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Home My WebLink About10092023 City Council Laydown - Parking 10/9/2023 231009 CC Laydown - Parking Seward Parking Enforcement General plan for improvement and assessment of needs 1 Presentation plan • Discuss our current parking systems and lots • Look at current revenue, potential revenue under current pricing, and potential revenue under new pricing system. • Discuss Upsafety as a solution to parking enforcement, and the quote obtained. • Discuss needs and future plans and goals for Seward parking 2 1 10/9/2023 Red-North 72 hour lot-2 pay stations Blue-South 72 hour lot-2 pay stations ion Purple-South Launch lot-1 pay station Pay statiw Green-Uplands Parking lot-1 pay stationPay 5wion Yellow-North East lot-2 pay stations We also have the center lot,currently free for up to 2 hours. 3 Current parking System • We currently use T2 parking enforcement systems. • T2 uses both kiosks and mobile pay to allow customers multiple ways to pay for their parking. They also offer cash payments, though we do not have that enabled. 4 2 10/9/2023 Current parking capacity and rates • There are 177 parking spots in N72 • 178 in S72 • 180 in NE boat launch • 140 in Uplands/South boat launch • Total paid parking spaces- 675 • Center Lot- 94 spots • Current rate is $10 per day in any of these lots. • We also sell passes • Slip holder-$50 annual • Harbor Employee- $50 • Annual pass- $100 5 Two year revenue 2022 2023 • $221,727.17 through August 31 • Also did not start until • $396,171.25 End June 1 of year 6 3 10/9/2023 2023 parking statistics • Approximate Average paid occupancy- • N72- 75% • S72-68% • N E LOT- 45% • Uplands/Boat launch- 28% Homer information • Homer implemented T2 with Upsafety in 2023. The harbor master has estimated an increase in compliance, and stated he estimates the compliance rate is 95%. They have 4 parking employees that they pay seasonally at $22-$23 an hour and work 6AM-6PM for approximately 200 spots. They do have the employees sworn in by PD to enforce city code in the parking lots specifically. • They use ALPR Automatic License Plate Reader) And AK Plate which allows them to write the citation to the registered owner of the vehicle at the scene, and everything is stored in Upsafety cloud based servers. • Out of 600 tickets written through August 1, they have had 12 appeals, only one of which has gone to the highest level of appeal which is the city manager. All others were handled at the informal level built into the Upsafety system. s 4 10/9/2023 Price change recommendations • To keep up with costs associated it is important to update prices. • Change N72 from a long term parking lot to a pay by hour parking lot, and up to 72 hours. • Charge for Center lot parking, available for up to 24 hour parking, no long term. • 0-4 hours- $5 (Dinner/shopping) • 4-10 hours- $10 (half day tours/charters) • 10-24- $15 • Annual passes Sold at $100 for harbor employees/slip owners, $150 for others • Rest remain long term with a $15 per day price. • Make fines $25 per day in city code 9 Pricing comparison estimates CURRENT RECOMMENDED • $10 per day $15 per day,with short term of$5 for 0-4 hours and$10 for 4-10 hours added in North/center • North and South at 80% • South at 80% • NE at50% NE at50% • Uplands/South Launch at 25% Uplands/South Launch at 25% • $23,411.21 slip holder/annual North 0-4 50 per day,4-10 100 per day,10-24 50 per day. • $458,597.21 (estimates) • Center lot 0-4 30 per day,4-10 40 per day,10-24,20 per day (Estimates) • $23,411.21 Slip holder/annual • $754,715.21 10 5 10/9/2023 Equipment • T2 offers Upsafety, a parking enforcement system • It links to our current parking system and kiosks. This allows parking enforcement to get real time information on cars that belong in our lots. • We would need to purchase the software, and equipment (phone/tablet, and printer that attaches) • All information is stored in our T2/Upsafety system, including payment. The offender could pay the citation through the online system, reducing the need to involve finance, or any other departments or employees to be involved in the process. • It also comes with a built in appeal system. This allows the offender to request a review and give mitigating information. That would be reviewed by the department designee and decided upon. 11 Upsafety benefits • Upsafety allows us to get the minimum necessary information to write the citation. • All citations will also have photos in the system for evidence of the violation. • Upsafety also uses GIPS tire stem location (Called electronic chalking) to determine if cars have moved. We will not physically touch or mark any tires in the lots. • Built in appeals system, allowing violators to contest their ticket if they have a reason to. We handle appeals in house. All payments are processed in the website. Upsafety takes a $3 CC transaction fee from the $25 citation. 