2006-11-15 ad Hoc Parking Task Force Minutes

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Ad Hoe Parking Committee Meeting November 15, 2006 The meeting convened at 7:30 pm at Town Hall, 16 Lowell Street, Reading MA. Present were Chairman Gil Rodrigues(Gil), Vice Chairman Jack Russell (JR); Members George Katsoufis (GK), Tom Quintal (TQ), David Talbot (DT), Julie Thurlow (JT), George Rio (GR), and Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner (Peter H). Also present were Adele Blunt and (I didn't get the other ladies name - does anyone recall?) The minutes from the October 18, 2006 meeting were discussed and approved. Gil reviewed his proposed agenda and action items for the meeting. He suggested if any outside groups wished to address the committee, the first 10 minutes of each meeting should be allotted in order to better manage the timing of the agenda and a targeted adjournment time of 9 pm. It was agreed that this committee should not take a vote nor develop a position on the Sanborn Street lot. The better alternative would be for it to follow the prescribed process of being reviewed by CPDC and the EDC, followed by a vote at full Town Meeting. GK and TQ reviewed their progress on the parking space analysis completed to date. They also outlined their calculations of parking requirements as compared to availability and the needs express by the downtown businesses as part of a recently completed _ survey. Work is underway to finalize a confirmation of this information with the business owners. There was a general discussion of the process with some specific examples being reviewed for purposes of the broader committee's understanding. They reminded the committee of the need to consider changes underway downtown, mixed use projects in planning all of which would impact this analysis. Also, the topic of satellite parking, shared lots, and structured parking were briefly discussed. Action items are for GK to validate the numbers and assumptions used in the calculations based on ITE formulas and TQ to continue with his interviews of the business owners to validate some of the requirements that were gather in the Chamber survey. Also, Gil and JR volunteered to physically survey the street parking as reflected on the maps to assure completeness with the goal of getting the information back to GK before the next meeting. Next item was the Shared Parking Initiative Letter. After discussion it was agreed that the letter would be mailed by the Town to all property owners in Business Districts A, B, and Industrial Districts. The committee revisited the idea of sending or distribution a Parking Survey for collecting feedback from residents. There was quite a bit of discussion of the best way to