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10-30-17 Minutes Public Meeting Paid Parking v CITY OF ATLANTIC BEACH MINUTES OF THE PUBLIC MEETING PAID PARKING OCTOBER 30, 2017 CITY HALL, 800 SEMINOLE RD. IN ATTENDANCE: CITY OF ATLANTIC BEACH Mayor Pro Tem/Commissioner John Stinson City Manager Joe Gerrity Deputy City Manager Kevin Hogencamp Mayor-elect Ellen Glasser Commissioner-elect Candice Kelly Recording Secretary Nancy Pyatte PANEL/SPEAKERS Mayor Elaine Brown,Neptune Beach Councilman Richard Arthur,Neptune Beach City Manager Andy Hyatt,Neptune Beach Deputy City Manager Amanda Askew,Neptune Beach Jay Handline,President Beaches Town Center Agency Mark Rimmer, RTA Consulting Services Call to Order Commissioner Stinson called the meeting to order at 1:35 PM and explained that each panel member will have five minutes to address the topic of paid parking in Town Center. Courtesy of the Floor to Visitors Commissioner Stinson explained the process for the public comments and opened the Courtesy of the Floor to visitors. There were no speakers; Courtesy of the Floor was closed. Mayor Elaine Brown spoke about the services that both of our cities provide in Town Center for people who come to the beaches and the businesses — both residents and non-residents. Some services are public safety at the beaches and on the roads, cleanliness/garbage cans, lighting, landscaping, benches, etc. Mayor Brown stated paid parking can help offset some of those expenses for city services. This has been talked about for several years and both cities want to provide great service to people who want to live, work, and play in our cities. Town Center is where we both come together to provide these services and there is the potential for revenue for both cities with paid parking. Neptune Beach has done the vetting of the vendors and have made a decision on one. The reasons for 1 pursuing paid parking have been thoroughly vetted. There are still questions about price point, making sure residents are considered in the process, and how to move forward when the final decision is made to implement paid parking for Town Center. Other cities researched - St. Augustine, FL, Charleston, SC, Savannah, GA—benefit from paid parking revenue by maintaining infrastructure and continuing to provide better services. Mayor Brown closed stating it is important that both cities work together in achieving our goals to provide good space for people to park in our beautiful Town Center area. Councilmam Richard Arthur stated the people who are vested in Town Center initially brought this to our cities with the approach to achieve parking solutions. The goal now is to do this in a joint effort with the goal of creating a seamless parking experience for the Town Center customers/visitors: Councilman Arthur stated they are looking at a license plate recognition system and their committee will be meeting this week to review the management, enforcement, rate structures, and issuance of citizen permits. Deputy City Manager(DCM) Amanda Askew stated they have chosen a vendor along with a software vendor. At this time they are looking at policies, rates, and how to roll out to the citizens and are ready to share this with Atlantic Beach. DCM Askew stated the goal is to have a seamless process — with uniform signage, with enforcement, rates, etc. - and are looking towards a unified approach with both cities. Jay Handline, President, Town Center Agency, explained the purpose and structure of the Town Center Agency and how it functions in partnership with both municipalities. Mr. Handline stated the issues of parking, mobility services, and transportation has been studied for several years. It is both a challenge and an opportunity to improve upon. Mr. Handline gave a brief history of the Parking Task Force created in 2004 made up of merchants and property owners from both cities. It was reorganized in 2012 as a result of growth in the Town Center and increasing parking challenges. The decision was made to hire a professional consultant to conduct a study for an improved parking program. Mark Rimmer, RTA Consulting Services, was hired and within six months produced recommendations and a plan of action. Mr. Handline stated there are four major components of this plan of action, as follows: 1) Employee Parking - has the potential of taking up 100 to 200 parking spaces. Some satellite parking lots are established outside of the CBD and employees are being educated and motivated to utilize those lots. This component is a work in progress. 2) Community Valet Service—in place today and there is room for improvement. 3) Regulated On-Street Parking—with time limits and regulated via a kiosk system. 4) Residential Parking—any action in the CBD will have an impact on residential parking. 