6. Parking Plan
Goals
Develop a comprehensive approach
Balance needs of users
Objective – One out of every 8 spaces
open -15% vacancy/1 open space per block)
Recommendations
Implement relative pricing
Extend time limits
Add low cost monthly option
Extend enforcement hours
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8. Collaborative Approach
Working Group members
Downtown business owners
Downtown residents
Parking Board members
Chamber
Main Streets
Destination Salem
Salem Partnership
Police Department
Parking Director
Department of Planning & Community Development Staff
Developer
SRA
I will touch on these 5 themes to give you an overview of Salem’s Comprehensive Parking Plan, which was approved by City Council in 2011 and implemented over the next several months. (confirm)
The need for a parking study was recommended in response to redevelopment options for a surface parking lot. The focus for us was to encourage economic development and continued revitalization of the downtown, which falls under the responsibilities of the Planning & Community Development Department.
People would complain that you could not find a place to park in Salem. This photo shows the deck of our parking garage in downtown.
As part of the comprehensive parking study, our consultant did utilization counts.For the publicly-available supply of almost 3,500 spaces , nearly 800 remain vacant at the busiest period representing a utilization rate of 78 percent.On- street – 1,393Off street - 1,933 (includes MBTA lot of 340 and city 123)
On street availability is key to the perception of available parking.Our pricing structure was structured to encourage people to try to park on the street, rather than in our municipal garages because these most valuable spaces were also the least expensive!It resulted in lack of availability on prime streets, inconveniencing visitors and residents, and left facilities like the Harbor garage underutilized.
Relative pricing means that high demand areas are priced more than low demand areas, andOn-street parking is priced more than off-street.Our on-street parking now ranges from .50/hour to $1.50.Cost to park in our garages was reduced. It is now $.25 for the least convenient garage and $.75 for the garage in the core of the downtown.