2015 Issues to Watch: Parking plan

Mark Lyons, the city’s parking manager, hoped to have a crucial document designed to manage important infrastructure in front of the City Commission last summer.

A variety of factors — including upheaval on the commission itself — has Lyons a year behind schedule, but still eager to address an important issue that the city has shied away from in recent years: parking.

Lyons, with help from the citizen Parking Advisory Committee, is the architect of the city’s parking strategic plan, which will help manage the city’s parking resources and draws on best practices from other cities.
Although the document is still just a draft, designed to be comprehensive in scope, much of the early discussion has focused on one glaring detail: the possible reintroduction of paid parking.

In May, the city’s Downtown Improvement District reacted so negatively to the idea of paid parking that it recommended against even considering the idea for at least two years. Lyons knows that, after efforts to install parking meters in 2012 were poorly received, the idea is toxic to some, and he stresses that the conversation with the commission will be much broader.

“We’re not going to look for them to stamp some approval on paid parking,” Lyons said. “We’re trying to tackle this from a higher level.”

Lyons said that, typically, a parking strategic plan is implemented when a community is smaller than Sarasota, which adds to the challenge. One thing he’s learned from the previous efforts to implement paid parking is that communication is key. Following the planned workshop with the commission — tentatively scheduled for this summer — Lyons said he wants substantial feedback from residents.

“We’ll be asking for (the commission’s) endorsement of the project and activity in some detail,” Lyons said. “We’ll look for them to agree to take this message out to the community — whatever that message is — and make sure we communicate in a way that’s effective.”

The idea is not to radically change the plan based on the beck and whim of a citizenry scarred by failed efforts to install parking meters. Still, Lyons said, it’s important to be acutely aware of the public’s concerns and incorporate that into the planning when possible.

If city staff had been more dialed into the needs and fears of the community during earlier parking meter implementation, members of the Parking Advisory Committee believe the efforts wouldn’t have been viewed as a debacle.

“Whatever happened last time, it didn’t happen in an orderly fashion,” committee Vice Chairman Tom Delong said. “You had meters all over the city in places they shouldn’t have been.”

When the time comes to discuss the city’s parking strategy in earnest, Lyons wants to address the reality of the situation. With the State Street garage gearing up for an opening early this year, the parking fund is in the red, drawing $500,000 or more each of the past three years from the city’s general fund to offset that deficit. The city’s downtown core is growing, and Lyons said businesses are reporting increased activity even in the wake of the opening of the Mall at University Town Center.

“We have to be prepared to meet that parking demand,” Lyons said. “That’s our goal, to focus on how we best get prepared and lay the proper foundation for managing parking now and down the road.”

FACTS FOR ’15
The issue: The city is working to develop a comprehensive strategy for managing its parking supply as downtown activity increases and the parking fund runs a deficit.

Why you should care: One option the city could consider is reintroducing paid parking. In addition, a parking garage is scheduled to open downtown in March, while discussions regarding another on St. Armands will resume this year.

What's next: Parking Manager Mark Lyons hopes the City Commission will address the parking strategic plan this summer.

Parking on deck
In 2015, the city will also consider building a parking garage — or two — near St. Armands Circle.

The city is putting the finishing touches on a revised study examining the potential to put a garage on two sites on Adams Drive. An earlier draft pegged the area’s parking deficit at about 320 spaces.

City Parking Manager Mark Lyons said the City Commission should revisit the subject soon. Although no further workshops are scheduled with St. Armands stakeholders, Lyons said staff would remain in close contact with merchants, landowners and residents in the area.

“It’s really important we work close with them,” Lyons said.