Sustainable Transportation for the San Joaquin Valley

1. Good Morning, everyone. Thank you all so much for taking time to join us today You know, we made the decision to hold this symposium a few months ago. And since that time, I’ve been working on my presentation, researching material, and pulling our panel together. As I was venturing out to shop at our New Macy’s on Black Friday …you know the day after Thanksgiving…My mind wandered to my parking management topic and visions of the crowded mall and the Twentieth Hour parking model…and then I suddenly realized I might experience some parking challenges… Good Morning, everyone. Thank you all so much for taking time to join us today You know, we made the decision to hold this symposium a few months ago. And since that time, I’ve been working on my presentation, researching material, and pulling our panel together. As I was venturing out to shop at our New Macy’s on Black Friday …you know the day after Thanksgiving…My mind wandered to my parking management topic and visions of the crowded mall and the Twentieth Hour parking model…and then I suddenly realized I might experience some parking challenges…

2. Little did I know!Little did I know!

3. “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. They paved  paradise and put up a parking lot.” -- Joni Mitchell Panel Host: Mary Beatie, Sr. Planner, TPG Panel Guests: Mike Olmos, Asst. City Manager, Visalia Mark Yamarone, Transportation Administrator, Pasadena Anyway, Welcome, and Thanks Again for joining us today for our inaugural symposium. I hope you’re finding the presentation materials informative. My name is… SR Plnr… I am the host of our Parking Management Panel. I will be sharing with you some introductory material about parking management; some gained through research and some gained through TPG work experiences developing parking management plans for the City of Morro Bay (the implementation of which is entering the second year of a 5-year Action Plan we developed), the Tulare District Medical Center Phase One Expansion, which is now under construction, and the parking management update for the City of Visalia. It is my great pleasure to introduce to you the other panel members…thank you gentlemen for taking time away from your work and agreeing to join me today: Michael Olmos, ACM of Visalia. Mike and I have known each other since the 80’s, going back to our days working at the County of Tulare. Mike will later be presenting the Visalia story of parking management. Thanks Mike for your participation today. Next to Mike is Mark Yamarone, TA, from Pasadena..one of my favorite cities. Mark came recommended to me by more than individual with whom I networked in my search for panel speakers. Mark has an interesting story to tell you today, about the journey Pasadena has taken to manage parking. Anyway, Welcome, and Thanks Again for joining us today for our inaugural symposium. I hope you’re finding the presentation materials informative. My name is… SR Plnr… I am the host of our Parking Management Panel. I will be sharing with you some introductory material about parking management; some gained through research and some gained through TPG work experiences developing parking management plans for the City of Morro Bay (the implementation of which is entering the second year of a 5-year Action Plan we developed), the Tulare District Medical Center Phase One Expansion, which is now under construction, and the parking management update for the City of Visalia. It is my great pleasure to introduce to you the other panel members…thank you gentlemen for taking time away from your work and agreeing to join me today: Michael Olmos, ACM of Visalia. Mike and I have known each other since the 80’s, going back to our days working at the County of Tulare. Mike will later be presenting the Visalia story of parking management. Thanks Mike for your participation today. Next to Mike is Mark Yamarone, TA, from Pasadena..one of my favorite cities. Mark came recommended to me by more than individual with whom I networked in my search for panel speakers. Mark has an interesting story to tell you today, about the journey Pasadena has taken to manage parking.

