before.

A committee member asked if there is currently a way a citizen can enter into a payment plan for parking citations.

Merrill said that a customer can enter into a payment plan with the collection agency.

A committee member said that boot and tow is the point that we want to convey if we want to keep parking spaces and traffic flow open for customers, we have to be serious about enforcement of parking rules. A dollar an hour is much cheaper than a ticket. The committee member is in favor to move the boot tow ordinance and program forward to keep the flow.

The chair said it would appropriate to discuss negative perception at the City Council workshop.

A committee member said another disadvantage to discuss at the workshop is the cost of a boot and tow program.

Merrill reported speaking to a City of Spokane official who reported that 18 months after implementing a boot and tow program, there has been a negligible impact on total debt owed, but has resulted in the slowing of the rate of increase in unpaid debt.

A committee member said slowing of the growth of the unpaid debt balance is kind of the point.

City of Vancouver Parking Advisory Committee Minutes June 22, 2016 Page 9 of 12 5) Work Session

a) None

6) Public Communications

7) Committee Communications

A committee member said something is affecting business downtown on the weekends and asked if the City has ever enforced parking regulations on weekends.

Merrill said he is not aware that there has been parking enforcement on weekends. The current code limits parking meter hours from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

A committee member reports seeing vehicles using parking spaces all weekend, abusing the free and unregulated time limits allowed on the weekends and preventing weekend customers form using those parking spaces on the weekend.

A committee member asked if the City has parking turnover and occupancy data for weekends.

Merrill said no.

A committee member will monitor the use of parking spaces on the weekends and will prepare to bring this topic up again at a later date.

Merrill said Parking Services does not patrol on weekends and after hours, but Vancouver Police can address parking violations at all times.

Merrill said two of the parking code amendments City Council will consider on July 11 have to do with prolonged parking, parking in the same place for more than 24 hours, and street sweeping, which will require vehicles to move to accommodate street sweeping. Both of those provisions could have an impact on parking on the street at the same parking space for prolonged periods even on the weekend and after hours.

The chair reported a concern received by a constituent about moving vehicles using a “No Parking” area on Mill Plain between “C” and “D” Streets.

The chair expressed concern with new developments being approved with limited parking exacerbating parking availability for downtown residents and customers. The chair will follow up with a city manager suggestion that the PAC and Planning Commission Chairs meet to discuss this issue.

A committee member expressed concern that the committee isn’t being used to review new development projects to determine that adequate parking is being provided. Seeing new development being approved and constructed providing less than 50 percent of parking ends up taking away 20 more parking spaces from customers and residents.

A committee member said and then a few months later the business or property owner is asking this committee to help them find more parking.

A committee member asked how new development proposals are reviewed and approved.

Merrill said the City has a development review code which provides the minimum number of parking spaces required for a new development. The code was recommended by the Planning Commission and approved by City Council. The planners review the development plans to determine that the new development meets the minimum required parking before it is approved. Developers can provide more than the minimum but are required to provide at least the minimum for the project to be approved.

A committee member asked what the committee can do to communicate to City Council that there is a problem with the minimum parking requirements in the development code.

Merrill said if the Vancouver City Center Vision Plan (VCCV) is reviewed next year, the committee will be able to participate in the parking element of the plan.

A committee member asked if the development review planner can attend these meetings.

Merrill said they have attended from time to time to provide updates about new downtown development. Merrill said he will invite them to attend soon.

Bjerke expressed Transportation’s frustration with the development code and having to find parking solutions in the right-of-way after a development is completed because on- site parking and loading is seldom adequate for the development’s tenants after it is constructed.

8) Adjourn

The Parking Advisory Committee Chair adjourned at 9:00 A.M. on June 22, 2016.

Next Meeting

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the committee will be conducted July 27, 2016, at 7:30 a.m., in Council Chambers, located on the 2nd Floor of City Hall, 415 West 6th Street.

Minutes respectfully submitted by:

______Michael G. Merrill, Parking Manager Date

Minutes Approved by:

City of Vancouver Parking Advisory Committee Minutes June 22, 2016 Page 11 of 12 ______Nelson Holmberg, Chair Date