Good afternoon. I'm Cindy Darling, the Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek and welcome to
the Tuesday, September 2nd special meeting of the City Council. First of all, please
join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.
Thank you. City Clerk Sissy Martinez, please call the roll.
I'm reading on the right script.
Council Member Davini is here. He just stepped up for the moment. Council Member Francois?
Here.
Council Member Silva?
Mayor Pro Tem Will, here. Mayor Darley. Here. Alright next on the agenda is public
communications and under California law public comments on at special meetings
are limited to subjects on the agenda only therefore public comments will be
received during the City Council consideration of the item. So next on the
agenda is a study session on consideration and direction on draft
recommendations from the curb management program or plan. It's a plan not a
program. And I invite the staff come up and start the presentation. So thank you
council members. My name is Brianna Byrne and I'm an associate traffic engineer
here at the City of Walnut Creek. This afternoon, early evening, I'm gonna be
discussing the curbside management plan and the draft recommendations. Again,
emphasis on draft. We are here to solicit feedback from our council members. In the
audience with me today, this was a very large effort.
So we have two consultants on our team from Farron Peers,
Terrence Daou and Meg Admitment,
and then multiple staff from multiple departments.
So as we get into any type of questions
around the recommendations or friction points,
they will be here to support.
So a discussion overview for this afternoon
for this presentation, what is curb management?
and then go into the goal setting
for this plan in our downtown.
We'll review regional as well as local existing policies
and goals, the parking study that we had done
as part of this effort, and then our outreach findings
and what we heard from our stakeholders.
This will tie into the recommendations
and then go into our implementation strategy.
Following up with timeline and next steps.
So, curb space, what is it?
as a city's asset, curb space.
It's where we can see people park,
but it's also a bus stop.
It could be a loading zone, think of the yellow curb.
It could be bike lanes, it could be curb extensions,
it could be parklets, outdoor dining.
So managing that curb space is called curb management.
And it's about organizing these uses along the curb
based on transportation best practices,
but also community goals.
What does downtown want to see for Walnut Creek?
And in the management, it seeks to balance
among all road users.
So the goal setting for downtown,
as we went into this plan, this was our goal.
The plan would set data-driven standards
to optimize the curb by balancing parking, loading,
pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure,
placemaking, accessibility, and safety,
while considering the needs of people of all ages,
abilities, and economic backgrounds. As we started the process to solidify these goals
specific for Walnut Creek, we again, we looked at our adopted plans and policies, stakeholder
input and our data collection. Looking at regional first, there is the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission. So we're doing this. In part, the city received a little
less than $200,000 in grant funds from MTC, Metropolitan Transportation Commission, to
repair this plan. MTC has a transit orientated communities, a TOC policy, and
this aims to improve connections and access to transit in the region. So MTC,
they created this grant to help agencies support TOC action five, implement
complementary parking management policies. So when it comes to the city to
comply with TOC action five, we would pick any one of these five and say how
We are compliant this plan would support that lower left curb strategy management
Now looking locally we have the city is rethinking mobility plan
So this strategizes it provides strategy strategies to reduce automobile trips
Managed parking demand and in hand is with our food delivery drivers
They don't necessarily have a place to stage so they're staging in these areas
Causing double parking from the commercial vehicles or just not having these 15-minute curbside spaces open for the intended users
Moving on to parking for merchants. I show here both a vehicle and a scooter. We heard difficulties from both mode types
So for the drivers they would say they arrive before metering starts at 10 in the morning
They're able to park right out front, but then mid-shift or right before that 10 a.m. Window. They have to go repark
takes away from their shift and also kind of doesn't make it a joyful working
experience for them as they then have to go find parking that's either free or
further out and then walk back to their restaurant. Then for the scooter users
we actually heard this from several businesses where it's quite a popular
mode choice for back-of-house or some servers where before the restaurant
opens, they can park in say the dining room or maybe just out of the way, but it's become
a critical mass where out of the way does not exist.
And so some of their employees are having to find parking outside and then it's the
risk of having these scooters stolen.
Pedestrian and bicycle spaces, the friction point here, many of the stakeholders, the
youth commissioner, the downtown businesses, they enjoy having what they say unique is
about what is unique about Walnut Creek is our outdoor spaces. They use Broadway Plaza
as an example where they can let their kids play on a structure and they have a safe place
to gather, but it's not necessarily true for all areas of Walnut Creek. So having an enjoyable
pedestrian experience once you're out of the car was something that they desired. On the
bicycle side, again, talking about the employee struggles or even our advocacy groups, trying
Trying to find bicycle spaces or amenities that are better for cargo bikes or larger
bikes can be difficult in our downtown area.
The other friction point I have here is wayfinding.
Really pointing people to the facilities that we have downtown and not even or even more
than that just where there is capacity downtowns.
They're not going to that busy South Locust garage.
And then the last friction point is street parking.
again where those users want to park on the street they're having difficulty finding that street
space. So they're circling and they're you know they're beginning their trip downtown, a little
bit of frustration. And the last quick overview before we get into the goals is our data collection.
So on the left on the right here is our study area. So we looked at as far north as Parkside Drive
as far south as South Main Street, just south of Lilac. So think Los Alamos High School,
think near Kaiser. Where we have in gray is our green zone. So these are our green meters.
They are $2 an hour and you can park for up to three hours. Outside of that zone we have our
purple zone. So these are our purple meters where you can park for $1 an hour for up to 10 hours.
and really this is all day, given that our meter hours of enforcement are 10am to 8pm.
Also within our study area from the municipal side, we have four garages. So starting within
that blue zone in the upper left, that is our Luscher garage. That's our largest garage and
it supports the Luscher Center. Moving right, we have our library garage. This is on Lincoln.
We have green meters underneath the library. Moving south, we have our south locust garage,
and this is the only one that you'll see in red, and I'll go over kind of what that means later.
And then the last one we have is the Broadway garage, and this is accessed right off of Cyprus.
So what this map shows is the parking utilization.