2 Mr. Handline said the on-street paid parking and kiosk system has been studied for a long time. The community,the merchants, and the property owners have been surveyed about this type of system. Other communities similar to ours have been studied. Mr. Rimmer and his team have provided guidance and have made recommendations for parking solutions that have worked in other cities that have experienced our same problems. Mr. Handline stated they are excited about regulated on-street parking and putting the kiosks in place. This will help with the Community Valet Service, Employee Satellite Parking/Shuttle Service, and with Residential Parking. This will be a fluid process creating available parking. Mark Rimmer, RTA Consulting Services, stated he attended many meetings that involved the Town Center merchants and there were always three constants that resulted from all these meetings: 1) Community 2) No sign pollution 3) Solution needs to be seamless/simple for the consumer After vetting several vendors and their services Mr. Rimmer stated that Parkion and NuPark have the most flexibility to address every concern for Town Center. Surveys were conducted by a point-of- purchase of people at the Town Center. These surveys helped provide the solutions to every issue identified. Commissioner Stinson stated that the City of Atlantic Beach recognizes the amount of time and work that the City of Neptune Beach has invested in this issue. Now we (Atlantic Beach)have the opportunity to join with them moving forward. Questions & Answers Commissioner Stinson requested if more detail could be provided as to the customization of the proposed parking system and advised that questions of the panel will be allowed from the floor. Mark Rimmer explained the system works from license plate recognition, which is the direction the entire parking and transportation system is moving towards. The software is based on establishing zones and using GPS to identify the zone where a vehicle is parked, if payment has been processed, etc. It will be a customized system written specifically for the Town Center application. It can do electronic permitting to allow resident passes, season passes, dog walker passes, separate time zones, allow event rates,resident registration—there are unlimited options. Mr. Rimmer spoke about the enforcement part of the program. He stated it is done from a golf cart via license plate recognition and will catch any violations while driving the streets. Consumers will have the ability to pay for parking at any of the kiosks. There will also be the option of using a phone app to set up an account to use at anytime. It is a unique system and every scenario can be addressed. 3 Q: Mayor-elect Ellen Glasser thanked the panel for their information and expressed her appreciation for all the work put into this project. Ms. Glasser had questions about the locations of the kiosks, if you have to park in front of one, what will they look like, and will there be a map showing boundaries. A: Mark Rimmer responded and explained they are looking at approximately twelve kiosks to cover the entire Town Center. Parking information signage will be uniform. The kiosk will be in a line of site of wherever your destination is and you can pay at any kiosk, or use the phone app. The software allows a person to pay for parking with a user-friendly system. Q: Mayor-elect Glasser had a question about identifying the boundaries of where parking spaces are located. A: Mr. Rimmer responded the paid parking spaces are within the Beaches Town Center. This will include streets,private lots, valet parking- any property that wants to participate can be set up as zone. Q: Mayor-elect Glasser asked if there was an opt-in option for businesses. A: Jay Handline responded that was an option and they are trying to engage private lot owners to participate. This can also enhance general parking. Q: Commissioner-elect Candace Kelly had a question about consequences for people who do not pay at a kiosk or on app hone app. p A: Mr. Rimmer responded with an example of how enforcement works. The first offense is handled with a notice on the vehicle to the person explaining the violation. It will provide instructions on what to do the next time. If they return and again still do not pay, then an invoice for unpaid parking is issued and will be time specific. If noncompliance continues beyond that invoice, then it will be up to the property owner or the City can issue a citation—that part has not been finalized. A: Mr. Handline stated there needs to be a uniform policy adopted by both cities. An example is the SunPass policy currently used on highways/tolls. We want to be user friendly while providing the message that there are consequences to repeat offenders. Q: Mayor-elect Glasser had a question about the satellite Employee Parking lots and how to ensure the contracts will continue for these locations. A: Mr. Handline responded stating the Beaches Town Center Agency holds the agreements on those lots. He listed the current locations with agreements are the Community Presbyterian Church, the Neptune Baptist Church, Bank of America, the old Kmart lot, Sun Trust, the professional buildings on the west side of Third St., and other miscellaneous surface parking areas if the need arises. The Town Center Agency will continue to maintain the agreements. Q: Commissioner-elect Kelly questioned Neptune Beach if this parking system