On May 8, 2018, at City Council Work Session, staff provided a briefing on the continued growth and development within the West 7th Street Urban Village Core and the resulting traffic demand and lack of on-street parking for business patrons. Numerous work sessions have occurred with area stakeholders to understand the mobility and parking issues of the area and develop actions that would be appropriate to improve conditions. The availability of on-street parking for business patrons was determined to be an important element to maintain and grow the economic vitality of the area. Based on the feedback from stakeholders, it is recommended to deploy paid, on-street parking with time restrictions in the West 7th Street Urban Village Core area so that more parking spaces are available, which allows different customers to visit the area. Staff recommends that Chapter 22, Sections 22-191 and 22-192 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (2015), as amended, (City Code), be amended to allow installation of parking meters in the area. Staff recommends the West 7th Urban Village Core boundaries be established as the area bounded by Foch Street to the east, University Drive to the west, Lancaster Avenue to the south and West Sixth Street to the north. Staff further recommends that parking meters be installed in the West 7th Urban Village Core and operational from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily. This change will provide 84 hours per week of regulated, on-street metered parking time where currently there is limited or no regulation within the high demand retail and restaurant district area. In addition to the introduction of regular and extended metered hours to the West 7th Urban Village Core, it is also recommended that a variable rate structure should be implemented to address the supply and demand imbalance by changing parking rates in response to parking demand. Staff proposes to amend the short-term rate structure (less than four hours) for the West 7th Urban Village Core area such that the parking rate would be a variable rate between a low of $0.15 and a high $0.75 per ten minutes (i.e. from $0.90 per hour to $4.50 per hour) with the intent to establish initial rates of $1.00 per hour between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. and $2.50 per hour between 4:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. throughout the week. The combination of extended-hour metered parking and the implementation of variable rate parking has been used in high demand business and entertainment districts in large cities such as Seattle, New York, San Francisco, and Boston to address the issue of excessive parking demand and a limited supply of on-street spaces. These cities now have extended hour parking and a variable rate structure with rates as low as $1.00 per hour during times of the lowest demand (less than 60% occupancy) and as high as $8.00 per hour in times of the highest demand when parking occupancy level exceed 80%. This combined strategy has led to significant improvements in the parking and traffic equation such as higher turn rates for each space, reduction in traffic congestion, improved space availability on each block face, and noted improvement in sales taxes in many of these business and entertainment districts. To accommodate on-street parking meters the West 7th Restaurant & Bar Association has negotiated a lease agreement with the Fort Worth Independent School District for use of the nearby Farrington Field parking lot, which will provide additional parking for the employees and patrons of the area. This arrangement provides an excellent alternate parking arrangement for patrons, which will offer the combination of inexpensive parking rates and longer term parking. This option will lead to overall less demand for on-street parking spaces during peak demand periods and is part of the strategy to reduce traffic circulation and congestion in this area. On December 12, 2017, (M&C G-19187) City Council approved the Five Year Municipal Parking Fund (MPF) Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) which addressed the need for expansion of metered parking into areas such as the West 7th Urban Village Core. Capital and installation costs to startup metered parking in the final quarter of Fiscal Year 2018 will be $240,000.00, of which $125,000.00 has already been appropriated through M&C G-18772. An additional $115,000.00 needs to be appropriated for installation and startup costs, and an additional $75,000.00 needs to be appropriated for parking compliance and parking service workers for the remaining Fiscal Year 2018. Staff expects that the revenue during the final quarter of Fiscal Year 2018 from the new metered parking area in the West 7th Urban Village Core will cover 90% of the $190,000.00 overage with the remaining $20,000.00 covered by surplus meter revenue from other operational areas. An improvement package has been submitted to address costs in Fiscal Year 2019 and beyond, all of which are anticipated to be covered by the resulting revenue stream. The meters within the West 7th Urban Village Core will be located within COUNCIL DISTRICT 9. This M&C does not request approval of a contract with a business entity.
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