So we collected data in October, on a Thursday and a Saturday.
And this is the average demand.
So not even the worst of the worst.
This isn't lunchtime or dinnertime.
This was the average from 9 AM until 10 PM.
So what we see is over 85% along Maine and Locust.
So even east-west on those minor streets, and then as we get further out, those curved
spaces open up.
If there is interest, I do have graphics about the peak, as well as our December data that
we had collected to really support typical conditions and these recommendations.
So we do have kind of the worst of the worst with what happens in our downtown.
from an inventory perspective within our study area we had four hundred and sixty
five green meters and one thousand forty one purple meters putting us a little
over 1,500 and meters spaces for the city garages we're at 1433 from a
municipal management side we are looking at 3,000 spaces about 3,000 spaces from
the city the non-city operated lots and garages as part of the study we were
able to partner with Broadway Plaza and they have two garages so there's the one
off of Main Street and then the larger one off of Broadway. And as part of the
partnership with some of the private operators we also looked to our
certified smaller lots that are within this study area A. In all trying to
determine how many spaces are in this area estimated around 10,000. I have some
numbers on some of the larger garages if there's curiosity but with about a 10,000
space number the study was inclusive of about two-thirds of our downtown
parking supply. So the data takeaways, parking demand exceeds 85% utilization
in the Core area, especially in our downtown area, especially on the street.
And then at the same time, during that same period, our city garages, they have the capacity.
And then looking further out, outside this core, the areas surrounding downtown also
have capacity on the street.
So moving into our plan goals.
So from left to right here, this plan, we were trying to use data-driven standards,
but we wanted to pull back with other plans and existing policies that we have to make
sure that this effort is in line with what's been done in the past.
So first we have the sustainability or this pedestrian and bicycle safety.
So ensure that pedestrians and bicyclists can get to from and around downtown safely
and comfortably.
We have the sustainability and mode shift, advanced sustainability through mode shift
to biking, walking and transit, reducing vehicle miles traveled.
The placemaking, use placemaking to enhance downtown's walkability, charm.
Number four, we have the fairness and accessibility.
Consider users of all ages, physical abilities, and economic standing to ensure downtown is
conveniently accessible for all.
And for the loading, we have managed commercial loading to make freight and deliveries more
orderly, efficient, and produce less conflict.
On the economic vitality side, we want to enhance downtown's economic vitality as a
top retail destination for the region.
And then the last goal there is the curve in parking management.
We want to be able to manage the parking demand, reduce the demand for street parking and the
difficulty finding parking to improve the arrival experience for visitors and
residents. So with that we're going to move into recommendations but I did want
to pause for any questions that we've covered so far. Quick question. Thanks
Brianna. Can we go back to the slide that showed all the parking garages. Yeah
Yeah, actually, yeah, that's one further forward.
Further forward.
Nope, yeah, that's it.
So of the extra 4,000 or so spaces to make up the 10,000,
is that like the Target parking lot or some
of these other ones?
Yeah, so think Target, some of the other larger ones
is like Olympia Place Plaza Escuela.
OK.
Yeah, they just didn't have the gate arm
or their connection to the meters
weren't working well enough,
so the data was not easy for us to attain,
and therefore we just couldn't easily include it.
Okay, so these would be managed by,
in many cases, the actual storefront or landlord property.
Some are park smart, but there's not a way
to track the cars going in and out of them, essentially.
Correct, or maybe it's like a commercial,
or an office building, but they have that ability,
we just didn't have the connection to ask them.
Yeah, can I just confirm so it does include the major office buildings that are in those street areas because they have quite a
Bit of parking for their tenants the estimate that 10,000 estimate correct, right? Yes, and that's downtown
Just make sure right within that study area that we were looking at again
other questions or clarifications
Councilmember Silva, so
From a policy perspective the target goal is 85 percent occupancy enough for quick for
drivers to find parking if they wanted but not so
compacted that it
Doesn't have people shopping and dining
Correct. So with the 85 percent where you're saying that we were at that 85 percent
is it a particular day of the week time of the day or
location in the downtown because I don't think it's all of it all days all times
so if I if I understand the question, so it's does that policy apply to
The whole downtown or block by block or area by area. I know it does that what I'm asking actually is I
Didn't I wasn't clear enough when you say we are at 85% is that just for?
certain times of the day, certain days of the week, or certain locations within that whole area.
Yes, so from this data takeaway, we see an excess of 85%
within our downtown core streets, within our south locust garage, and then,
but is it all the time and every day, or is it always at lunch? I'm really trying to hone in
on how big of a problem is this? So again this is so what we have shown here is the average
so it's definitely it's definitely around peak lunch time and then definitely around peak dinner
time when we get into certain times of days it really plays into land use so like what's
nearby at the time and that every day of the week or is it particularly Thursday, Friday,
Saturdays and a little bit I mean it's it's every day of the week and so when
we did the parking data collection we had two days in October and then really
trying to get to your question is is Sunday worse than others so that's
really what December data collection was about so we had several days of the week
we did a Saturday we did a Sunday Saturday is exceptionally busy
especially leading up to Christmas and Friday as well all right thank you I'm
I'm sorry, just to go back,
I was on the Transportation Commission for eight years,
so we dived into a lot of this.
So I think what Council Member Silva is getting at,
which I also have a question about,
is there's no question 1130 to one,
we're probably, every day of the week,
you're probably close to 100%.
And prior to 11, 1130, or between two and maybe four,
430, maybe it's 50 to 60%, I mean, or,
Because I know, for example, if I go downtown at 9, 9.30 in the morning, I can park anywhere
on any block.
It's very, very easy.
So am I correct in, like, trying to dive into that point?
Yes.
Because when we talk about what are the solutions, we need to be very clear as to magnitude of
the issue.
Is it occurring all the times, et cetera?
It sounds like you have the question in mind now.