will have an impact on staffing. A: DCM Askew responded that they have researched a couple different scenarios. Beaches Town Center 4 ,411110/00110 -.41111111110.1EIWIMONNOWNSIM1111111. Agency, as a non-profit organization, has offered to manage the paid parking. If the City manages it, it will be time intensive in the beginning for the IT Department setting up the programming (zones, etc.). After that is accomplished it will become regular routine maintenance. As a non-profit organization, the Beaches Town Center Agency could enforce for both cities. Ms. Askew stated the enforcement portion of the system is still being researched if that needs separate enforcement by each city and then determining staffing needs. Regarding resident permits and/or discounts, DCM Askew stated that would require minimum staffing. Hopefully this transaction could be accomplished online. Discussion ensued and Mr. Handline spoke on behalf of the Beaches Town Center Agency, which is a 501(c)(3) organization. He expressed that they want to be a conduit for both cities to make this work. They have researched the possibility of becoming a third party in a program management capacity and how to facilitate that. By adding a (c)(6) designation to their organization, this allows for handling money and making disbursements between vendors. This would only be done if both cities agree and request this of the Beaches Town Center Agency. Mr. Rimmer addressed the enforcement portion and being managed by a third party, particularly a non- profit organization. The third party can do individual contracts with each property owner. Another advantage for non-profit organizations is there are grants available for transportation, parking, mobility, pedestrian improvements, and for marketing this program. Q: Commissioner-elect Kelly questioned how the issue of neighborhood creep would be handled. A: DCM Askew responded that the system allows residents to register and then there would be a restriction of non-resident street parking. Q: Mayor-elect Glasser questioned what the next steps were for Neptune Beach going forward. Q: Commissioner Stinson questioned, in line with Mayor-elect Glasser's question and with Atlantic Beach tagging along with Neptune Beach, what would be needed from our city to move forward jointly for Town Center parking. A: Councilman Richard Arthur responded there needs to be discussion and agreement on enforcement and management, and if they are combined, or separate, or by a third party. As stated earlier, their committee will be meeting this week (Wednesday) to review management, enforcement, rate structures, and issuance of citizen permits. This needs to be decided prior to issuing the purchase order for hardware, installation, etc. Mr. Rimmer stated, for planning information, it takes four to six months to set up the complete system. Fred Jones, Neptune Beach, spoke about educating and messaging the public about this program, show people what they are getting, how the revenue will be allocated, what it will look like and how it will work, etc. Paid parking has to be framed in a positive way. 5 With this project involving the Beaches Town Center Agency, our two cities, and working with the private sector, Mayor Brown stated she is anxious to know the next step for Atlantic Beach and when a decision will be made. We want a unified look for both sides of street and to continue maintaining a great partnership with our merchants. DCM Askew stated that Neptune Beach staff will work with Atlantic Beach staff to make this as seamless as possible. Mr. Handline stated that timeliness is important if we want this set in place by next season so everyone benefits. Mr. Rimmer suggested making the decision as soon as possible as to whether or not to move forward jointly. Many of the decisions that need to be finalized can be done during the four to six month set up period. During that time is also when you can start putting up signs for visibility before system is up and running. City Manager Joe Gerrity stated we have to get our new Mayor and Commissioners sworn in on November 13, 2017 and we will have that on the agenda for discussion. He agreed, if we are to proceed, the order needs to be in place prior to Thanksgiving. Commissioner Stinson reiterated that November 13th will be the first opportunity for our city to address this item. Our Parking Committee previously made a recommendation to the Commission for our city to consider paid parking. There will be a revised presentation for the Commission at the November 13th meeting directing our city staff to work with Neptune Beach city staff to move forward and to create a joint task force for oversight of the project. Commissioner Stinson explained that Mayor Reeves had a previously scheduled meeting with Governor Scott today and was unable to attend this meeting. Adjournment There being no further discussion, Commissioner Stinson thanked everyone for their attendance and declared the meeting adjourned at 2:48 PM. r\k1SYellt ATTEST: ayor Pro Tem/Csioner John Stinson Presiding Officer Donna L. Bartle, CMC City Clerk DLB/njp 6