Title
Recommendation to Consider Approval of the Recommended Parking Enforcement Program Staffing Plan and Provide Direction to Staff on a Long-Term Parking Management Policy. (Public Works 224)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City Council has adopted a variety of plans, policies, and goals to improve transportation and parking management in the City of Alameda (City), which require a well-designed, consistently operated, fully staffed parking enforcement program. Currently, the City’s parking enforcement program lacks sufficient staff to support the City Council’s current and future policy objectives.
On September 3, 2019, the City Council provided general direction to staff on a preferred approach to improving the enforcement program. Based on the direction provided, staff is recommending an immediate expansion of the program to include a mix of full-time and part-time City employees.
At this time, staff is asking the City Council to endorse the proposed interim staffing plan and direct staff to develop a budget and the classifications needed to support the staffing plan, move forward with recruitment consistent with the plan and bring back budget and classifications for approval with Budget amendments.
BACKGROUND
Transportation and traffic congestion is consistently ranked by residents and businesses as one of the most important issues affecting the quality of life and business climate in the City. The City’s General Plan, Transportation Choices Plan, and the Alameda Point Transportation Management Plan all require that the City manage parking supply as a means to manage traffic congestion and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
In 2014, the City Council approved a parking occupancy goal of 85% for its existing 1,100+ public paid parking spaces. Managing parking through parking fees and enforcement enables customers to park near businesses and relieves congestion. By helping ensure that every block has a couple of parking spaces available, parking management can reduce circling and double-parking, making streets safer for walking, biking, and driving. Congested areas have high levels of pedestrians, and drivers looking for parking are distracted; the more turns these drivers make, the more risk there is for pedestrians. Managing the parking supply and effectively enforcing parking regulations is instrumental to ensuring the health of the business community, and also critical to the City’s ability to achieve its Vision Zero policy goals of eliminating fatalities and severe injuries on the City’s public roadway network.
The 2019 Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP), the 2018 Transportation Choices Plan (TCP), and the 2014 Alameda Point Transportation Management Plan recommend parking management to reduce traffic and GHG emissions citywide. Specific recommendations include:
1. Implementing paid parking at the Harbor Bay Ferry Terminal, Main Street Ferry Terminal, and new Seaplane Lagoon Ferry Terminal.
2. Restricting the supply of free private parking at Alameda Point and providing City-owned shared public parking lots and on-street parking restrictions that can be managed through paid parking policies.
3. Increasing parking fees in commercial areas citywide to maintain a goal of 85% occupancy.
4. Establishing parking restrictions, parking charges, and other transportation demand management strategies on “Day One” of new developments, so that new residents, businesses, and visitors are not asked to adapt to and embrace new strategies at a later date.
Parking pricing, parking time limits, and parking enforcement can be used to influence transportation mode choice, and play a key role in reducing GHG emissions and automobile congestion. In 2014, the City Council approved infrastructure upgrades to prepare the City to better manage pricing and time limits, including installing new smart single space meters, improving parking guidance signage, and refreshing curb painting. Despite having completed these improvements, data collected in 2017 showed that, at many times of the day, the Park Street and Webster Street areas continued to have parking occupancies well above the goal and were generally similar to the occupancy that drove the 2014 goal. Without consistent enforcement and resulting compliance, improvements and upgrades to parking infrastructure alone will not significantly improve occupancy management.
In less than 12 months, the first new residents will be moving to Alameda Point Town Center, and the new Seaplane Lagoon Ferry Terminal will be operating direct ferry service to San Francisco. As a result, the City’s parking collection and enforcement program must expand dramatically. With two ferry terminals, 1,425 housing units planned, 9,000 new jobs, 4,000 new public parking spaces, and over 900 acres to manage and enforce, the redevelopment of Alameda Point represents a major challenge for the expansion of the City’s existing parking program.
The City’s parking program is not currently adequately staffed to effectively manage the existing parking supply, and cannot manage the expanding demands at Alameda Point. The existing program is comprised of eight part-time Police Assistant positions in the Alameda Police Department, but only three part-time positions are currently filled due to high turnover rates stemming from the position’s part-time status. The current active enforcement staff represents less than 30% of the City’s current estimated enforcement needs. An additional full-time, grant-funded position covers abandoned vehicle monitoring and enforcement.
A significant redesign and expansion of the parking enforcement program is necessary to effectively manage the City’s current parking supply and the addition of paid parking at the Seaplane Lagoon, Main Street, and Harbor Bay Ferry Terminals, as well as at Alameda Point.
DISCUSSION
On September 3, 2019, staff presented the City Council with four options for improving the parking enforcement program. The ensuing City Council discussion revealed that at least four Councilmembers were in support of utilizing City employees to improve and expand the program. Two of the four Councilmembers were in support of utilizing contract services for a short, initial period of time to address immediate needs, with the intent that the contractors would be replaced with City employees after a few years. Two of the four Councilmembers who were in favor of a City employee-staffed program spoke in opposition to using contract services. The fifth Councilmember stated that the current program was working and no improvement was necessary.