Yeah, so and and I will ask Terrence to to come help answer since he likely has that data handy
But again, it does it does come back to the land use to your point
It's probably empty before 10 a.m. Where a lot of place are downtown or open before 10
So we wouldn't be doing any type of curb management. It's less than 50 percent
Sorry, hi, my name is Terrence John with Farron piers
Working with the city on this project if I could direct everyone's attention to the exhibit on screen. You'll see we classified
Every parking resource of both curb and the garages that we had data on into three categories
So zero to fifty percent fifty to eighty five percent in yellow and finally eighty five percent or above in red
and like Rihanna noted this
was an average of
The entire day of a weekend day, it was a Saturday, so the whole day
what's the average occupancy at each particular curb or each particular garage and as you can see there are
most of the garages with the exception of
South Locust had plenty of space. So they're either green or in
the larger of the Broadway Plaza garage is yellow, but the South Locust garage is
above 85% and that's the average for the entire day and you can see also
The north-south streets through the core of downtown so you see main and locust every block is red
And some of the east-west cross streets on there are also red. I believe
We have extra slides where we show sort of different snapshots in time to kind of break that down
So we have kind of the equivalent graphic for a weekday average.
We also have it for council members, you alluded to some of the peak of the peak.
So we know, you know, lunchtime on a Thursday, particularly bad, you know, weekends when
everyone's trying to shop at Broadway Plaza, particularly bad.
But what you can see here is that even across the average of a day, that you're looking
at almost completely filled up street parking across most of the streets in that downtown
core.
But the thing to note is that it's uneven, right, because as soon as you start to exit
that kind of highlighted zone, you start to see the greens and the yellows pop up.
And obviously, you see all the garages are, you know, still green, right?
So it's...
Okay.
There are spots that are...
I think we've got the sense that it's not all the time, but it's...
This is the average.
So, yeah.
I think we're good.
Thank you very much.
So let's dive into the recommendations.
Okay, so the recommendations, this first section, this first section will lay over, will go
over the recommendations as well as the intended outcomes and then we'll do a high, we'll look
at each one of those again in terms of implementation.
Is there funding?
What's the timeline?
Again, this first is the recommendation
with the intended outcome.
So the loading and curbside pickup,
the first recommendation, adjust the 15-minute curbside pickup
for easier enforcement.
And in speaking with our enforcement officers,
the easiest thing for them would be to add meters.
The outcome, improve the ability to enforce these spaces
get that intended quick turnover that was originally desired for these spaces.
The other one is end commercial loading restrictions at 5 p.m. allowing for food
delivery and curbside use afterwards. So within our muni code these yellow
curved spaces they're intended for commercial vehicles. So the idea is after
5 p.m. when these deliveries are no longer coming in and out we can open
them up for safe food delivery or as it gets later into the nightlife, passenger pickup.
So this would create a legal loading zone for delivery drivers and rideshare to meet
the demand in a dedicated space, not necessarily in our parking spaces.
In addition, the recommendation to move loading zones away from busy spots.
So think about some of our yellow curb along Main Street and Locust, say outside coffee
shops.
There's high use of just people parking in them and running in, which then leads to this
double parking issue.
So relocating some of these loading zones to say the side streets just around the corner,
somewhere that's out of the way of our Main Street and Locust streets.
So the outcome would be improve availability and proper utilization of these spaces.
The other recommendation around loading and curbside pickup, establish a staging area
for food delivery drivers.
This gives them that specific loading type, a dedicated legal option to park.
And then we have explore a digital platform for reserving curbside loading spots.
This is opportunistic as technology advances, but we can manage our loading spaces and make
it easier for enforcement.
So if a Cisco truck reserves a parking space, the enforcement officer will either see it
in their system or possibly on a sign.
They can compare the license plate numbers, and if it doesn't match, they can write them
a ticket and enforce that space so that when that new delivery driver comes in, it's ready
for them.
into merchant parking specifically? I think what we're going to do is we're
going to go through the recommendations and then we're going to talk about what
input would be most useful for them and then we can come back to clarify. Okay.
So moving into the merchant parking, the vehicle focused side of it. Connect
businesses with those private garages. As we discussed there's a couple
opportunities there. The city, we can make that connection with those
businesses who are interested in providing spaces for a fee with the
businesses that are interested in renting those. So the city can really be
that conduit. The outcome enables shared parking arrangement, improve employee
retention, and reduce the curb demand to where those employees are needing to
park. And then within our own garages we can reevaluate our monthly parking
program where we're allocating which garage we're allocating these permits in
and then the number of permits. With the outcome expanding the participation and
optimizing long-term visitor parking reduces that curb demand and makes it
less of a friction point for our merchant parkers. The recommendations for
transit and pedestrian spaces, recommendation to improve bus stops. The
bus signage, the bus wayfinding, and the operations in the downtown with the outcome to incentivize
mode shift, outdoor dining, and place making features, outcome to improve visitor experience
and economic vitality. Install curb extensions. This improves the visibility for pedestrians
and safety for all road users. And then the recommendation to expand our street closures
to other streets, possibly longer hours or additional types of activities.
So the outcome here, we could be attracting more visitors to the downtown.
And then with the street closures, we have pedestrian only spaces, which removes that
potential vehicle-ped conflict.
Moving into the traffic safety, we have the recommendation to study a discount or voucher
Program for businesses to incentivize ride share.
We have the outcomes broken up just by several different user types but this program could
be used to combat DUIs, it improves access for seniors or people with mobility challenges,
provides a safe driving alternative and then may entice new visitors to the downtown.
recommendation to install safety improvements for streets surrounding downtown. So improvements,
these improvements would make corridors more comfortable for all road users and is consistent
with our local roadway safety plan. For bicycle facilities we have it broken up into essentially
three stages. The first one is kind of what we're considering easy wins and when we get into that
implementation we'll you can kind of see where we're looking at pricing and timing and funding.
So the first one here adds secure bike parking both racks and lockers big enough to fit bigger
family bikes, cargo bikes, scooters again think of that employees in the downtown area.
With the outcome induced mode shift through comfortable and viable facilities.
