4 - Recommendation on the Fairview (Longwood) Neighborhood Permit Parking (NPP) District
CITY OF BOULDER
TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD AGENDA ITEM
MEETING DATE: June 10, 2002
SUBJECT: Public hearing and consideration of a recommendation to City Council
regarding the Fairview (Longwood) Neighborhood Permit Parking (NPP) Zone.
REQUESTING DEPARTMENT:
Tracy Winfree, Director of Public Works/Transportation
Michael J. Gardner-Sweeney, Public Works/Transportation Planning & Operations
Molly Winter, Director of the Downtown and University Hill Management Division
Kate Patterson, Downtown and University Hill Management Division/ Parking Services
BOARD ACTION REQUESTED:
Board recommendation to City Council.
FISCAL IMPACT: Average start up cost per block face $650 (signs & studies), proposal
includes 11 block faces. Total estimate start up cost $7,150.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this item is to give TAB an opportunity to give consideration to the policy
implications of their recommendation following the May 13, 2002 Public Hearing on the proposal
to implement an NPP zone on Longwood Avenue. The Board supported the manager's proposal
and recommended with the addition of the north side of the 1700 block of Gillaspie Drive in the
zone boundaries.
If implemented, the Board's recommendation would set a new precedent for administering and
implementing the NPP program. Staff is requesting additional policy considerations. It has not
been the policy to include blocks in an NPP zone without majority support of the property owners.
The Board's comments indicated.they were interested in providing on-street parking for service
vehicles and visitors to residents of the south side of the 1700 block of Gillaspie Drive without
changing the existing parking restrictions on the south side of this block. However, since this
block is not included in the NPP proposal the residents would not be eligible to purchase permits.
BACKGROUND
(Please Reference the May 13, 2002 TAB Memo for detailed background)
On May 13, 2002 the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) held a public hearing on the proposal to
implement a Neighborhood Permit Parking (NPP) zone on Longwood Avenue.
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The City Manager's Proposal:
• The proposal includes the following blocks, the 3600, 3700, 3800 and 3900 blocks of Longwood
Avenue (North and South sides), the 3900 block of Greenbriar Boulevard (West sides, included in
zone without changes to the current on street parking restrictions). The zone will have a color-code
restriction on public parking as defined in the Neighborhood Permit Parking Program Regulations.
With 2-Hour Parking, One Time Only Per Day, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, School Days only, Except by
Permit. Residents, Embedded Businesses and Commuters may purchase permits. These parking
restrictions do not eliminate on-street parking for those who live outside the zone boundaries, but
limit on-street parking to two hours for vehicles without a permit.
The TAB recommendation:
• The TAB voted to support the manager's proposal and recommended including the 1700 block of
Gillaspie Drive, north side in the zone.
ANALYSIS
Several issues were raised by the TAB recommendation to include the north side of the 1700 block
of Gillaspie Drive.
1.) Including a block in an NPP zone without the support of the majority of property owners.
The NPP program in a citizen initiated program. Historically blocks have only been
included in an NPP zone with clear majority support of the residents/property owners.
This policy was demonstrated in this case on the East Side of Greenbriar Blvd. Staff had
proposed to include the block in the proposed zone. Residents were opposed and prepared
a petition signed by the majority of residents requesting that the block not be included.
Based on this information staff revised the proposal and removed the block
Subsequent to the Board's recommendation, staff was contacted by residents of this block
concerned that if 1700 Gillaspie could be included without the support of the property
owners is there still a chance that they could be included again.
In the case of the north side of the 1700 block of Gillaspie Drive the property owners
(BVSD and the City) do not support the inclusion of this block in the NPP zone.
2.) Lack of adequate input from Fairview High School and the Boulder Valley School District.
FHS and BVSD where involved in the public process and supported the manager's proposal
to implement an NPP zone on Longwood Ave. Therefore they did not make a statement
during the May 13, 2002 public heating. There was not an opportunity for FHS or BVSD
to respond to the TAB recommendation.
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The BVSD does not support or oppose the inclusion of the north side of the 1700 block of
Gillaspie Drive and will not sign or initiate a petition to be included in the NPP zone.
The School District is attempting to address concerns raised by resident by working in
conjunction with the city to install a side walk on the North side of Gillaspie Drive to
accommodate pedestrian traffic on this side of the street. In addition the student
government is pursuing the city's Adopt a Street program.
3.) Other impacts of including the north side of the 1700 block of Gillaspie on the proposed
zone.
A.) The board's recommendation did not include the south side of Gillaspic Drive.
Therefore residents of this block would not be eligible to purchase resident
permits or receive visitor permits to park in the zone.
B.) Including the north side of the 1700 block of Gillaspie Drive would results in
FHS becoming "embedded" in the zone and therefore they should be eligible to
purchase permits.
The NPP ordinance does not address schools embedded in the zone. Businesses
located within an NPP zone are eligible to purchase Business permits at $75 per
year. Although it is unusual for a business to be included in an NPP zone the
philosophy behind the business permits has been to provide an opportunity for
business in this situation to purchase permits for their employees to parking on
the street.
• "Business," includes non-residential institutions, but does not include home
occupations. Three business permits may be in effect at any time for any
business without regard to number of employees or off-street parking. In the
alternative, upon application by the manager of the business, the city manager
may issue employee permits to a business according to the following formula:
Half of the number of full-time equivalent employees minus the number of
off-street parking spaces under the control of the business at that location
equals the maximum number of employee permits for the business.
As a school has not been included in an NPP zone before, there is not a standard
for how to provide permits to this type of institution. Issuing business permits to
the school would impact not only Gillaspie Drive but Longwood Ave. as well.
