commissioner's corner and i may or liz alford and i have to do with me our parking manager mark lyons and we want to talk to you a little bit about the parking garage that is going to be soon completed on say arm and circle if you've been out there you've probably seen it in progress and we're all looking forward to getting those extra parking spaces and mark thank you for joining me today so that we can show the people what's coming armin's and kind of how we we got there let's let's do a little just shot of this is a rendering of the completed garage these these three pieces corner of adams and madison looking to the southwest but they offer unique perspectives on what i think is going to be a herald the facility in the parking business so we'll talk more about why  just you know the design and so forth but ok so how did we get here well that's a really good question back in twenty thirteen the city had a strategic initiative to help the community that is the scene our means business district identify how they could improve parking in and we begin to look at all of the parking issues related to the circle the traffic our parking spaces or position and ultimately it  was thought that we should dive into this further and really look at turnover utilization and things of that nature so that we knew how long people were parking and what the capacity issues really were and so we launched a study  horn that took about a year was in season and out of season study we wanted to make sure we captured good information that spanned across that timeframe and what we found is that there was a shortage of several hundred parking spaces in the peak season now that's not including the special events that would take place on rare occasions you know there's just not enough or get it anywhere i a key or all the cars but something to help the business district improve the ability to increase turnover actually and make sure there were additional open spaces out on the streets for those people who want to close or access in better access ability so ultimately we sat down with the business improvement district who are are the property owners out that this is a group of businesses on second arm and circle the same norman's key this parking district and it is the circle proper of you know we don't in we sat with them and talk further about what this meant to them and how important it is we talked about the details of what we could do if we added additional parking spaces we had other recommendations but ultimately to improve the excess ability out there we just needed more parking spaces but we didn't stop there we also talked to the merchants and we had their feedback on what their main concerns were and then because this area is surrounded by residents we also thought it was important to meet with the resident association and so those three groups really led us through a series of public workshops where we talked about what it would mean to develop a parking garage and where the best location might be if you remember there's two parking lots that were in that are there in that are and so we explored using both lots at the same time one and one or the other for parking garages our biggest concern of course was the sites getting additional parking spaces protecting the neighborhoods and making sure that the quality of life was not lessened by a structure like this that would be out there so again through a series of workshops and discussions collectively the decision was made that we would utilize the north parking lot and for those of for those who have not been to say in our minds or are directionally challenged as i sometimes where's the north park parking lot it is if you go into say norman's the same arm lutheran key church is on the right hand side and actually off that street which is adams a simply a one block they are behind a bright hair into the street it's northbound ok and then the open lot is near the fire station a lot of people know where the fire station is so it kind of wraps around that fire station and so we begin to really explore how that would happen and felt like that would be the best location and again you know it was a community effort to decide how we would do it how many spaces we could build and more importantly how to fund it that was a critical piece in so we worked with the community to identify a method of special assessment directly on the business owners in the circle and they would commit to spending so much money in a new lead towards the debt of the construction of this garage so that was excellent it was an excellent commitment on their part the other side of this is funding through metered parking there was really no other source we were talking about trying to identify somewhere around twelve million dollars over a twenty year period and that was really the best way to do it well let me let me stop you there a second because i have had people ask me well why didn't you know because we had to slow to bond to pay for this which then is going to be paid by paid parking but we built two parking garages downtown and we didn't have to do a bond for those can you explain why that's that's that is a comparison that's often times drawn and  the downtown area was a little bit different than the business district in say norman's in that the c r a had been has been established for quite some time and yeah and you know again we should on say an arm and so that's why this method was chosen that's right i'm going to read the community redevelopment assessment that was placed in the community curia over a long period of time and there was sort of a treasure chest if you will built up for this purpose because again the community felt like it was an important element that was missing in the downtown area and so the plan was developed back in the early two thousand and two to identify locations for future parking garages so that's how those were developed and the basque majority the funding was already in place for those garages it was a big advantage to to build them without any existing debt yes and so that's that's been an excellent move by the downtown when you look at the community insane armin's they have this need and this this assessment to build in to mit towards the bond was never in place and so this is brand new and it took again an extensive study to understand the risk involved in doing something like this and so we had parking experts come in and actually evaluate all of the turnover again now to some two or three years after our original study to help us identify whether or not we felt like the metered parking revenue would be a viable option to fund help on this this service debt and indeed we discovered it would and an essential it's how we came together and identified the opportunity to build this garage it's through the the strength of the businesses in the property owners and in the business district with the agreement of the property owners the residents that live around it in the end with the city implementing the metered parking so there we go and all this is ready to unfold that we broke ground of course back in may and the garage today is actually being erected so we've we've had very few challenges in the process and we're already out of the ground and we have some pictures that you'll see of the life of the show you how it what it looks like we certainly encourage people to drive out there and take a look it's kind of exciting to see the the building