Subject:  POLICY FOR NON-PARKING USE OF PUBLIC PARKING FACILITIES

 

Council Districts: 3 & 5

SNI Area:  St. James Square                                                                  

 

RECOMMENDATION

 

1.     Approval of the Guidelines For Events Held on City Owned and City-Operated Parking Facilities (Including Redevelopment Agency Public Parking Facilities), establishing the conditions under which the City may allow certain events to occur on public parking facilities.

 

2.         Adoption of a resolution authorizing the Director of the Department of Conventions, Arts and Entertainment, in coordination with the Director of the Department of Transportation, to approve events on the parking facilities and to enter into facility use agreements, in accordance with the Guidelines.

3.         Adoption of a resolution superceding the current master parking rate resolution No. 70288, to establish fees to be paid by events using the parking facilities in accordance with the Guidelines.

Background

 

Over the last several years the Department of Transportation has occasionally received requests from outside organizations to utilize public parking facilities for various types of special events.  For example, in February 1999, the City Council approved the use of the Almaden/Woz Surface Lot by NIKE Inc. for a community fanfest in conjunction with the NCAA Women’s Final Four event at the Arena and Hoop City at the San José McEnery Convention Center.

 

Currently, there are no established guidelines on how the City should approve or deny requests to use public parking facilities for uses other than parking.  Given the expectation that the City will continue to receive requests to use parking facilities for special events purposes, and that many of these requests may be for events that are beneficial to the City, adopting a policy of denying every form of alternate use is not desirable.  The issue then becomes one of developing guidelines that will establish the conditions under which the City will allow the public parking facilities to be used for these non-parking purposes.

Analysis

 

The Guidelines identify recommended criteria for determining when and under what circumstances an alternate use will be permitted.  Generally, the only types of alternate use that will be permitted are events that provide San José with cultural enrichment, economic enhancement, recreational or entertainment opportunities, or other uses that promote the City of San José.   Additionally, the income generated from the event by the sponsor shall be generally used for such purposes, and not purely for commercial profit.

 

The Guidelines specify that the alternate use must not interfere with the parking demands placed on the facility, if these demands can not be met with the remaining parking spaces in the facility, along with the capacity of nearby public or private parking facilities.  When an alternate use request is initially received, coordination will occur between the Conventions, Arts and Entertainment Department and the Department of Transportation to determine if the request meets the criteria outlined in the Guidelines.  If the request meets the Guidelines, the Conventions, Arts and Entertainment Department will execute a Facility Use Agreement with the event applicant.  The Guidelines provide for appeal of application denials to the Director of the Conventions, Arts and Entertainment Department.  The Guidelines also provide that the Director of the Department of Transportation may add or remove parking facilities from the list of parking facilities specified in the Guidelines.

 

Proposed Fees

 

The proposed daily fee for the alternate use of a parking facility is as follows and is generally based upon the existing rate structure in place during the time of the event.  It is also proposed that a minimum daily fee be established for events that occur at facilities that provide free parking evenings and weekends.

 

•      If a facility charges a flat daily rate, the proposed fee will be twice the daily rate per space used.  For example, the current daily rate at the Almaden/Woz Surface Lot varies between $3 - 7.  The fee for a non-parking use would vary between $6 - $14 per space per day.  The facilities that charge flat daily rates are primarily in the vicinity of the Convention Center and during events, these spaces have a high turnover rate.

 

•      If a facility charges an hourly rate, the proposed fee will be the established daily maximum rate per space.  The parking rate schedule currently identifies a maximum fee that is assessed between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. for hourly parking.  As an example, the fee at the Market Street Garage for a non-parking use would be $9 per space per day.

 

•      If the non-parking use will primarily occur during periods when a facility is providing free parking, the proposed fee will be $6 per space.   Free parking is currently provided at 5 City operated parking facilities in the Downtown core on the weekends and after 6pm weekdays. The Free Parking Program was established in certain parking facilities to promote the Downtown and has been successful in encouraging visits to the Downtown.  However, events that use these parking facilities pursuant to the Guidelines will derive a benefit from the use of that property, and will reduce the number of parking spaces available to the public in the Downtown. Staff believes that it is appropriate to require events to pay a reasonable fee to reflect the value of the use of the parking facilities. 

 

It is anticipated that the majority of non-parking uses that may occur on City operated facilities will be one or two day events.  Based on the above fees, an event using 100 spaces will incur a fee of between $600 - $1400, depending on which facility is used.

 

PUBLIC OUTREACH

 

The Guidelines are agendized to be reviewed by the Downtown Parking Board at their August 6, 2001 meeting.

 

Coordination

 

The Guidelines have been reviewed by the City Attorney’s Office, the Risk Manager’s Office, Planning, Building and Code Enforcement, and the Redevelopment Agency.

 

Cost Implications

 

Although the Guidelines include provisions for payment for the use of parking spaces, it is envisioned that the alternate use of public parking facilities will occur infrequently and additional revenues generated will depend upon both the duration of an event and the overall number of spaces utilized.  Revenues generates from alternate use of a parking facility shall accrue to the Parking Fund.

 

CEQA

 

Exempt

 

 

Wayne K. Tanda, Director

Department of Transportation

 

NANCY JOHNSON, Director

Conventions, Arts and Entertainment