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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-08-03 Parking Advisory and Recommendation Committee Minutes - DraftAl Town of Reading RECEIVED Meeting Minutes TOWN CLERK READING, MA. rut Board - committee - commission - Council: 2021 SEP 28 AM 11: 18 Parc Date: 2021-08-03 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Select Board Meeting Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Open Session Purpose: PARC Discussion Version: Draft Attendees: Members - Present: Sarah Brukilacchio Daniel Dewar Jay Jackson Thomas Oconnor Karen Rose -Gillis Elizabeth Whitelam, Vice Chair Bernard Horn, Jr., Chair Members - Not Present: Others Present: Robert LeLacheur, Town Manager; lean Delios, Assistant Town Manager; Julie Mercier, Community Development Director Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Jean Cellos Topics of Discussion: The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m Introductions. The Parking Advisory and Recommendations Committee (PARC) members as well as Town staff introduced themselves and provided their background and shared their interest in downtown parking. This included their status as a business owner, property owner, interested resident, member of another board or committee, and other relevant information. by and Goal The main objective of PARC was discussed as being a forum for discussion and ultimately development of recommendations to the committee that oversees parking for the Town, namely, the Parking, Traffic, Transportation, Task Force (PTTTF). Once the PARC recommendations are reviewed by the PTTTF then they will be presented to the Select Board who has the ultimate authority as the Roadway Commissioners to adopt changes to the public parking system in Downtown Reading. Pape I I The challenge presented by the downtown parking system is that is represents over two dozen regulations which makes it confusing for the user and difficult for the Town to oversee. The mission of PARC was identified as follows: • To clarify and simplify the system for users It was noted that when the PARC Ad Hoc Committee was created by the Select Board at the beginning of 2021 a sunset date of 12/31/21 was established. However, it was noted that this sunset date of 12/31/21 can be extended. Discussion continued about the need for the Select Board to vote to make members of PARC "Special Municipal Employees" to allow full participation of volunteers such as those that own property or a business in the downtown. This will have the added benefit of allowing other kinds of participation including serving on the BID. Chris Haley also clarified the restrictions he is under as a member of the Select Board and a property owner, especially that he can not participate in discussions or decisions by PARC on anything within 300 feet of his property at 2 Haven Street. General Overview of Proposal, Julie Mercier provided a brief overview of the work that has been done to date on the analysis and recommendations for clarifying and simplifying the downtown parking system. This work involved several months of public meetings (mostly over Zoom due to the pandemic), emails to stakeholders, notices in the water bill, "Code Red" alerts to over 7,000 people who were identified as downtown stakeholders (i.e., recorded messages sent by phone, email, and text). It was noted by the select board at the last meeting in September of 2020 that they wanted to see more public outreach including going door-to-door to the residents that would potentially be impacted by any proposed changes (e.g., on -street parking modifications). It was noted by staff that due to the pandemic it was not deemed safe to handle outreach in this way last Summer/Fall. Each of the 9 PARC members provided additional comments on the proposal. Some of the comments are summarized as follows: • Complexity of the system makes this challenging; • Goal is to restore harmony between downtown stakeholders - especially residents and developers; • How best to meet the needs of the residents if parking is encouraged in the "Outer Core" - it might be preferable to have the business owners park in that area versus other visitors but it seems they don't want to park that far away and walk; • Charge more for parking that is closer to downtown and less for spaces farther away; • Perception of how far some parking is in downtown Reading is distorted compared to Lynnfield Market Street; • Downtown needs more of a "Sense of Place" to incentivize people to walk/bike - curbside management (e.g., UPS Deliveries) could be implemented to improve Flow and prevent trucks from just pulling over anywhere. CVS parking lot is hidden which doesn't help; • Leverage parking improvements from developers as part of their approvals Page 1 2 • Rt. 28 is a busy, difficult roadway bisecting the downtown; the road diet is an improvement and is slowing down the traffic and improve safety; • This is a unique opportunity to look at parking as a system and study how this influences downtown; • A parking garage is at least a ten-year project (e.g., design, funding, construction), • Come up with strategies to plan for long term needs; • Review the work of the BID; • We have the supply but need to learn to share; • Arrange with private property owners nighttime use of daytime lots (e.g., banks); • Parking at the Depot is underutilized (?50% used?), could be a resource; The Town Manager noted that there is a Financial Forum planned for 8/31/21 that PARC members may want to be aware of and possibly one or two members attend. The Financial Forum on 8/31/21 will be an opportunity to discuss capital needs and especially one-time expenditures that might be considered. The Town Manager also cautioned the PARC about establishing sub -committees due to the open meeting law requirements. Additional discussion continued about the need for maps to understand projects in the pipeline and how that may impact parking. Setting up quadrants was also discussed as a way to steer clear of any possible conflicts. Organization There was a lengthy discussion on when to meet and with what frequency. Staff will assist in trying to manage this and will send out a doodle poll to the PARC members. Once the meeting schedule is developed then a better idea will be available on a target completion date. One suggestion was to target completion before Thanksgiving. The election of officers, Chair and Vice -Chair was as follows: Motion by Dan D. to nominate Bernie H. as Chair, seconded by Sarah B. (vote 9-0- 0) Motion by Tom O. to nominate Liz W. as Vice Chair, seconded by John W. (vote 9- 0-0) At 9:40 John W. made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Liz W. (vote 9-0-0) Page 1 3