November 13, 2019 Update:
Part I – Restaurant Parking
- The city manager has not yet scheduled the public hearings for the restaurant parking rate adjustment mention in the original July post below. RWNA will continue to monitor.
Part II – Residential Parking District Permitting
- This program (and eventual implementation of a permit system) is in limbo until the Street Department fills the Parking Specialist position. The Residential Parking District Program should be developed in the first six months of 2020. Once the program rules are set, residents have a say in whether a residential parking district will be established for their neighborhood. River West neighborhoods are a prime candidate for residential permit districts because of the over-utilization of on-street parking. RWNA will continue to monitor progress in this area.
Other Bend Development Code Package (Pending Council Approval) – There are several proposed code revisions which would potentially impact RWNA parking.
- A general push on the part of the City to increase density citywide, but this particularly impacts RWNA because the neighborhoods are essentially built out and are already experience parking problems. Projects like the Evergreen Apartments and Old Rays development will greatly increase on-street parking problems in RWNA.
- Requirements for off-street parking capacity for ADUs are being removed
- Off-street parking standards are already absurdly low (anything below a 2-bedroom unit only requires off-street parking for one (1) vehicle despite the fact that often, there will be multiple occupants with multiple vehicles
- Other key background information:
- The 2016 Integrated Land Use and Transportation Plan stated the Bend’s parking should be “right-sized.”
- At a December 2017 Planning Commission meeting, staff defined “right-size” parking as “not too much, not too little, just right.”
- The current version of the Bend Transportation Plan calls for the implementation of the “paid parking” strategy of the Downtown Parking Plan Report. Staff estimates that on-street parking may be priced at between $12 to $15 per day. Implementation of report’s other strategies may lead to a 2/3rds reduction in permit parking spaces.
Original July 2019 post:
Part I – Restaurant Parking
The city presented a supplement to the citywide parking study which studied restaurant parking needs. The City Manager intends to include a small adjustment in the parking code requirement for restaurants in the 2019 annual code update.
Restaurant parking supplement study
This study proposes a slight increase in the required parking for restaurants. It data suggests a bigger increase is needed. Further research is coming on this topic to provide a strong case that the parking rate needs to be higher than staff has proposed.
Members may recall the disappointing effort on the 2017 Galveston Parking Study (Link: Galveston Parking study).
Part II – Residential Parking Permit Zone (RPPZ)
The City Council has directed Streets and Operation Department to come up with a RPPZ program to address the influx of non-residential parking in residential neighborhoods. There is no firm time table for when work will begin on the formation of the program. This department must first hire additional staff to create and manage the program.
In the appendix of the 2017 Galveston Parking Study, there is a draft of a possible RPPZ program which may be used as the starting point to the formation of the program. Here is a link to that draft document (2017 RPPZ draft document).
Answers to questions asked July 17th and parking committee table. (posted 8/14/2019)