(FHS has 1950 student and 177 faculty and staff. There are a total of 430 off
street parking space, 250-student lot, 150 staff and 30 visitor.)
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C.) Displaced Vehicles:
Restricting the parking on the north side of Gillaspie Drive could move the parking from
a non-residential block to residential blocks. There would be an estimated 33 displaced
vehicles from Gillaspie in addition to the 32 displace from Longwood Ave. A portion of
these vehicles will find parking in front of residential property in the neighborhood.
Block: Number of legal Percent Occupancy Estimated displaced
parking spaces: Sebool days vehicles
Longwood N. 19 66% (13 vehicles) 9
Longwood S. 28 68% (19 vehicles) 23
Gillaspie N. 30 88% (26 vehicles) 33
On an average school day there are an estimated 55 spaces available on Greenbriar Blvd.
near Broadway. These spaces are not adjacent to residential property. As the students
have stated some of the displaced vehicles may parking on Greenbriar Blvd while others
will seek out other residential streets closer to the school. Ludlow St. and Knox Dr. are
popular blocks for student parking. These blocks already have an average daily
occupancy of 80%.
D.) Commuter Permits:
At the May 13' 2002 Public Hearing staff stated the maximum number of commuter
permits that could be available on Longwood Ave as 32 (based on 8 block faces with 4
commuters per block faces). A block face is defined as one side of a street between two
adjacent perpendicular roadways, or a dead end street or cul-de-sac. Where one block
face consists of two or more blocks under the city addressing system it may be deemed to
consist of the number of block faces so specified.
In the case of Longwood Ave. the block faces are much smaller than normal (average of 5
on street parking spaces per block face) by the numerical addresses. As a result these
block faces would not be large enough to accommodate the maximum number of
commuter permits (4). This changes the estimated number of commuter permits to 16 or
less.
Options
If the objective is to provide additional on-street parking for residents of the south side of 1700
Gillaspie Drive, during school days without eliminating the current on street restrictions there
may be options
1.) The parking related concerns expressed by residents at the May 13 meeting focused
on service vehicles. Perhaps some portions of the north and/or south side of 1700
Gillaspie Drive could be signed for this purpose, without changing the current
restrictions ("loading zone").
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2.) Include the south side of 1700 Gillaspie Dr. with no change to the current parking
restrictions. This would allow residents to purchase permit and receive visitor
permits to park in the zone on Longwood Ave.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Longwood Avenue:
Staff recommends that if TAB is in favor of implementing a Neighborhood Permit Parking zone
in the Fairview neighborhood it should have the following features:
City Manager's Office Proposal:
• Time limits for public parking
The proposed Fairview NPP zone restrictions on public parking would be in effect Monday
through Friday, 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. (School days only) with a two hour, one-time-only-per-day, color
-coded parking restriction.
• Permit holders
Permit holders are exempt from the posted parking restriction by purchasing and displaying a
permit for vehicles parked on the street. Resident permits (decals) currently cost $12/year/vehicle.
Each resident may purchase up to two permits for vehicles they own or regularly use. Two
visitors passes (hangtag) are free with the purchase of a resident permit (limit two per household).
Businesses
Businesses located within a zone may purchase up to three permits for use by its employees for
$75 per permit. Large businesses located in an NPP zone may apply for additional employee
parking permits.
• Zone boundaries
The proposed boundaries include the following blocks 3600, 3700, 3800 and 3900 blocks of
Longwood Ave north and south sides. The 3900 block of Greenbriar Blvd (west) would be
included in the zone description, but the current parking restrictions would not be replaced.
• Implementation schedule
Implementation prior to the start of school September 2002.
The staff recommends implementation prior the beginning of the fall semester 2002.
Gillaspie Drive:
Staff does not proposes including the 1700 block of Gillaspie Drive, north side in the zone.
The negative impacts of including this block in the NPP outweigh any benefit.
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BOARD ACTION REQUESTED
Reaffirm the motion to recommend the staff proposal to implement an NPP on Longwood Ave.
The Board is asked to discuss and comment on the following issues related to the
recommendation to include the north side of the 1700 block of Gillaspie. Based on this new
information and discussion does the Board want to amend their previous recommendation on
Gillaspie Drive?
1.) From a program standpoint should the policy of not including blocks in an NPP zone
without the support of the majority of property owners be changed?
2.) From an operation standpoint there are some potential unintended consequences of the TAB
recommendation:
• If the south side of Gillaspie Drive is not included in the zone residents on this block will
not be able to purchase permits to park in the zone.
• Including the north side of 1700 Gillaspie Drive creates a situation where FHS would be
included in the zone. They should have the same or similar opportunities to purchase
permits for their participants as other businesses located within an NPP zone. Can the
school be given an equal opportunity to purchase permits without impacting the
effectiveness of the zone?
• Displaced Vehicles. Should the NPP program be used to restrict parking on non-
residential streets where there is a likelihood there will be an impact on nearby
residential streets?
NEXT STEPS
The manager shall provide the city council with the manager's proposal to the board, the board's
recommendation and related comments, the manager's final plan, and the reason for any difference
between the recommendation and the final plan. If the city council does not call up the manager's
final plan within 30 days, the manager may establish the zone. If the city council calls up the
manager's final plan, it shall hold a public hearing on the plan and, by motion, direct the manager
not to establish the zone, or to establish the zone with any modifications which are within the
manager's authority, or to establish the zone in accordance with the manager's final plan. The
manager shall establish the zone approved by regulation, but if the zone is established after a city
council call-up, the manager shall not call for public comment in the notice of proposed regulation.
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