Add electric charging for bikes and scooters, encouraging the mode shift with this enhanced
amenity and it can improve employee retention. Moving on to kind of more of a longer term
infrastructure aspect, we have enhanced network. So add low stress, context appropriate bike
facilities for getting to and from around downtown. And thinking back to our local roadway
safety plan where we have large roadways around downtown. The countermeasures that
would be appropriate for these types of streets are protected bikeways. Here's an example from
San Luis Obispo in their downtown area. They have a curbside bike lane, a little buffer,
and they're still able to maintain parking and travel lanes. And then on the far side there is
additional parking, so it's just about balancing the streets.
So from there, with a low-stressed network, context-appropriate network, we can further
enhance these facilities.
So add a staffed bike repair station.
Encourage the mode shift with this enhanced amenity and the convenience.
This could double as that secure parking option.
new facilities with a micromobility rollout. So this encourages a mode shift and increases
accessibility of areas outside the typical walking space. So our downtown is definitely
a park once and walk, but as our west downtown and our north downtown expands, we're starting
to get into areas that are maybe a little bit further to walk. So the idea is with this
enhanced network, with micromobility options, we can kind of extend that reach a little
And then with the enhanced network, there's staff can study the switch to micro-mobility devices for food deliveries.
And again, that will be reducing the demand along the curb for that service.
And then the last category that we have here, street parking, wayfinding, and branding.
And somewhere to the bike facilities, we have kind of a tiered approach proposed.
So, the low-hanging fruit here, the ones that we see as a five-year implementation strategy,
and that's wayfinding and branding.
So improve the signage, or sorry, apologies.
Improve instructions on our meters and the signage with the outcome, improving that customer
experience with enhanced uniformity, clarity, and accessibility.
This is input that we had received from several stakeholders, including the public, that sometimes
our meters are not as easy to read and understand. The next recommendation install and enhance
wave finding to direct visitors to the garage on the perimeter of downtown. So get them to the
areas where we have the space and the higher parking supply improving their experience in
the area and then once they're in the garage we want to enhance that atmosphere. So encourage
visitors to park here either because it's attractive, it feels safe as a
pedestrian, you know demarcating pedestrian pathways for them, making
these really comfortable spaces for our visitors in the downtown. With all of
this, evaluate the effectiveness. So are these low-hanging fruits, how is this
addressing our 85th parking unionization policy so we're proposing do the wayfinding do the
branding assess the situation again and then if we are still not meeting that policy then
the recommendations we have create a new meter zone for the high demand areas so again this
is where depending on that data where we're seeing over 85% unionization with the outcome
and we want to incentivize the turnover
and encourage drivers to use the garages.
And then extend the meter hours of operation
to Council Member Wilkes Point
where not everything's open at 10 a.m.
The hours of operation would be relevant
to what's occurring in the land uses nearby.
We're not looking to enforce
when there's no need to enforce or do parking management.
So the implementation strategy, the five year action plan,
you heard me say quick wins a couple times.
So these are the actions that, you know,
there's funding assigned for, the effort is low,
and then we can reevaluate the effectiveness
and kind of do that reassessment, see how we're doing.
And then we have the infrastructure and policy.
So where options don't fit into quick and accessible,
it would be under this infrastructure and policy bucket.
So here we have listed each one of the recommendations
from loading to traffic safety based on timeline.
So where we show a green clock,
this is something that staff has identified
as something that can be included
within the five-year action plan.
We have listed the cost and then the funding.
Um, I'll note the improved bus facilities and operations that's right in the middle.
We have both a green clock and a red clock and a green circle for funding and a red.
So when it comes to that recommendation and improved bus facilities, if we're talking
anything capital, this is more substantial, funding has to be assigned, and in the case
of buses, there's an external source that we'd have to work with, so that would be something
that would be looking at long-term, but at the same time, operations.
As we understand it, you know, Accounting Connection is looking to improve their operations
so we can help them do that with transit signal priority.
That's something that we've already assigned or acquired funding for.
So some of these would be broken up, and then for the effect there, we have a scoring of
one to three. So for each one of these, it's the effectiveness of the
recommendation to meet or address either the friction points that we identified
or the city's goals, stated plans and goals. So this is loading, the traffic
safety, and then looking at the bicycle and then curb management. And then
before we get into the questions this is really the meat of it all just to tie it
up the project timeline and next steps we have been working on this plan for a
little over a year and we're at this draft recommendation phase September
2nd with the input that we receive from you all we're gonna update our
recommendations accordingly incorporate it into that plan document bring into
Transportation Commission and then bring it again to you all for adoption and
with that I'm preemptively going back to here. Okay so we've got about 45 minutes
so we can get dinner in so I'd like to spend a little bit of time making sure
everybody gets a chance to ask their clarification questions and then what it
sounds like is the most useful thing to you is when you bring us something back
is there additional information on a recommendation that we will need to make
a decision on it? Are there recommendations that one of us thinks
might be, I'm not going to say over my dead body, but you know less, far less
desirable, and you know what are some of the other information needs that people
are going to have when we come to that decision point later this year?
that's on so why don't we go ahead and who has clarification questions they're
clarifying and they may end up being more and I'll try to refrain from that
so first of all thank you for that's a lot of information that was a lot of
work and on the the 15 minute spaces just roughly how many of them do we have
oh it's yes and of course friction point recommendations there we go we have
about 30 so it's like one per block face okay and you mentioned something about
the intended users of that and I'm sure people might have different thoughts
about that what in the collective city view who are the intended users of those
spaces? Yeah so from that curb management policy a 15 minute space that's the either
I need to pick up my food order or I need to just grab a shampoo from the
salon it's really intended as we want something to be open for them to go in
quickly they don't have to navigate the garage they don't have to pay a meter
go in really quickly and get out and now that space is open again for a similar
user. So food delivery drivers technically would fit but then they're
competing with everybody else. Correct so they technically fit and they are
technically an intended user the way that they're using it is not that though.
