June 17, 2003                                                                                        ATTACHMENT 1

 

 

 

Mr. Roger Waldon

Planning Director

Town of Chapel Hill

306 North Columbia Street

Chapel Hill, NC 27516

 

Subject: Town of Chapel Hill Parking Study Scope of Services.

 

 

Dear Mr. Waldon:

 

On behalf of LSA Associates, Inc. (LSA), I am pleased to submit this letter proposal to assist the Town of Chapel Hill in the preparation of revised parking standards and policies. Based on our discussion, this work effort is divided into two overall efforts. The first is the collection of actual empirical parking data for selected uses. The second effort is in assisting the Town in the development of their parking codes and policies.

 

Parking Supply and Utilization Surveys

 

Currently, the Town of Chapel Hill has specific minimum parking requirements for 30 different land uses or subsets of a land use category. To survey a representative sample of each of these uses would be cost prohibitive. Additionally, much of the data would be repetitive and excessive. The survey can be accomplished much more efficiently by selecting a few critical and controversial land uses. LSA will work with the Town to determine which land uses are to be surveyed and which businesses or sites within those uses are most typical of Chapel Hill. Several typical businesses or sites within each of the selected land uses will then be surveyed as to their parking utilization.

 

The parking utilization survey will take place over a one to two week period. Several businesses or sites will be surveyed each day. For each site, the number of parking spaces occupied and unoccupied will be identified. This will be repeated at a set interval (such as every hour or every two hours) throughout the day. In this manner, several sites can be completed each day and a histogram of parking utilization can be determined for each business or site. Performing the surveys on consecutive days will also ensure the consistency of the data.

 

The objective of developing revised parking codes and policies is to base decisions on empirical data from sites within the Town, supplemented with industry data. Based on our discussions, critical and controversial uses include banks, restaurants, retail “superstores”, and churches.

 

In association with Town Planning staff, representative projects for these land uses will be identified. For statistical purposes, it would be desirable to identify three to five projects for the four land use categories. These parking utilization counts will be conducted during typical weekdays unless otherwise noted. The parking count methodology is described as follows:

 

 

Mr. Roger Waldon

June 13, 2003

Page 2

 

 

• Banks: Select up to five branch banks with similar services, including drive-through facilities. It is further recommended that this selection of banks is from different areas around town but will include one downtown and at least one outside of the downtown. For each site, statistical data of the facility will be required including square feet, number of employees and total number of on site parking spaces. At a minimum three parking utilization surveys will be conducted for each site (mid-morning, noon, mid afternoon). Utilizing this data, LSA will identify the average parking supply per unit (square feet or employee) and parking utilization. 

 

• Restaurants: Select up to ten restaurants for parking inventory and utilization survey. These restaurants will need to either have their own parking areas or be able to isolate the restaurant parking from other uses in a mixed use center. Base data for each site will include square feet, number of employees, number of seats and ancillary data such as type of dining, and whether the restaurant contains a bar. Parking utilization surveys will be conducted for late morning (11:00 to 12:00 a.m., the noon period (12:00 to 1:00 p.m., early afternoon (1:00 to 2:00 p.m., late afternoon (5:00 to 6:00 p.m., early evening (6:00 to 8:00 p.m.) and then mid-evening (8:00 to 9:00 p.m.). It is also proposed that these restaurants be counted on a Friday or Saturday early and mid-evening period to understand the relationship between typical weekday and weekend.

 

• Churches: Up to seven churches will be identified for parking data collection. For each church, square footage, number of seats, and membership will be collected. Based on Sunday Schedule, LSA staff will identify the total number of parking spaces and utilization during the service. It is also proposed that spot mid-week parking counts be conducted. Wednesday mid evening counts will also be conducted.

 

• Retail “Superstores”: Up to five retail “superstore” sites will be identified and recorded as to total square footage, type and number of off street parking spaces. Parking utilization surveys will be conducted during the mid-morning, noon, mid-afternoon and early evening time period. In addition a Saturday count will be conducted for the mid-morning, noon, and mid-afternoon period. For this effort, square feet of the business and number of employees (total and number per shift) will be required.

 

• Residential: Ten residential developments will be selected for conducting a late evening parking utilization counts. The selection of these locations should provide a range of locations and residential types. For multi-family sites, dwelling unit data will be required, such as number of dwelling units by type (efficiency, 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, etc).

 

• Mixed Use Center: Two mixed use centers will be selected for conducting a parking supply and utilization count. This effort will require collecting square feet by use and parking utilization counts for the mid-morning, noon, mid-afternoon, early evening and evening periods. The purpose of these counts is to: 1) determine the effect of the synergy of uses and 2) provide a local basis for development of a mixed-use center parking generation model.

 

Mr. Roger Waldon

June 13, 2003

Page 3

 

Parking Analysis and Code/Policy Recommendations

 

The parking utilization survey will help in the understanding of the current parking situation in the Town and provide a planning level assessment of the current standards. The empirical data set, coupled with industry standards, will allow LSA to analyze the data and make recommendations for parking codes and policies.

 

From this starting point, typical ratios can be established for current parking utilization by land use for the Town of Chapel Hill. LSA will then take these ratios into account when developing new off-street parking standards and policies. These off-street parking standards will also consider:

 

• Keeping the regulations the way they are now (requiring a minimum number of spaces with ratios customized based on the parking utilization surveys).

 

• Add maximum parking ratios to the minimum ratios.

 

• Eliminate the minimum ratios.

 

• Re-calibrate all of the parking ratios to reflect Chapel Hill’s Comprehensive Plan goals to promote use of alternative modes (i.e., identify ratios that maintain the market vitality of a use but constrain parking supply to where alternative modes of travel might be promoted).

 

• Add additional land use categories to reflect different parking requirements (i.e., high quality restaurants, family restaurants, restaurants with bars or outdoor seating).

 

• Define the role of Transportation Management Plans to reduce automobile traffic and parking with checks and balances to assure compliance.

 

• Identify current practice/experience of other communities that might be pertinent for Chapel Hill.

 

• Practice and application of downtown parking supply through in-lieu fees, off-site parking, or potentially parking districts.

 

Based on the survey and the above research, LSA will recommend a set of new off-street parking requirements specifically tailored to the Town of Chapel Hill. These recommendations would address the various land uses currently within the standards, new, or refined uses and differences in different parts of town. In particular, the needs and characteristics for the downtown mixed use activities will be different than those areas outside the downtown.  It is also noted that even within the downtown there are various issues and concerns.  To this end, LSA will examine the similarities and differences within three distinct areas of the downtown which include:

 

• Established Mixed Use Downtown Center  (The east Franklin and Rosemary area),

 

• Emerging Mixed Use Downtown (The west Franklin Street area), and

 

• Future Mixed Use Downtown (The west Rosemary Street area)

 

Mr. Roger Waldon

June 13, 2003

Page 4

 

 

 

In addition, LSA will develop a mixed-use center parking model calibrated to the Chapel Hill conditions. This model will be an Excel spreadsheet where the user can input units of mixed use development by type to determine the peak utilization by time of day.

 

 

Cost Estimate

 

The following is an estimate of the costs to conduct the above work effort.

 

Table 1: Cost Estimate

 

Work effort	Total
Parking Utilization Surveys and Preparation Work	$14,000
Parking Standards Recommendations and Report	$25,000
Subtotal	$39,000
Travel (Three Trips – Data Collection, In-House workshop and presentation)	$5,000
Other Direct Expenses	$1,000
TOTAL	$45,000

 

 

Sincerely,

 

LSA Associates, Inc.

 

 

Ray A. Moe

Managing Principal