coming up and the additional spaces are going to be a tremendous asset we expect it to open in december sometime in december will be open for the public and at that point in time as well that's when the meter system will be activated people are familiar with the survey that was performed we we actually got out into the community and had three different surveys three different times of the day we tested the lighting we tested the weather we talked to business  people we talked to visitors we talked to residents and found out what they thought would be the best locations in the best way of implementing this system and of course the planet has always been not to execute it fully for paid parking until the garage is open but it will take several weeks of development and presentation before we launch now let's talk about the meters a little it because i know that part of the problem with the meters that were installed downtown is they were hard operate and you couldn't see them in the sunlight and some of the things that you just talked about that you worked on making a factor so you know tell us a little bit about how these meters are different well the technology that we're going to be deploying out at sea norman's is actually the latest equipment and meter technology these are pay stations and they're good for multiple spaces and so this was found in the survey to be a real advantage instead of having a parking meter pole that each and every space will have a consolidated point where people can pay for parking really wherever you are at because the way the system sets up you don't have to be at any one particular meter you can pay it any point any time if you want to add additional time when you're on the other side of the circle you can go to any meter you choose and you can also pay by phone i was going to say that you download an app that pay and if you've forgotten what your parking space is you can also i believe using your license plate number yes i don't know what which one is going to be i think i'd like find it easier to remember my parking space than my lace number is so how does that make things since an interesting discussion and we also talked about that in the survey when we talked to hundreds of people about how we could deploy this in the most effective means and actually found that a lot of visitors are getting accustomed to utilizing their license plate as a credential for payment rather than taking a ticket back and putting it in the window rather than trying to remember or find the parking space number that again would be mean something else is platters plastered all over the district right you only have to look at your license plate and so so you maybe just like take you to take up the road on your phone yeah you just take a picture of it if you have a real car many of them already have it on the key  advantageous but i want take long for people to remember their license plate i think and it's easy to get a hold of that information but the meter is really easy to use it's a touchscreen system there's very few additional buttons to and you have to identify that the zone right now we're calling them green yellow and magenta and you actually on the meter itself see the color and be able to select the color in the zone name where what where will you see the color when you're actually let's go to the schematic really of where the parking meters are going going to go and what those different zones are and the different price point you get on those thi take what they call the commercial district or the city zone that is the basic area where pay parking will be deployed along with straight out on john ringling towards the beach will continue to maintain free an unrestricted parking on north boulevard of the presidents to the north of madison and on south pole of our the president south of monroe and that's almost i think about one hundred seventy spaces so you really have some good options if you're not interested concept of course is the we found that most people want to park in the core of the district which is the circle in the immediate spokes off of the circle those areas will be a dark green color on our map that you'll see at some point and on that on the machine those will be a dollar fifty per hour unlimited you could actually park there all day as long as you keep aim and so you'll see that on the map and that's from the our site you know when is the afi and place  that sundays and holidays will still be free ok all right the next area razon is the yellow zone which is sort of the perimeter area if you will it steps down and priced because it's a little further out and it's a dollar per hour there's a lot of spaces in this new find that there are many spaces out towards the beach as well so that makes it convenient for anyone who is going between the beach in the downtown history i'm sorry the scenery district the last area is really more of a surface lot great and that's the magenta area the south's surface lot will be seventy five cents per hour very easy to locate easy to get in and out of and at that rate i very good options for anyone that wants to park out there and again whether you want to pay or you want to park for free that option is there and will before you and i think another key thing that everybody wanted was maybe a couple of bathrooms in that and that parking we could talk about that yes the garage in the design of the garage we actually have to restrooms will be a position near the entrance and if you're looking at this rendering we  have the main entrances on adams and will have an office right inside that area so for security reasons to help anybody with an entrance and exit issues but that's where the restrooms are going to be located as well so we can monitor is our enemy on the first floor on it's on the ground floor there will be closed course later at night and one open until early morning but our staff will be maintaining that we'll be out there eight hundred twenty hours a day monitoring all the activity maintaining the garage but you'll find that to be very excessive bill and i think that's going to benefit the community quite a bit this was one of the requirements that of course the merchants were looking for out of this whole plan and i think the residents to they wanted to see this as a feature within the parking garage well i even when i was campaigning back in twenty fifteen and when i would you know talk to people in on say in armand's about this that was one of the things that many of them mentioned to me is we really need bathrooms and we really need parking so i know it was important for them it's not a capital is the kind of thing you would put in a parking garage but in this particular scenario and since we're going to be there monitoring will have care security cameras and everything else makes a lot of sense ok well the other thing i'd like to talk to you about because again i know in in our city you know parking meters and paying for parking is really controversial so you know this is going to be quite a change when it comes to the circle people have not been used to doing this so i'd like you to talk a little bit about how this actually can be beneficial even though you know nobody likes to see a meter nobody likes to have to pay but why it's important besides the bond that we have to pay  well i think you know it's i think we need to go back again to a few years back when the city looked at parking as a whole you