So the delivery apps incentivize proximity so what ends up happening is
they will sit in the car regardless of whether or not there is an order to be
picked up or not. And from an enforcement perspective, yes, our officers, they see similar
faces, so they have a sense, but at the same time, without confronting and asking questions,
are you waiting for an order or are you sitting in your car? And what ends up happening additionally
is as one pulls out, they've called a friend around the corner that's like, I'm leaving
the spot, go ahead and take it. So it's becoming very much heavily utilized to be out-based.
And those are not the yellow zones, those are the 15-minute ones that we added after
COVID?
Correct.
Can I ask a quick clarifying on yours, Matt? The 30 spaces that you said are loading, are
they individual, singular spots that are 30 different spots throughout or some of them
back-to-back?
So the curb, the 15 minute curbside are one single space per block face.
But the yellow commercials are bigger.
Correct. And those those yellow ones are bigger and they're they're not usually
they're not diagonal, they're, you know, parallel to the curb and they're long
for those trucks.
OK. And then in terms of this, the staging area for food delivery drivers,
I understand that kind of those yellow, those yellow zones after five would
probably served that purpose.
Was there any thought that they want
to be right near that restaurant to pick up their delivery?
So is this going to be helpful, I guess?
Yeah, and that's when we broke down that recommendation
into effort.
We put it as it's not easy when, it's a little bit harder.
And I think that's where the research comes in,
where it's if we did convert this,
is this satisfying the needs, that hot spot
that the apps are telling them to go to?
So there's a little bit of additional research
to identify those staging, any new staging areas.
Maybe I'll just ask two more
and then back to the 15 minute spaces
because I do like those spaces
and I use them kind of if we go downtown,
we order from Lamone or something just to pick up the meal.
It's handy to have that
and I tend to have pretty good luck with them
and I like the convenience factor
that I don't have to have any change,
to have to bring my credit card,
to have to pay for a meter.
So were there any alternatives,
I understand that it's really easy to monitor,
much easier to monitor enforcement with a meter.
Were there any alternatives thought about
for a meter on that?
Yeah, so we, I went back and forth
with our parking enforcement crew even about language
to see if there could just be something
with how we worded the meaning code.
Would five minutes be better?
would 10 minutes be better, would active loading as a definition be better?
That's things that other agencies have tried,
and the response is,
it can always be argued until there's a meter there,
and if they haven't paid the meter,
then that's the ticket that they can write them.
Okay. I'll save it.
Are we going to have an opportunity to give comments?
Yeah.
I'll know comments later.
Okay. Not on that one in particular.
But I just had two more general ones.
So was there any thought or consideration given?
And I know we switched from two hours to three hour limit
in the downtown area.
Do we have any data or metrics to indicate
how much more those spaces were utilized than when
it was a two hour limit?
I don't have.
That's something I can look up as part of this effort.
I did look at historical information
and kind of when we went to three hour.
As part of our data collection,
we were able to determine how long people are parking
and in these green meter zones
where they're allowed three hours,
they're still staying an hour and a half.
So it's, we're still getting that intended turnover,
but you know, maybe there's less anxiety
about staying at dinner maybe a little longer,
but there's still confidence.
You're able to tell how long they've stayed in that space.
Correct.
It's usually less than two hours.
Yes. Okay. And then just finally, you know, it wayfinding will that include it could include something like I think what Broadway Plaza does with the lights is brilliant because it's it's very easy and intuitive and also the the signage out front of the garage which indicates how many spaces are available in the garage and on on the various different levels or those the types of things we'll be looking at for our own garages to implement.
Yeah, and we've we've definitely we've have an inventory of how many way finding signs we have we do have
Those digital readers of how many space how many spaces are in there, but we can definitely enhance it. I know
The last couple of years we've done lighting enhancements and so all of those aspects are gonna be reviewed
What makes a successful garage and what can be improved?
Thank you
Okay, you're welcome. Do um
Are people comfortable just going through, or do you want to do come back now and do
Recommendations on just loading
You have clarified
Okay, why don't we go ahead and do the questions about this category, and then we'll provide you
Some input on it calling them garages. There are parking lots that could be used as well that are close to
closer to the establishment where the people need to get to work very quickly and
Parksmart was using the CVS lot for that purpose about eight years ago before COVID.
Everything's before COVID, BC.
But BC, they were successfully being able to sell those spaces,
and it's not a monthly because some of those employees are only coming in once a week at
a certain shift in certain places so it's helping them
be on time and not have to run off the job to feed the meters.
Okay. I think Councilmember Difinney has something.
And along that line, if we're not seeing high utilization
of the purple meters, have we considered
selling a permit to park in purple meters?
Yeah, that's something we've looked at as well
as other agencies have done residential permits,
residential areas as well.
So yeah, there's a couple tools in our toolbox
that we'd be looking at under these umbrellas.
I would be an advocate for something like,
or support that one.
More on merchants?
I think these are great ideas.
I think you guys have captured it
and figuring out how to get people
into those underutilized garages
and keeping people from stressing out
and running out and plugging their meter every three hours.
Let's move on to transit and pedestrian spaces.
Oh, something, go ahead.
Signage, yes.
We talked about this 10 years ago
when I was on transportation commission
and we still are waiting for this.
So I love the idea of signage
on some of the corners downtown,
directing people to where there are open garages
and places to park.
I am very skeptical of people, well first of all,
we say don't drive and be on your cell phone.
Right, Captain Slater?
So people to be on their app,
trying to find a parking space makes no sense to me anyway.
They're gonna hit somebody or another car.
But I love the idea of signage on the corners.
I love the idea of signage in the garages.
I mean, Broadway Plaza has done it right, I think.
Not just the red and the green lights,
but you go in there and you can see immediately
where there's spaces.
There's one space on the first floor,
I can tell you that right now,
and then there's 50 on the second
and 100 on the third and et cetera.
So I would love to see those kind of improvements
in our own city garages.