12 6 10/9/2023 Upsafety quote • Quote includes 24/7/365 support, training, and all equipment needed, as well as backend website customization. • Comes with 2 handheld devices and printers for writing citations, links with ALPR and all of our T2 pay stations to verify if cars belong in the lot or not. • $17,893 first year, and $9,564 each year after for 3 year total. • Total 3 year cost of $37,021 13 Passes • Upsafety systems have issues with permit parking. They are linked to license plates. We believe the best option is to have passes be linked to people not vehicles, meaning if they purchase a pass they can hang it in any vehicle they are driving. Talking with Homer harbor, who handle parking, they found issues with this in the Upsafety system and has it led to tickets being written to pass owners. • It is recommended that we sell parking passes in house, rather than through T2. • We could set up a payable account in Rec desk for over the phone, or drop in payments for the annual pass or worker pass, and the harbor could have slip owner pass as an add on for slip fees. We purchase and give a rearview window hanger for the passes. These passes can be placed in any vehicle. • Parking passes are able to be used in any lot except the center lot, which will only be used for up to 24 hour parking. 14 7 10/9/2023 Fine schedule • Parking violation- $25 • Non payment more than 30 days- $50 • Non payment more than 60 days- $75 • Non payment more than 90 days $100 • Upsafety does have a collection agency that we could partner with for unpaid fines. • Do not use tows, boots, theft of service charges etc. unless willful and continued violations. 15 City council • To properly implement these changes, council would need to amend code to grant permission for parking employees to write citations, and also codify a citation amount and schedule, and appeals process for complaints that want to elevate above the informal process within Upsafety. • We also believe we would need to update the pay for these workers. Our current rate of $17-$18 does not compete with the local market. Homer pays $22-$23 an hour, and I believe we should be close to or match that. 16 8 10/9/2023 Salary expenditure • If we hired 4 employees at $22 an hour, the overall cost would be $84,480 for salaries. • April 24- Sept 31 (1 week of training and onboarding before season and parking season) 159 days • 4-10 work schedule with 2 per day, overlap on Friday's with 4 per day. No OT except holidays. 17 Goals • The goal with this is not to write a bunch of tickets. Rather, we hope that by having visible enforcement, and parking services in the parking lots, we will increase voluntary compliance with our parking regulations. This in turn will allow us to make these services better, keep up with maintenance, line striping and pavement work that keep everyone safer. It also places city employees in the harbor to help answer questions, as a visual deterrent for theft, which has been an issue in the past and direct people to necessary services. • While the tickets the employees write will not likely cover the costs of hiring them and getting equipment, the increase in voluntary compliance with parking rules will more than make up for the cost to employ and equip employees to do this job well. 18 9 10/9/2023 Goals • Our parking lots are in decent shape right now. Obviously, resurfacing will need to happen eventually. • Pave the Uplands parking lot. It is usually our least filled lot, so making part of that car parking, rather than all of it boat and trailer parking would be a great plan. • Find a spot for overflow parking on busy days and times (Derby, 4t" of July, ETC) and work with Seward City Tours to have a shuttle run from the overflow to the harbor. 19 Community Buy-in • Obviously, parking can be contentious. We are not trying to write people tickets, trick them, or cause them any frustration. • The reality is, our lots are nice, especially compared to other destinations like us. They are paved, lined, and clean. To continue that, revenue must be generated to maintain and continue to improve. • We offer annual passes for a low rate for anyone who wants them, with an even steeper discount for harbor employees and slip owners. The Parking department would go down to the harbor and sell these passes at the beginning of the season, decreasing barriers for harbor employees to purchase the passes. • It is also recommended that 20% of the annual revenue be placed into a fund for playground/park improvement or off setting the cost of a community center in the future. 20 10 10/9/2023 Questions? 21 11