38 iNterna tional P arking Institute challenges whenitcomesto parking management plans. Resort towns face special | MAY 2013

shutterstock shutterstock O parking.org/tpp and theintegration oftechnology. What isaparking permit program tweaks, wayfinding, metered parking, space meterswere replaced withanewer generation. a parking structure addition was built and the multi- year, the meters were converted tosolarpower. In2006 which was just enoughtobreak even. Additionally that key corridorastheonlymetered parking remaining, removed from lotsadjacenttoMain Street leaving this real change insales tax revenue. In 2003, meters were were notfrequenting Main Street, butdataindicatedno toomuchso).Merchants (possibly contendedlocals a city council that preferred solving problems proactively downtown commercial core. Thesolutionwas driven by how riledupaperson couldgetover aparkingticket. The policechiefloved thischange!He oftenmusedabout under the public works umbrella rather than thepolice. and contracted enforcement serviceswere managed the mountain.Ayear later, aparkingdivisionwas formed dinner hourtohelphungryskierswhospentallday on cars intokey commercial lotsduringthepeakevening valet-assist experiment thatwas designedtopackmore enjoy thesnow hasincreased, necessitiatingadditionalparkingregulations. cumulates. Theonlydifference between thenandnow isthat thenumberofpeoplewho this was tofacilitatesnow removal. Theregulation isstill inplaceandthesnow still ac recorded angst over from 2a.m.to6a.m.—Iassume arulethatimplementedno-parking cial district have beenengagedinparkingissues. Anarticleinalocalpaperfrom thatera parking challenges. Asfarbackasthelate1970s, merchants intheMain Street commer By BrianAndersen,CAPP, MBA Today, there are ongoingdiscussionsaboutresidential In 1998, we meters for the entire installed multi-space In 1996, Ibeganmy parkingcareer facilitatinga region, but its proximity to an urban area and major airport hub has generated some is aresort town. Thecity’s skiing islegendaryandattracts many tothisbeautiful ver theyears, Ihave witnessedtheparkingmetamorphosisofPark City, Utah, which ning guidelines as theyrelate toparking, gatheringand challenges. Thiswill likely involve questioning theplan challenges andiswillingtolearn your specific parking resort business and the uniqueness of resort parking is aparkingconsultant—one whounderstands the you are tryingtosolve iscritical.Agoodinitialresource and a parking manager isbrought on-board. cars grows, thevisitorexperience isnegatively affected growth, and change. When the problem of too many Often thisevolution is basedontopography, discovery, the solutionsusedtomake ourexperience agoodone. placed onthetown from increased parkingdemand or parking space. We usuallydon’t considerthedemands human nature to feel elation when we find that close-in for theday. Ofcoursethisistruewherever we go; it’s happy just tofindaparkingspace closetoouractivities drive toaskiorbeachtown forvacation, we are generally Resort towns are usuallyplaces ofnatural beauty. Whenwe The InitialProblem all theresources we have atourfingertipsandthensome. do best andwork theproblems we are given. Thistakes professional to do? It seems we should stick to what we If you are intheseshoes, identifyingthe problem MAY 2013 |Interna tional P arking InstitutE - - - 39 It seems we should stick to what we do best and work the problems we are given. This takes all the resources we have at our fingertips and then some.

studying parking use and duration data, and engaging 3. Need for a wide range of staff skills. Many times, the many constituents at the decision table. Examples of parking manager in a resort town needs to be a jack of all constituency groups that were involved in our town’s trades. That is certainly the case for the other employees program included merchant, , and in the parking division and me. Tasks that might require associations; employee groups; private parking owners; a dedicated employee in a larger organization are often and affected city departments. “other duties as assigned” within our department. Simi- In Park City, the initial problem was brought to the larly, our enforcement officers clean and maintain meters attention of elected officials by the business community, and collect use data. Our office staff collects meter fees, specifically the merchants of our Main Street core. Not analyzes data, installs signs, and contracts for parking surprisingly, in many cases, the businesses’ own employees structure maintenance and cash , and the list were taking up the spaces. Before hiring professional goes on. While all resort towns may not assign work in help or employing dedicated staff to tackle the problem, the same way, I am confident that in most resort towns, several unsuccessful solutions were attempted: two-hour there are times when the manager and staff have to get time limits with no enforcement, two-hour time limits their hands dirty in the field. with the words “strictly enforced,” without enforcement 4. Interesting events. Almost all resort towns draw (don’t laugh), two-hour time limits enforced with one unique events. Park City plays host to the Sundance Film part-time officer, and a valet-assist experiment. Eventually, Festival, which brings approximately 10 days of very city staff realized the need to hire a good consultant and heightened parking demand. The size of the event and begin developing a management program with dedicat- traffic it generates require the city to manage parking to ed staff and a revenue stream. The staff size grew from reduce traffic demand. For example, the metered rate one person working the program as a side project to a in one lot during this event is $16 for three hours; the full-time division with a parking manager and dedicated non-event rate would be $4.50 for the same amount enforcement officers. of time. Without a reduction in cars brought about by these increased fees, traffic has proven to increase to Key Challenges of Resort Town Parking the point of gridlock. Creative solutions abound in the resort environment. 5. Demand for technology. Resort visitors expect the At first glance, it seems everyone is a parking expert newest parking technologies, pay-by-cell, online res- because they drive a car. Indeed some ideas are not olution of tickets, and smartphone applications. This fit for implementation, but our industry embraces requires a lot of procurements on already-lean staff the creative, and some of the most creative solutions time. In the past, I relied on my IT department merely I have seen are found in the resort environment. for server connections to the parking database, but The following are key challenges faced by the resort now, all technology-based procurements require their parking manager: valuable input and our careful consideration for things 1. A well-connected constituency. Our town is small such as data storage and backup, server capacity or enough that just about everyone knows the mayor and hosting, and data handling policies for LPR. While city council members. The challenge this presents to this may also be the case for larger cities, there are no parking management is that the policy makers can be- specialists to dedicate to IT issues within our staff. And come involved in the minutia of parking management in a tourist-based economy, we give exceptional care to instead of setting policy. Countless hours of staff time are the needs of our visitors. dedicated to the follow-up of ticket complaints received Resort town parking management offers a great oppor- Brian Andersen, at the mayor’s office. tunity to work in parking while living in a beautiful place. CAPP, MBA, is 2. Seasonal demand. Fluctuation in our economy remains I guess that’s why I’ve worked for Park City Municipal the parking and one of our most challenging issues. In Park City we call Corporation since 1990 and managed its Main Street fleet admin team the spring and fall the shoulder seasons, with demand parking program since 1998, and been in Park City so leader for Park City peaking during the busy winter and summer times. long. If you are a resort parking professional who would Municipal Corp. He can be reached at Our business district parking resources are primarily like a forum to get together to solve your problems and [email protected] or shared public parking spaces, and when they are empty, share information unique to tourist-based economies, 435.615.5371. there is intense pressure to make them free. please get in touch—we would like to assist you.

40 iNternational Parking Institute | MAY 2013