And some of the private garages,
like Cinemark for example, where it just says open,
and this has been a pet peeve of mine for over 10 years,
that they used to have a number on that
way back when the garage first opened,
I don't know, 20 years ago and now it just says open.
Well, if it's full like on a Saturday night
or a Sunday afternoon, that would be really helpful
for drivers to know.
So not circling around in then,
they're encircling on the way back.
So any kind of improvement signage, I am all for.
Do I have to clarify that anymore?
Or has that got, got, point gotten across?
Okay.
Everything else you talked about here, I like the idea.
I do have a question on the expanding street closures.
I don't know if you're talking about permanent or,
and if it's permanent, we just went through this
a few years ago and I think Smidar had mentioned
the traffic patterns downtown just go out the window,
really causes problems, but if it's temporary
for different types of events or on weekends,
I think that's an interesting look at.
Yeah, thank you for clarifying.
Yes, this is for farmer's markets, you know,
maybe expanding it, it's for those temporary street closures.
Thank you, because that was my question, as well.
What street closure?
What street closure?
What street closure?
Other?
I did have one.
Councilmember Sullivan?
So just to clarify, are you intending
to talk to County Connection about moving bus stops?
Because that's an arduous negotiated process.
So it's more about them reaching out to us.
They, as the operators, set the route and overview that.
So they've been reaching out to us about possible stop
relocations.
And we've been coordinating with them.
It's like, oh, if that spot's not great, let's, you know,
let's look at this one instead.
And in terms of wayfinding,
I've been in numerous cities around the country
where they have, like they do at Broadway Plaza,
they have digital signage on the sidewalk,
which is not for drivers,
because you can't read it from the street,
but it's for the pedestrians for wayfinding purposes.
And I think us looking into that with a vendor,
there's an opportunity to make those very effective,
both for finding parking garages,
finding bicycle parking,
finding restrooms that are available to the public,
or whatever it might be.
But I don't think we should ignore it as an opportunity.
And there's a way for, there are companies that do it.
And they use sponsorships in order to help fund it.
I agree with the Mayor Pro Tem.
I'm interested in kind of temporary street closures
for things, especially community building events,
like we had Los Lomas did their homecoming rally
and Mock Rock downtown a couple of years ago.
And I'd like to see both high schools be able to do that
and have more events like that on a temporary basis downtown.
I brought a lot of people to the restaurants and shops.
And then a thought, and I know that you can do this
with private garages, the spot, hero, and reservist space.
Can we expand or look into whether we
can do that with our public garages?
I think if I knew that I had a spot, and I knew where to park,
and I go right exactly to that space,
I'm more inclined to come downtown.
And I just will make a plug for the South Broadway Garage,
because it's literally one to two blocks away
from all the restaurants that people want to go to.
It's very convenient.
and I think it would be an added benefit
if that technology existed to reserve the space in advance,
if you needed to.
Councilor Defeney.
I guess I might be a bit of an outlier on this one,
but I really like the street closures,
both if we can find permanent spots,
as well as doing the temporary ones more frequently
for more activities, activating those spaces.
so it might not be something we can do immediately,
but sort of looking long-term,
are there other ways we can manage traffic flow
and still increase pedestrian use downtown?
And I'll weigh in on the, you know,
back on Planning Commission,
we always would require the counters,
and we finally realized we better require the counters
and require them to be maintained,
because I have gone to the top of the South Locust Garage
and not been able to find that last third spot
that's somewhere in that building.
So I'm big on that. I like Councilmember Definney. I do want to keep open the discussion about street closures long term
I know it is a very difficult topic and I know you get very mixed reactions from
the businesses because some benefit from it others do not and
But I do want to keep the topic as a potential because I do know that going to cities where they
And they have done that.
It has really changed the character of the streets.
Just closing Broadway Plaza Drive
has really changed the character of that street.
It obviously has all kinds of repercussions
with loss of revenue and stuff like that.
So those are my takes.
I think we're pretty good on this one.
So let's do traffic safety and DUIs.
Anybody have any clarifications here on this one?
or strong opinions, things you want to see
when this comes back to us?
Or is this one just mom and apple pie?
I need more specifics, I think, when I see actual plan.
This is kind of general.
I'd be interested to see how it looks
when it comes to fruition.
Councilmember Francois, you're pointing with your button.
Studying the discount voucher program.
And I think the ride sharing apps are pretty well established.
And most people are pretty comfortable using them.
I'm not sure exactly how effective it would be.
Incentives, I mean, could change behavior,
but I mean, I guess I see it more for seniors
and people with mobility challenges.
And the safety improvements obviously sound
like a great idea.
Council Member Siller.
Thank you very much for the creative ideas here.
I think we have to think both the arrival
the departure. If you're looking at how to curb DUIs, it's usually a spot
assessment at the time that the patron is leaving that perhaps they need help.
The other half of that question is where's their car? And so we end up in a
two-part management process. Cars getting locked up, cars etc. So don't forget
However, they arrived may be part of the problem, too, and we'd have to manage that
This one is such motherhood and apple pie. Okay. Let's talk bike facilities. Those are fun
clarifications questions
Well, I
guess the thing that really stuck out to me was that
Probably the biggest conversation going on in the city right now are e-bikes and the problems with e-bikes and speeding and going through
The wrong way and stop signs the whole thing that we've been hearing about
So now to add electric charging areas downtown feels like mixed messaging here
I think a lot of us would like to see electric the electric bikes and scooters not downtown. So
Well, then we have another problem but
So I'm not so sure about that one, but I do like the fact that corners that there are
Places that people can put their bikes and just the bike racks
I think that makes sense the scooter racks and and I'm certainly open to that
Other things here seem a little bit hopeful,
like a staff bike repair station or some
of the different devices.
Sounds like apps could somewhere be used in here.
But that's the thing that stuck out to me,
was the electric bike charging.
Yeah, and let me, I guess, do further clarification.
So the electric charging for vehicles, or for bicycles,
It's a huge financial cost and so it would be something
that would be opportunistic and implemented along with,
say, the enhanced network.