Recommended Parking Enforcement Staffing Plan
Staff remains consistent in recommendation that the City’s parking enforcement program needs to be improved to adequately support the transportation, environmental, and economic development policy objectives adopted by the City Council. Based on the City Council’s divided position on private contract services and the need to move quickly in less than 12 months to address “day one” needs at Alameda Point, staff does not recommend taking the time and resources necessary to solicit proposals and negotiate a contract for short-term private enforcement services. Instead, staff recommends taking immediate steps consistent with City Council discussion to reconfigure the existing parking enforcement program, which is currently staffed with eight (8) part-time Parking Enforcement Officers and supervised by a Sworn Officer (10% time), to include as interim step:
• Two (2) full-time, non-sworn, Parking Enforcement Officers.
• Continuation and expansion as necessary of part-time, non-sworn, Parking Enforcement Officers.
• Realigning the salary of the Parking Enforcement Officer position to be competitive with the compensation being offered in the East Bay region.
The recommended program staffing, with a mix of full-time and part-time staff, is consistent with successful parking enforcement programs in the Bay Area. The recommended program staffing equation removes supervision responsibilities currently being performed by sworn staff.
Staff recommends that the City Council approve the proposed interim implementation of the Parking Enforcement Plan.
Staff is also preparing an Alameda Point Parking Management Action Plan for City Council consideration in the future. The Action Plan describes the:
• Recommended Automated Parking Collection Systems, equipment and policies;
• Recommended Parking Lot and On Street pricing policies;
• Recommended parking permit programs;
• Recommended maintenance and management program needs;
• Recommended changes to the Alameda Municipal Code; and
• Evaluate regional opportunities to compliment Parking Management as a long-term strategy.
ALTERNATIVES
• Approve the recommended Parking Enforcement Program Interim Staffing Plan.
• Modify the recommended Interim Parking Enforcement Staffing Plan to increase staffing.
• Delay action on the enforcement program improvements until additional information is made available for City Council consideration.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The Parking Enforcement Program is designed to be funded by fees collected by the program. As enforcement improves, parking fee compliance will increase, and revenues to the program will increase. Parking tickets will provide an immediate financial benefit for the program, but with time, and as compliance improves, ticket revenue will decrease. As is the case with some cities, parking rates in the City may be set by the City Council to generate net revenue, which could be used to fund public right-of-way services and improvements to reduce traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions, and improve facilities, public transportation, bicycling, and walking.
Currently, the Alameda Police Department has between three and five part-time staff performing parking enforcement, although the program is budgeted for eight part-time positions. The part-time personnel cost of operating the parking enforcement program in Fiscal Year (FY) 2018-2019 was $46,516. Revenues of the parking enforcement program covered the cost.
The General Fund is a direct beneficiary of the parking enforcement program. In FY 2018-19, the City collected $543,000 in parking fines revenue. Due to difficulty in hiring and retaining part-time staff, this revenue has been going down over the last few years as presented in the table below.
|
Fiscal Year |
Budget |
Actual |
|
2018-19 |
$600,000 |
$543,000 |
|
2017-18 |
$750,000 |
$631,365 |
|
2016-17 |
$750,000 |
$617,750 |
|
2015-16 |
$950,000 |
$812,153 |
It is anticipated that with consistent enforcement, revenues will return to the FY 2015-16 budgeted amount and cover the majority of the cost, although parking meter rate revenue may subsidize some of the costs as the program is stabilized.
Additionally, staff are currently evaluating salary increases in order to be more competitive in hiring and retaining part-time staff.
Staff will provide additional financial information when it returns to City Council with a resolution for consideration to establish the positions and amend the FY 2019-20 and 2020-21 operating budget.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
Alameda Municipal Code Chapter 8 contains parking prohibitions and Chapter 12 covers public parking regulations. California Vehicle Code Chapter 9 is dedicated to stopping, standing, and parking.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
In accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), this project is Categorically Exempt pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301 (c) Existing Facilities.
CLIMATE IMPACTS
Parking management plays an important role in reducing GHG emissions from private vehicles. Achieving an 85% occupancy goal means that every block has a couple of open parking spaces, and drivers can park quickly rather than continuing to drive while looking for parking. Reducing double-parking also helps buses run efficiently on commercial corridors, making it that much more viable for people to choose buses over driving. Furthermore, consistently enforced paid parking programs can influence mode choice. Free parking provides a powerful incentive to drive; when parking is priced right and enforced for compliance, people are more likely to consider other modes of travel. Parking management also plays a key role in improving street sweeping effectiveness and litter control by providing the street sweepers better access to the curb line. Improved litter collection at the curb line ensures compliance with regulatory litter control programs and improves local flood control resiliency by keeping more litter out of the municipal storm drainage system.
RECOMMENDATION
Approve the parking enforcement program with the interim staffing plan, and direct staff to finalize the classifications and operating budget needed to support the plan for future Council consideration.
CITY MANAGER RECOMMENDATION
The City Manager recommends approval of the parking program with the interim staffing approach. I also recommend that the City explore looking at options as we move forward in the expansion of the parking program including working with regional partners.
Respectfully submitted,
Andrew Thomas, Planning, Building & Transportation Director
Paul Rolleri, Chief of Police
Liam Garland, Public Works Director
By,
Liz Acord, Public Works Coordinator
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Elena Adair, Finance Director
cc: Eric Levitt, City Manager