Another city is discovering how an urban retail district can come back to life with user friendly on-street parking.  Why not Jacksonville?

The Purpose of Parking Meters

I have had several discussions with various "powers that be" within the City about The Downtown Action Plan Committee's proposal to extend the parking meter time downtown to 3 hours. Without exception those that I have talked to are adamantly against it, and have said that in meetings they have had with others about the subject they were also strongly oppossed. I have been told that, if asked they would all advise the Mayor against this idea but that there is no assurance they will be asked for their opinion. The decision would be administrative and would not require any action from City Council. What I have been told is that they are counting on opposition from the private sector to keep it from happening, but that none of them could stand up and state what a bad idea it is.

Here's the problem as I see it. The only people (public) that will probably come out against it are those that understand the dynamics of parking and how those dynamics impact everything else. If you look at the makeup of the committee (Jim Bailey, President of Bailey Publishing & Communications and Downtown Design Review Committee member; Kevin Connor, member of downtown advocate group Metro-Jacksonville; Ennis Davis, member of downtown advocate group Metro-Jacksonville; Chris Flagg, Landscape Architect & President of Flagg Designs and Downtown Design Review Committee member; Tri Vu, President of TTV Architect and Building Codes Adjustment Board member; Steven Dare, owner of downtown restaurant Boomtown Theatre & Coffee Salon; Anna Dooley, Executive Director of Greenscape; Suzanne Jenkins, City Council Member - District 4; Ron Barton, Exec. Director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission; John Culbreth, Director of the Dept. of Parks, Recreation, Entertainment & Conservation; Alan Mosley, Chief Operating Officer; Mike Saylor, Director of the Dept. of Planning & Development) there is not a single "Parking" person listed. However, there are a lot of people that would definitley NOT appreciate having one of their ideas being "dissed". Those I have talked to all understand that fact and as such aren't going to rock the boat even though they know the proposal is bad (the committee unanimously approved the idea).

I could easily list out dozens and dozens of reasons for why this is a bad idea and provide back-up data and case studies to validate my position, but at the end of the day that isn't what is going to be needed. We need to somehow give all of those listed above a graceful "out" or else this thing will keep moving forward. While I hate to suggest it, the only thing I can think of is for the Mayor (or Suzanne) to appoint a volunteer task force (no more than 5 or 6 people) to put together a white paper listing the pros and cons of the idea, along with alternatives. We could probably do it in about 4 hours (I already have it), but there should be about a 30-45 day timeline associated with the project.

I'm not going to bore you with parking statistics (at least not this early in the morning), but trust me when I say that making all of the meters 3 hours will not only have a disasterous impact on every existing garage and lot in downtown, it also has the potential to kill the retail business at Hemming plaza and any potential of that on Bay St. The basic premise behind an on-street program is that meters are used to create turn over, the more turn over the more potential customers. There are numerous examples and case studies showing that increasing meter charges and strictly enforcing time limits actually helped retail in the area. Various estimates put the value of short term on-street parking spaces at anywhere from $40 to $400 a day in sales to retail businesses on the same block as those spaces; Downtown Research and Development Centre @ $150-$300 (national average); National Main Street Program @ $40 (Downtown Valdosta, Ga.); Aspinwall COC @ $400; Dr. Lee Koppelman, LI Regional Planning Board @ $400 (Long Island, NY); John D. Edwards, PE @ $100. Right now the meters have a limit of 1 to 2 hours, which gives you the potential of anywhere from 4 to 8 customers in an 8 hour day, if you go to 3 hours you have reduced that number to 2.5 customers per day.

The goal of any well designed on-street meter operation is to have the time limits and rates set to the level where you achieve an occupancy rate of 80-85%, thereby assuring that customers know they will always have a fair chance of finding a metered space fairly close to the store. Since the avg amount of time spent on retail shopping (urban) or in a restaurant is less than 2 hours the parking spaces will tend to turn over pretty regularly. If the time limits are extended to the point where employees or those attending meetings become the main user base for the meters then the potential customers will discontinue coming to that area because they know there is very little chance that they will find a space. There have actually been doctoral thesis' and books written on this subject.

If you support NOT increasing the time limits please respond to this email and I will include your name as being against the proposal when I send an outline of our position and recommendation to the City. If you are in favor of the increase in time limits, then I guess we just disagree.

Thanks

Mark Rimmer
Realistic Transportation Alternatives, Inc. - April 11, 2006

Reality: With this line of thinking, business owners at the St. Johns Town Center should be falling over themselves to install parking meters.  For some reason this is not happening.  However, only two hours away, an urban business district is booming, partially because of free two hour on-street parking along its main commercial corridor.

Why does Jacksonville have meters instead of simple time limits?

While time zones are used similarly to meters, in as much as they’re there to create turnover, they can be more cumbersome to enforce.  The meters are also more recognizable to the public, being located at each space, where as the signs are generally located at either ends of the street.  My fear with the time zones is we’d encounter more unsuspecting violators, which wouldn’t bode well for us in terms of customer service.

-Robert A. Carle, Division Chief
COJ Parking Facilities and Enforcement Division - May 13, 2008

Savannah's Broughton Street

Since 2000, more than one hundred 50 million dollars of private and public investment has occurred on Broughton Street.

135 new businesses have opened and nearly 600 new jobs have been created. 

http://wjclnews.blogspot.com/2007/09/broughton-street-improvements.html

Broughton Street is the only street in Downtown Savannah to offer free on-street parking.  Maybe it's just coincidence that retailers have begun to flock back to the historic district's original commercial corridor.  Or better yet, there's a direct positive correlation when potential customers aren't charged to visit a certain section of the core.

"In general, a lot of people are now associating Broughton Street with a retail district where as in the past it was real spotty," says Liz Demos.
@ Home is Liz Demos's dream.
http://wjclnews.blogspot.com/2007/09/broughton-street-improvements.html

Savannah is among a growing list of cities that have realized that a downtown retail district can benefit without the use of on-street parking meters.  With the JEDC implementing a Downtown Development Plan that focuses on public infrastructure, this may be a good time to consider the elimination of parking meters on certain streets as an incentive to stimulate retail growth during an economic downturn.

Article written by Ennis Davis