So imagine these bikes, these cargo bikes,
family bikes, some bikes that just happen to be electric
on a facility that they're intended to be on.
And it's right now, downtown doesn't really have any.
So it's like that's kind of where we're seeing
this user conflict where it's if we can provide a facility for them they'll be
they will be there. Councilmember Francois. Yeah I think that the primary kind of
issue or concern here seems the secure bike parking. I mean I think people would
bring their bike downtown if there were bike lockers or a safe place to store it
and we are trying to encourage the behavior so I understand how electric
Charging goes along with that and then we're also trying to encourage people not to ride these things on sidewalks
Which is the second column there, but I'm a little
hesitant to take a travel lane out of commission or a
Parking lane out of commission to accommodate a dedicated bike lane in the downtown area
I think it's it's challenging
especially in the core with we don't have a lot of width and
the width that we have is being used by people driving or parking. Yeah and so in
this implementation part this that line item we have the timeline with a green
and a red and the same thing with the funding so we already have a couple bike
facilities already funded and planned and that includes Newell, Newell Avenue we
have our North Broadway Road diet we secured funding for park side a park
site cycle track and Arroyo, some of these other segments where say our bike
and ped plan doesn't call out bike facilities, we fully acknowledge that
and that's something that can be reviewed as part of the general plan.
That's helpful, thank you. My clarification on this one is when we did
the West downtown plan we talked a lot about, you know, I'm assuming that the
biggest problem with bikes is not once they're downtown, it's getting them
downtown and so in the West downtown plan we spent a lot of time looking at
the different streets and talking about what you could do with each of the
different streets that were in that plan is the assumption here that where we
have already done the work and come up with a schematic for a street that it's
really just a way of going out and finding a way to to make that bring
that vision to life. Yeah correct and that's something just operationally and
that staff does as grants come up it's one a great project that you know what's
a great project that would be perfect for this grant. Yeah. And I think the
other thing, I know the e-bike question right now is very stressful because we
are seeing a lot of poor behavior. I would like to see it finding ways to
make micromobility more viable by both and you know educating the users on
safe use and making it easier to use them safely because while the current
crop is a problem, we do want people to switch over and use e-bikes to get
downtown, but we want them to not run anybody over and to wear their helmets
and a few things like that. So stressing both education as well as making the
streets safer, making the operators safer and making the streets safer I
I think would be something I'd wanna see.
I am not a big fan of staffed bike repair stations.
I've seen ones in different cities,
and I've never seen one that had any,
to make something like that work,
you would need a full-time staff person there,
and all the ones I've ever seen
have been in very poor repair,
and so I'm not a huge fan of that one.
You'd have to really work hard to convince me
that that's viable.
Councilor Silva?
So with regard to the e-bikes, I think
we need to make sure that our implementation plan on this
reflects what's happening at the state level, hopefully,
so that we all have the same set of rules for the road.
Otherwise, we're going to have road rules signs
all over different communities with different messages.
and that's not going to make riding a bicycle easier
or pedestrian walking on the same streets.
I laughed because I was trying to think of what city
I've been in that could use a bike repair station,
Amsterdam.
Yeah, they're at a whole different level.
They're at a whole different level.
You take your hands, your life in your hands
when you're walking on the streets of Amsterdam.
It's lovely, but.
And I think if we have to have consistent style of bike lanes
and paths, that the ones that you use to get to downtown
and the ones that you're using in downtown
somehow seem to be in the same network.
And because you don't want to have to stop at every corner
and go, OK, what are the rules here?
And how am I going to do I have to watch for cars pulling out?
Even if you think about Locust Street versus Main Street,
It is a different driving experience and parking experience
versus the angled diagonal parking versus,
and if you could do what they do in Seattle,
which is you have to back into angled parking spaces
so that when they are coming out,
it is safer for all of the other users of the road.
Hard to park that way, but they did that intentionally, so.
Anything else?
Yeah.
Bikes?
I think, to Councilmember Silva's point,
having fewer but more robust bike lanes that
do have some curb or protection, they don't even necessarily
have to go all the way into downtown.
But just some way to get to the periphery,
and then maybe utilizing our parking structures
to have like e-bike charging or parking in those structures.
And I think that they're here.
And they're going to continue to grow,
I think, all these mobilities, whether it's
the scooter or the bike.
And so trying to get dedicated lanes that
take people to designated areas where they can charge and store
and then walk into the downtown for the time being.
Now we get to talk about parking meters.
And I could shuffle back to other slide if you prefer.
Councilor Silva.
I'll go first.
The wayfinding I think is important.
I think we don't have a,
I think we should be looking less at raising rates
and more at marketing and telling people
that the garages are there and that they're good
And you don't have to worry about feeding the meter,
et cetera.
And free for the first hour.
We've lost, since COVID, we needed
people to come downtown, no matter,
and we didn't care where they parked.
Now we care more back again about where they park.
And so I think we've lost, let's try
to market our way to the solution,
not penalize our way to the solution.
Because when people, they'll pay that extra dollar per hour
and then they'll complain about us on next door.
And people, they will not come downtown and park in a garage
after getting a ticket.
They're going to go to Lafayette or Danville
just to punish us.
It's the behavior, personal behavior.
So that's my thinking on that.
And I think we need to be, I think
our hours of operation were very carefully thought through.
I think extending hours beyond eight.
Most of the market who is here to buy a dinner
can get in and is paying the rate.
I'm not quite sure what's happening after eight o'clock
that needs a meter.
Yeah, so we do have some restaurants
that are open until later, nine or 10.
It's getting those additional seedings into there.
I think that's going to be perceived as a money grab.
I completely agree with just about everything
that Council Member Silva said.
We've gone through these things with the fine-tooth comb.
We know exactly what is said about Walnut Creek
as soon as we raise rates by a quarter.
And whether or not they get a ticket,
I don't think that we're marketing the free hour
in the garage as well as we could.
