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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-09-29 Parking Advisory and Recommendation Committee Minutes - DraftRECEIVED TOWN CLERK Town of Reading READING, MA. z Meeting Minutes 2621 OCT 14 AM 9.4 4 4' JgIMCOP� Board - committee - commission - council: Parking Advisory & Recommendations Committee Date: 2021-09-29 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Select Board Meeting Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Open Session Purpose: General Business Version: Draft Attendees: Members - Present: Chair Bernard Horn, Vice Chair Liz Whitelam, Sarah Brukilacchio, Dan Dewar, Chris Haley, Jay Jackson (Remote), Tom O'Connor, Karen Rose -Gillis Members - Not Present: John Weston Others Present: Assistant Town Manager Jean Delios, Lawrence Meuse (Remote) Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Jacquelyn LaVerde and Andrew MacNichol Topics of Discussion: The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm. Review and approve minutes from September 15. 2021 meeting: The Committee reviewed the meeting minutes from September 15th and made the following amendments: Next meeting date September 291h (not June), and parking on Sanborn Street and Haven Street should also mention parking on Brande Court. Motion by Mr. O'Connor to approve the meeting minutes of September 15, 2021 as amended, seconded by Ms. Brukilachhio. Vote 8-0-0. Review of prior parking survey data and other input: The Committee reviewed the survey results to date. There have been 308 responses so far. However, they were unable to determine if enough of the key patrons, such as Commuter Rail users, have had the opportunity to complete the survey. The Committee agreed to leave the survey open for an undetermined amount of time, until they feel they received enough responses, as a previous Town survey had over 1,500 responses. Discuss public outreach results to date: The Committee discussed other possible avenues to get people to complete the survey including: distribution to Town Meeting members to distribute to their neighborhoods, handing out surveys to people getting on and off the train, weekly newsletters from the schools, and asking churches and businesses who own private lots to be more flexible with people using their spaces. Ms. Whitelam volunteered to reach out to each individual school to ask for the survey to be included in their newsletters. Members also agreed to host a public listening session. Forecast of future development in Readina and impact on supply and demand f2r parkins: Mr. Horn recalled the on -street parking by residents of the new developments brought up by the Police Department at the last meeting. Some of the spaces in the parking garage of the Page I i new Postmark development were incorrectly striped too small, causing some residents to park on the street overnight instead of in the garage. Ms. Delios explained that the Town is working with the developer to correct the situation. Once the developer has fixed the issue, overflow parking from Postmark on Sanborn and Haven should be resolved. The Committee continued a lengthy discussion of scenarios of future developments and their potential impacts. Additional discussion included: potential for a parking garage in the CVS parking lot, reassigning spaces in the CVS lot to 30 minutes or less and relocation of employee parking to Woburn Street and the outskirts of downtown, and payment kiosks. Ms. Delios was prepared to share a presentation about economic development, and what it looks like from a community planning perspective and how it ties in with the Committee's goals. But that presentation will be held until the next meeting. She also corroborated the message she hears from the Committee that employee parking should park on the periphery of downtown, for free, and out of the lots. Mr. Jackson shared some resources for the Committee to review and asked for their thoughts, especially about removing parking minimums and the benefits of doing so. He also recommended the book "The High Cost of Free Parking" by Donald Shoup. Public inaut comments welcome: Lawrence Meuse of Lowell Street expressed his thanks to the Committee and opined that employee parking in the outer core is a good idea. Next meetinas: The next meetings of the Committee are Wednesday, October 13th via Zoom only, and Wednesday, October 27th, via zoom only. A community forum will be held on Wednesday, November 10th, with a location to be determined. In the meantime, the Committee members will continue working on outreach and community participation including posts to: Reading Patch, Reading Post, Daily Times Chronicle, and Reading Parents Network. The Town Clerk's office also has paper surveys available. Mr. Horn asked all members to come to the next meeting with their bullet points so that they can begin to draft a document with their recommendations for the Parking Traffic Transportation Task Force (PTTTF) and to eventually submit to the Select Board. Ms. Whitelam recommended assigning people to speak with downtown property owners to discuss the potential to use their parking. Ms. Delios noted that the Town can discuss leasing spaces in those lots and accepting the liability. Motion by Mr. O'Connor to adjourn, seconded by Mr. Dewar. Vote 5-0-0. Meeting adjourned at 9:36 pm. Page 1 2