4. “What do Ferraris, Hummers, and Priuses all have in common?  95% of the time they’re all going nowhere.” --Josh Stevens Smart Growth Principles: Create Range of Housing Opportunities Create Walkable Neighborhoods Encourage Community and Stakeholder Collaboration Foster Distinctive, Attractive Communities with a Strong Sense of Place Make Development Decisions Predictable, Fair and Cost Effective Mix Land Uses Preserve Open Space Provide a Variety of Transportation Choices Direct Development Towards Existing Neighborhoods Take Advantage of Compact Building Design Read the joke… And they’re going nowhere because they’re parked. And yet our current planning & engineering practices devote vast land areas and land value to the function of parked cars, going nowhere. The San Joaquin Valley Blueprint envisions a different future for the Valley. The Blueprint is based in part on encouraging Smart Growth Principles, which are listed here. I’ve highlighted in blue text, a few that directly or indirectly relate to reducing automobile use. (Read them) These principles and other policies of the Blueprint, envision a future for the Valley where VMT are reduced and society is less dependent on the auto. So we must prepare to shift our paradigms about parking. Read the joke… And they’re going nowhere because they’re parked. And yet our current planning & engineering practices devote vast land areas and land value to the function of parked cars, going nowhere. The San Joaquin Valley Blueprint envisions a different future for the Valley. The Blueprint is based in part on encouraging Smart Growth Principles, which are listed here. I’ve highlighted in blue text, a few that directly or indirectly relate to reducing automobile use. (Read them) These principles and other policies of the Blueprint, envision a future for the Valley where VMT are reduced and society is less dependent on the auto. So we must prepare to shift our paradigms about parking.

5. “87% of all trips are made by personal vehicle and 99% percent of  those trips arrive at a free parking space.” --Donald Shoup Traditional Methods: Hand-Me-Down Zoning Standards One Size Fits All Design Guidelines Tenant-Dictated (Twentieth Hour Model) Let me take a moment to summarize some of our past and slowly changing current paradigms about parking… Does anyone know where many of our zoning standards for parking requirements come from, really? Or how old they are? Visalia maybe got theirs from LA who got theirs from Chicago, who got theirs from New York or something like that… No offense, Mike, but I’m pretty sure the basis for most of Visalia’s parking standards are not based solely on Visalia parking demand characteristics. We all know Most zoning ordinance provisions are borrowed from someone else’s ordinance. Such hand-me-down standards do not consider whether the town has a robust transit system, is heavily populated by seniors who don’t drive, is a popular tourist destination with higher than average daily retail activity (like the Embarcadero in Morro Bay) or any number of other variables unique to a community. There is no one ordinance or set of design guidelines that can be equally effective in every community. One size does NOT fit all. I’m sure many of you planners out there also have experience working with developers who are not satisfied with your City’s or County’s parking requirements., even though generally they require more parking than is needed to meet demand. (Footnote…zoning ord. parking requirements do NOT equal demand…more on that later.) Many of developers want MORE parking! More! As in the Twentieth Hour Model, which suggests the correct amount of parking for say a big-box retailer is that amount of parking to satisfy the twentieth highest hour of parking demand during a year, which is typically the second Saturday before Christmas. And we wonder why places like Lowe’s and Target have a see of empty parking spaces surrounding the stores for most of the rest of the year? Let me take a moment to summarize some of our past and slowly changing current paradigms about parking… Does anyone know where many of our zoning standards for parking requirements come from, really? Or how old they are? Visalia maybe got theirs from LA who got theirs from Chicago, who got theirs from New York or something like that… No offense, Mike, but I’m pretty sure the basis for most of Visalia’s parking standards are not based solely on Visalia parking demand characteristics. We all know Most zoning ordinance provisions are borrowed from someone else’s ordinance. Such hand-me-down standards do not consider whether the town has a robust transit system, is heavily populated by seniors who don’t drive, is a popular tourist destination with higher than average daily retail activity (like the Embarcadero in Morro Bay) or any number of other variables unique to a community. There is no one ordinance or set of design guidelines that can be equally effective in every community. One size does NOT fit all. I’m sure many of you planners out there also have experience working with developers who are not satisfied with your City’s or County’s parking requirements., even though generally they require more parking than is needed to meet demand. (Footnote…zoning ord. parking requirements do NOT equal demand…more on that later.) Many of developers want MORE parking! More! As in the Twentieth Hour Model, which suggests the correct amount of parking for say a big-box retailer is that amount of parking to satisfy the twentieth highest hour of parking demand during a year, which is typically the second Saturday before Christmas. And we wonder why places like Lowe’s and Target have a see of empty parking spaces surrounding the stores for most of the rest of the year?