I think people are surprised when they get in there,
but a lot of people aren't looking there first.
I would love to see more pushing that out as well.
I also think, and I can't remember right now what a meter looks like on the pole of it,
but if it doesn't say in operation seven days a week, we are shooting ourselves in the foot
because most of the complaints that come about parking meters when people get a ticket is,
you're the only city that does this that charges on Sundays.
true, I was just in Mill Valley, they charge on Sundays. So there are cities
that do that, but I think that we really need to let people know as they pull in,
operate seven days a week so that we don't have that headache afterwards, but
I do think that our hours are good. I think that we just need to get people
directed in the garages more, and you're absolutely right, those of us that sat
here during COVID, it was like come downtown and park for free, anywhere you
want. Middle of the road, we don't care. The other thing is the meters are hard to
read. Sometimes I have to walk up and help people read the way it is because of the solar
panel on top and it's glare and light. I don't know how to fix it. Well, we've got to figure
out.
So to clarify, it's the actual screen and less about the directions or is it both a
usability challenge?
I think it depends.
I haven't done that kind of research.
But that might be a good thing to have some testing done.
I know my husband didn't understand about the check mark for the longest time.
He's like, he couldn't get from step A to step B. I'm like, we just press the check
mark that yeah, that's what you want.
But just, you know, we would learn a lot just by having some test cases there.
One of the other things that I was going to look for when we come back to this is we've
You've talked a little bit about the elasticity of the pricing on the meters, and I do think
that there are people in Walnut Creek who you could make it $5 every half hour.
They would pay it, but then they would complain on next door.
So if we can look back at our historical record and say, when we have increased the price
of the meters or changed the operation, has it changed behavior?
Because I have a sneaking suspicion parking meters are the salt of Walnut Creek.
It doesn't matter.
I mean, other than wanting to complain about it.
But I also would like to see one of the things
that is wonderful about the Broadway Plaza new garage,
and they had a big discussion about this
when it first went in,
was how long should you be able to park for free?
And they were originally looking at a shorter time period
and they heard from people, no, no, no,
we wanna be able to park for three hours.
We should be, we should look at whether or not
increasing the, is it one hour free or two hours free?
Because a lot of times when I go downtown,
going to get my nails done, go pick up a couple errands,
I end up paying the dollar 25.
And it's like, oh shoot, I was 10 minutes over.
So, the garages, yeah, looking at the garages
and seeing if, looking at whether or not
a two hour free window would,
a well advertised two hour free window
would drive people into those garages.
I think a lot of people don't realize
that they're free even for one hour, but.
Well maybe to also understand.
Maybe not all garages, maybe.
Oh, not the South Lopez garage.
Yeah, and maybe understand how that would impact us
financially and the management of it
and the maintenance and everything.
That's clearly something we'd have to look at,
but it's something that if it changes behavior
and we get more people into the garage,
maybe we're meeting our goal.
Yeah, I just agree with my colleagues.
In terms of the rates and the hours,
not only because of the negative feedback,
I think we're already dealing with seven days a week
of enforcement and people feel like that's a lot.
And San Francisco doesn't do it.
I think Lafayette doesn't do it.
There are other cities, I mean, Danville,
I don't even think, has many meters.
So, I mean, I wanna be sensitive to that issue too.
And I asked the thing about going from two to three
and if that, I'd like to see the data on that.
Like if we were going to make an adjustment,
maybe it'd be interesting to look at that data again.
But I like generally the approach Council Member Silva
laid out with promoting, encouraging other behavior
versus penalizing parking at the meter.
And there are areas in San Francisco
where it's seven days a week around Pier 39, those areas.
So it's not unusual as we've heard from Park Smart
many times, Sundays are just busy every other day.
And it's primarily, it's the restaurants.
Because a restaurant will have 15 to 25 employees or more,
and a retail establishment will have two or three.
So when people come up and ask me
when we're at the farmer's market,
why are you charging for parking on Sundays?
And I said, so where would you park?
Well, I'd be able to park right in front.
I go, nope, because the employee gets there first.
Right, right, right.
We can all talk about these.
And they look at me and go, oh.
Yeah, we're a little sensitive.
We've had these conversations in our sleep, right?
Anything else?
I think one of the cooler things that's
got a green check mark on it as far as having funding
is the enhanced wayfinding to direct visitors to garages.
And I think that's what you're referring to as maybe
app based to do that, like you're
monitoring the parking garages in the different areas that
are, how does that get rolled out?
I didn't get clarity on that.
that one with the funding, enhanced wayfinding, it's about the signage paired with technology.
So yeah, we do have a grant funding pot that can use the technology like maybe at each corner,
to your point about like having like one stop shop give information for multiple locations.
We have funding for that type of a wayfinding sign program.
All right, anything else about meters?
Yeah, I really want to see, I would
echo what my council member, fellow council members have
said.
I want to see an increase in parking fees
be a very low priority.
And you'd need to make a strong business case
that the price elasticity is not going to make it irrelevant.
So, but overall, you guys have done a great job.
You've thought of a lot of things.
There's a lot of work that's gone into this,
and we really appreciate it.
Any other last-minute things?
Uh-oh, Kevin is eating his bubble off his microphone.
I'll open it up to the mayor.
So this is, what's the timing on this coming back to us?
So timing wise, the grant requirement
is to have a plan done by fall.
So we're using that as we're going to take all the input
that you received, we'll update the draft accordingly,
get to transportation as soon as possible,
get to you all as soon as possible.
That's the plan, but fall 2025.
Fall usually ends in December.
I was going to say December 22nd is one fall.
We always see December 15th because
otherwise people start thinking crazy thing.
But anyway, all right.
Well, thank you guys.
I think hopefully our input has been helpful for you
and you guys have a lot to go back and chew on and think about.
we look forward to seeing it in the fall of 2025. Thank you. Oh, is there any public
comment? Did we already do that? Okay, we've turned it over to Council for
discussion and with that, we are adjourned until we come back for our
regular meeting. And where is food?