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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEGD-002-16 Clarington Engineering Services Report If this information is required in an alternate accessible format, please contact the Municipal Clerk at 905-623-3379 ext. 2102. Report To: General Government Committee Date of Meeting: January 4, 2016 n Report Number: EGD-002-16 `�-�50�� \'0fv o��6 e\\o File Number: By-law Number: Report Subject: Orono Parking Study Update Recommendations: 1. That Report EGD-002-16 be received; 2. That agreements between business owners be formalized to provide off-street private shared parking for employees as well as patrons and customers where possible; 3. That the Municipality continue to provide parking enforcement to assist with long term parking violators; and 4. That the Orono Downtown Business Improvement Area board of directors, the Orono Community Improvement Plan committee members and other interested stakeholders be advised of the parking study update results. Municipality of Clarington Report EGD-002-16 Page 2 Report Overview At Council's request in May of 2015, staff completed an updated parking study in downtown Orono this year to examine the existing parking supply and demand for parking facilities that primarily serve retail, commercial and institutional land uses in the commercial core of Orono. This report discusses the findings of the parking study and suggests options for improving parking in downtown Orono. 1 .0 Background 1.1 At the May 4, 2015 meeting Council requested that a parking study in downtown Orono be updated. As a result, Engineering Services proceeded to undertake a review of the situation and initiated updated parking counts for the area. 1.2 The purpose of this update was to examine the existing parking supply and demand for parking facilities that primarily serve retail, commercial, and institutional land uses in the commercial core of Orono. Key issues considered were related to: • the location and supply of parking • current parking standards and policies For the purposes of this update, the Study Area was defined based on previous study limits and is generally associated with available on-street parking between 5270 and 5367 Main Street, Park and Centreview Streets between Main Street and Church Street and Church Street between Park Street and Centreview Street. A copy of the map showing the study area and on-street parking arrangements is provided on Attachment 1. As a basis for organizing parking data, the Study Area has been divided into 5 areas representing on-street parking on each of the streets in the area. 1.3 Updated parking data was collected on Monday, August 10, 2015 and Thursday, October 8, 2015. It should be noted that the Orono Bakery was closed for summer holidays during our August 10 collection date. As a result the second count date later that week was postponed until the fall to ensure the bakery was open and we were avoiding the times around the Orono Fair. 2.0 Approach 2.1 An initial inventory of the on-street public parking facilities was conducted prior to the data collection update in which parking regulations and restrictions were confirmed including availability of designated accessible on-street parking spots. Municipality of Clarington Report EGD-002-16 Page 3 3.0 Data Collection 3.1 Parking Surveys Parking surveys were conducted within the Study Area during typical weekdays by Clarington Staff as follows: • Monday, August 10, 2015, 11:00 am to 4:30 pm • Thursday, October 8, 2015, 10:45 am to 5:00 pm The survey days were selected to reflect days with typical parking demand and were carried out following specified routes and methodology. 3.2 On-Street Parking The data collection route for on-street parking was designed to allow data to be acquired at any given location in 15-minute intervals. The data collected includes: • parking occupancy and accumulation counts (number of vehicles parked by time of day) • duration (length of time parked) • turnover (number of different vehicles parked per space) 4.0 Analysis — Parking Demand and Supply 4.1 The results of the survey established that there are a total of 60 on-street parking spaces which included 2 accessible spaces on the west side of Main Street available within the Study Area. 5.0 Conclusions and Recommendations 5.1 The Orono Parking Study Update provides key benchmark information on parking in the downtown core area of Orono and includes a detailed inventory of parking demand characteristics for typical conditions in Orono. Conclusions from a review of the updated data showed in general, parking demand displayed the following characteristics: • The west side of Main Street was the most utilized area for parking with an average of just over 4 spaces or 25% of parking available during the data collection period Municipality of Clarington Report EGD-002-16 Page 4 • Demand peaks at 77% utilization (or 23% available) between 12:30pm and 1:OOpm for the data collection period • Parking duration and turnover characteristics indicate that the prime on- street parking spaces exist on Mill Street and are being used properly for short-term parking (90% of use is less than one hour) and overall 88% of the parking is less than an hour for the study area. o Park Street had the worst case of extended parking with 2 out of the 6 spaces being occupied for more than 3 hours 0 10% (34) of vehicles were parked between 1 and 3 hours o Overall parking supply in the Orono Downtown core is adequate to meet existing demand. These findings are consistent with previous study findings which date back to the early eighties and have been revisited several times between now and then. Since the original studies have been conducted the parking arrangement on Church Street has been switched from the west to the east side resulting in five additional spaces in the downtown. The recommendations of the Study are based on both a quantitative and qualitative analysis of existing parking supply and demand characteristics and include the following: 1. Formalize agreements between business owners to provide off-street private shared parking for employees as well as patrons and customers where possible to increase on-street parking availability. 2. Continue to provide parking enforcement to assist with long term parking violators. 3. Adequate on-street parking is available to meet the demands of the downtown and no further action is required at this time to provide additional parking. Municipality of Clarington Report EGD-002-16 Page 5 6.0 Strategic Plan Application Not applicable. Submitted b ✓ � ��' �` Y Reviewed by: Anthony S. Cannella, C.E.T. Franklin Wu, Director of Engineering Services Chief Administrative Officer Staff Contact: Ron Albright, Assistant Director, Engineering Services, 905-623-3379 ext. 2305 or ralbright@clarington.net Attachments: List of interested parties to be notified of Council's decision is on file in the Engineering Services Department. ASC/ra/jb