6. “Total annual subsidy of free off-street parking exceeds $300 billion  per year.” --Donald Shoup Traditional Expectations: It should be available at the front door of my destination. (But if it’s not, then supply is inadequate.) More is better. (But why do so many stores have a sea of empty parking spaces around them?) Tenant-Dictated (Twentieth Hour Model) (Because if there’s not enough, they won’t come.) And because of our traditional methods, we somewhat naturally have these traditional expectations about parking. I’m sure you’ve heard them in your town… And because of our traditional methods, we somewhat naturally have these traditional expectations about parking. I’m sure you’ve heard them in your town…

7. “Drivers [will] circle blocks endlessly in search of street parking while burning more gas money than they would save by going directly to private lots.” --Donald Shoup Traditional Solutions: Auto Dependent Required Parking Must Be On-Site No Credits for Available On-Street Parking Supply the Worst Case Scenario Aggregate totals for “Mixed-Use” And with our traditional methods and expectations, we get the traditional solutions that we are all very familiar with… Solutions that are (read)… and unfriendly to transit, pedestrians and other alt. modes (read) creating an undesirable/ unattractive urban form Read 3 …practices that result in over-supply the majority of the year. And with our traditional methods and expectations, we get the traditional solutions that we are all very familiar with… Solutions that are (read)… and unfriendly to transit, pedestrians and other alt. modes (read) creating an undesirable/ unattractive urban form Read 3 …practices that result in over-supply the majority of the year.

8. So What’s In Our Parking Future?

9. “When parking requirements facilitate the use of cars, travel increases, public transit use decreases, buildings scoot farther away from each other, density diminishes… all of which increases the need for more parking. --Donald Shoup New Paradigms: Too Much Is As Bad As Too Little No Parking is “Free” Zoning Parking Requirements ? Demand Be Flexible: Real Demand is Situation-Specific A ‘Parking Problem’ is Not Always About Supply Trends Toward Smart Growth De-emphasize the Automobile Intuitively we understand the vicious circle of our parking requirement practices…as in Mr. Shoup’s quote…(read it) So the emerging new paradigm recognizes that too much parking is as bad as too little. As the guru of parking management also tells us over and over again…”No Parking is Free”; it all cost something to provide it, maintain it, enforce it, etc. And in this post Prop 13 era we know our taxes aren’t covering it. Mark will tell you how that’s working in Pasadena. Key in our paradigm shift is understanding that zoning requirements that set forth parking standards do NOT equate to demand. They should really be thought of as “guidelines” to be refined based on site or project area circumstances. Case in point: TDH: 1 space per 250 sq. ft .for non-storage medical area… where a 1000 sq. ft of operating room would require 4 parking spaces. Except the new state standards for hospital operating rooms requires them to be nearly 4 times the size of old operating rooms (4,000 sq.ft.)… you still have one patient and the same number of doctors and nurses in the room, but applying the old zoning requirements mathematically suggests 16 spaces are needed!! So we must remain flexible in how zoning “requirements” are applied. In Morro Bay Study we were able to show that the perceived parking problem was not related to a lack of supply…, instead the inability of visitors to find it! And most importantly, (read the last bullet.)Intuitively we understand the vicious circle of our parking requirement practices…as in Mr. Shoup’s quote…(read it) So the emerging new paradigm recognizes that too much parking is as bad as too little. As the guru of parking management also tells us over and over again…”No Parking is Free”; it all cost something to provide it, maintain it, enforce it, etc. And in this post Prop 13 era we know our taxes aren’t covering it. Mark will tell you how that’s working in Pasadena. Key in our paradigm shift is understanding that zoning requirements that set forth parking standards do NOT equate to demand. They should really be thought of as “guidelines” to be refined based on site or project area circumstances. Case in point: TDH: 1 space per 250 sq. ft .for non-storage medical area… where a 1000 sq. ft of operating room would require 4 parking spaces. Except the new state standards for hospital operating rooms requires them to be nearly 4 times the size of old operating rooms (4,000 sq.ft.)… you still have one patient and the same number of doctors and nurses in the room, but applying the old zoning requirements mathematically suggests 16 spaces are needed!! So we must remain flexible in how zoning “requirements” are applied. In Morro Bay Study we were able to show that the perceived parking problem was not related to a lack of supply…, instead the inability of visitors to find it! And most importantly, (read the last bullet.)