know we formed a parking advisory committee that was developed u sing key players within these communities whether it's the beach or the scene armin's or south side village rosemary all throughout downtown we took time to really study the benefits of a program that managed parking and we know that we've had consultants urban developers retail experts tell us for years we need to have a managed parking program but you know we have an opportunity to have our own people study this more clearly and take their time and look at the benefits look at the problems that could also be created this committee you looked at this and said well we think there's a few things that it would do you have a parking in these studies prove this as well one is it improves accessibility for those that really need it a lot of people in our community can't walk three four five blocks to go to their favorite restaurant or go to a merchant store and so by making sure there's a couple spaces on each block open it proves the walkability of that area and it improves the opportunities for merchants within that district that's key now many merchants would say well their space is open because now nobody is coming down to my shop and parking but really the goal of the parking program is to make sure there's always some spaces open so that the concept of or the perception by the public on whether or not there's it's easy to find parking is not something that comes with their mind they should have the belief that they can go into this area and identify parking quickly because studies have proven when they can't find parking they just keep driving thirty to forty percent of the traffic whether it's insane armin's or it's out here in downtown is just driving around looking for parking space so you know think about the frustration it's cost think about the trouble that you someone has trying to get to the store to the restaurant that they want  to visit if they can't find a convenient parking space so that's a sign then they go somewhere to go someplace else and you know i think we've all experienced that and seen it in just decided no you are saturday you just keep going to maybe catch it another time right in so these are the benefits of pay parking it's funny mayor i was in a outdoor mall up in ohio that was really very north of really on the middle of nowhere but they had a name brand stores they had city streets they have city street environment designed you know what you think i saw by the private developer right on the streets parking meters interesting and you had name brand stores all the way around didn't stop then or stand the need for the turnover just like a restaurant needs turn over these streets need turnover in and i think it's important that there are there are some common sense applied here whether we're looking at saying arms or we're looking in other areas of the downtown you have to make sure it's simple you have to make sure it's not over priced and you have to make sure that there's options in that's what the parking programs trying to do today so you know i think extremely important that there are still free spaces for people and you know the spaces i'm looking at here that are free really again are not much further than i've had to park many times and not much further than the parking garage yes really mind that a lot of times people come in and park in the median house when the road which before they even know how many parking spaces  put a lot of it's very far out yet it does stop people from coming to the circle coming downtown going to other areas when they think it's just going to be such a hassle to find a parking space so i'm not going you know i'm not going to go there and you know i know why and i go to court in downtown tampa as i'm also a family law attorney so when i i have to go up there i they have paid parking on the street and it's still you know it's still tight there's a parking garage i go to that garage first thing because that way i can park unlimited i don't have to worry and you know even though i know i'm going to pay more than i would for the parking meter on the street the convenience of that and knowing i'll find a parking space is huge show you know i do get that concept that you have to you know you have to do that and you know one of the things i think people don't consider is at some malls there there is free parking but it really isn't free the merchants are paying that in their leases the cost because there is a cost it you know it's like any other it's like any other utility basically that the public uses that there is a fee and either the merchants have to pay it in their lease then which reflects in their prices or you know the users have to pay it or the taxpayers you know find it i mean there's just there's a cost no matter  paying it and that's what you know you have to look at to agree point robert gibbs who came into town a few years ago an expert in retail environments and like ours and downtown assured that same point with us this does that this should not be a negative reflection on a merchant or downtown have paid parking in fact it actually improves the opportunity for them to get to their store and not have prices inflated because of the the point that you bring up they're just rolling the costs of those wards mall parking lots and all the wiring and all of the stripe being you know all the cleaning that's required the putting it into those leases which then goes into the price of the product right i think people don't understand why it why there is a cost you know because it's just you know it's the street it's sitting there it's open why would there be a cost for that but but if you to turn over you have to have the you know the parking meter person come by or the parking enforcement person come by which everybody hates so the parking parking enforcement people are they are very very friendly even though we all don't want to get a ticket nobody wanted to couldn't lay don't really want to issue a sort of the you know with you but you know here's an interesting point to reconcile as well when we're talking about me to rule out some parking programs it's better to allow an individual to make the decision excuse me make the decision on how long they want to park at a parking space rather than being forced through a citation longer and two hours long and we keep writing more tickets it's just such a aggressive approach and when you have a paid parking option then it's your decision and if you want to be in the in the most expensive area in the prime location that's your decision or you can go into a garage which is in our area less expensive for you to park or you can choose a spot that just has a time restriction or no restriction and all so i think we need to balance to this discussion  and understand enforcement is needed but in a paid parking environment it lessens that that need for moving people along and forcing people into making a decision because of a ticket that's a good point because when i go in somewhere i know i think about am i going to be able to get out of here in two hours because there's no mechanism for me to be able to stay there longer in order to leave it or not we're out of time mark i mean there are just so many more years or so many things so maybe we'll do another one you know either next time or the time after because there's lots to talk about here and we appreciate all of you joining us and join us again next time for