10. “Drivers [will] circle blocks endlessly in search of street parking while burning more gas money than they would save by going directly to the [public]/private lots.” --Donald Shoup New Solutions: (Tools to Have in Your Tool Box) Improve Parking Location Signage Improve Public Information About Parking Convert Parallel to Angled Charge for the True Cost of Parking Allow Shared Parking Spaces Employee Parking / Cash Out/ Incentives Public-Private Partnerships Designate Delivery Truck Spaces / Limit Hours Parking Maximums And so with the emerging Valley Blueprint and trends toward Smart Growth, we need a few new tools in our toolbox… Better signage…as in Morro Bay Use technology/web for publishing advance information about parking…in high tourist areas, or for special event advertizing… Parallel to Angled…as on Center St. in Visalia Do you really think your wife we stop shopping if she has to pay a little bit for parking? Shared parking…example: hotels and office uses, where peak demand times do not overlap Alteration of time limited parking, to encourage turn-over, discourage employee parking Cash out/ Incentives (bus passes) Public-Private partnerships (Mike will probably speak to Visalia’s success with this) Truck Delivery Parking Parking Maximums…some good examples of this in Portland and other communities, ShoupAnd so with the emerging Valley Blueprint and trends toward Smart Growth, we need a few new tools in our toolbox… Better signage…as in Morro Bay Use technology/web for publishing advance information about parking…in high tourist areas, or for special event advertizing… Parallel to Angled…as on Center St. in Visalia Do you really think your wife we stop shopping if she has to pay a little bit for parking? Shared parking…example: hotels and office uses, where peak demand times do not overlap Alteration of time limited parking, to encourage turn-over, discourage employee parking Cash out/ Incentives (bus passes) Public-Private partnerships (Mike will probably speak to Visalia’s success with this) Truck Delivery Parking Parking Maximums…some good examples of this in Portland and other communities, Shoup

11. “Abundant parking supply encourages auto use.” --Todd Litman Overview: Parking Management to Implement the Valley Blueprint Smart Growth Principles Create Walkable Neighborhoods Foster Distinctive, Attractive Communities with a Strong Sense of Place Make Development Decisions Predictable, Fair and Cost Effective Preserve Open Space Provide a Variety of Transportation Choices Updated Parking Management Tools encourage fewer VMT and Pedestrian-Scale Urban Landscape So let’s review… The new trends in parking management reflect new visions of development encouraging increased densities, mixed use and thereby suggest new paradigms for parking standards reflective of reducing VMTs, better public transit, pedestrian and bicycle friendly streets and streetscapes. What were the Smart Growth Principles I highlighted at the beginning? Walkable neighborhoods Strong sense of place…relates more to pedestrian experience, not the auto experience Preserve Open Space, but not in the form of empty parking lots! Variety in transportation choices: moving away from the vicious circle I spoke of earlier Smart Growth if effectively employed will be the best parking management tool in your box. Thank you. So let’s review… The new trends in parking management reflect new visions of development encouraging increased densities, mixed use and thereby suggest new paradigms for parking standards reflective of reducing VMTs, better public transit, pedestrian and bicycle friendly streets and streetscapes. What were the Smart Growth Principles I highlighted at the beginning? Walkable neighborhoods Strong sense of place…relates more to pedestrian experience, not the auto experience Preserve Open Space, but not in the form of empty parking lots! Variety in transportation choices: moving away from the vicious circle I spoke of earlier Smart Growth if effectively employed will be the best parking management tool in your box. Thank you.