City Council Minutes

Mayor Johnson called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance at 7:00 p.m. in the Northville City Hall Council Chambers, 215 West Main Street, Northville, Michigan.

City Council: Mayor Christopher Johnson, Councilmembers Kevin Hartshorne, Jerry Mittman, Thomas Swigart

Downtown Development Authority: Lou LaChance, Jim Long, Greg Presley

Historic District Commission: Walt Coponen, Tom Holleman

Planning Commission: Jay Wendt, Nancy Chiri, J. Christopher Gazlay, David Mielock, Marc Russell, Anne Smith

Board of Zoning Appeals: Jim Bress

Also Present: City Manager Gary Word, Assistant City Manager/Finance Director Nickie Bateson, DDA Director Lori Ward, DPW Director Jim Gallogly, Recording Secretary Carol Kasprowicz, Matt Jobin of Rich & Associates, Reporters from Northville Record and Detroit News, and 19 citizens

Mayor Johnson welcomed everyone and stated the purpose of the meeting was to review several options prepared by Rich & Associates concerning the downtown parking project. Additionally, several suggestions had been formulated regarding the management of parking.

DDA Director Ward reviewed the comments generated at the Public Information meeting of December 8, 2003. The purpose of the December meeting was to garner feedback following the defeat of the parking deck bond issue. The comments generated at that meeting could be summarized into four segments: suggestions regarding parking management, objections to the size of the deck, objections to the location of the deck, and questioning the perception of a parking problem.

Subsequently, Ward enumerated parking management recommendations as submitted by the Parking Committee of the DDA as follows:

• Reduce the number of orange dots in the Wing Street and Marquis lots to coincide with the construction of the Long project. Downtown employees would be required to find long term parking in other downtown locations, along Cady Street, and adjoining neighborhoods.

• Increase the parking fines from $5 to $10.

• Increase the amount of time spent on parking enforcement with either increasing the hours of a part-time officer or the hiring of a part-time parking enforcement employee.

• Purchase of hand-held electronic equipment to aid in the enforcement of an escalated fine system to discourage repeat offenders who use the ticket fees as a parking program.

• Enforce the 3-hour parking limit for the entire lot vs. three hours of parking in a specific space.

• Change current 2-hour on-street parking spaces to 1-hour spaces.

• Request the Planning Commission to revisit the method of calculating the number of parking spaces required for a development from gross square footage to rentable square footage of the project.

• Have two downtown lots, currently lacking public parking signs, signed for public use.

• Increasing the cost of parking credit fees.

• Purchase snow removal equipment for use on sidewalks in the downtown.

Matt Jobin of Rich & Associates presented layout designs for a deck on the Main/Wing parking lot and a deck on the Dunlap/Marquis Theater parking lot. Two options were outlined for each location.

Option #1 for the Wing Street deck:

- consisted of a 2-story tabletop deck (cars access deck from different points of entrance for each floor; cannot be expanded),

- holding 166 parking spaces (for a net of 83 new parking spaces),

- at an approximate construction cost of $11,753 per space.

Option #2 for the Wing Street deck:

- consisted of a 2-story translating deck (cars can travel from one level to another; can be expanded in the future),

- holding 184 parking spaces (for a net of 99 new spaces),

- at an approximate construction cost of $13,190 per parking space.

Option #1 for the Dunlap/Marquis Theater parking deck:

- consisted of a 2-story tabletop deck (cars access deck from different points of entrance for each floor; cannot be expanded),

- holding 193 parking spaces (for a net of 106 new spaces),

- at an approximate construction cost of $10,127 per space.

Option #2 for the Dunlap/Marquis deck consisted of a 2-story translating deck (cars can travel from one level to another; can be expanded in the future),

- holding 200 parking spaces (netting 111 new spaces),

- at an approximate construction cost of $12,874 per space.

In addition to the approximate construction cost for each design, estimated Owner (the City) costs were listed for items dealing with constructing two decks. Listed were items such as electrical and water main relocation, site surveys, and civil engineering and landscape architect fees. The owner’s cost for building two decks was estimated to be approximately $800,000. A 5% owner’s contingency and a 5% architectural/engineering fee was estimated at $250,000 each. It was estimated that the cost of building Option #2 at the Main/Wing Street location, and building Option #2 at the Dunlap/Marquis Theater location would total $6,304,239.

At present, the DDA Parking Fund totals $1,305,000. A limited tax obligation bond for $5M would have to be issued to finance the projects.

Following the presentations, questions and comments included:

- specific design aspects of the decks

- concern over adequate space for truck turnaround at Wing Street deck

- affordability and method of financing the project

- suggestion to purchase private property for parking

- discussion on reconfiguring previous Wing Street deck design vs. building two decks

- objection to placing a deck behind Marquis Theater; objection to placing an expandable deck on Wing Street.

- discussion on the timing of building one and/or two decks

- concern over business viability during construction of deck(s)

- discussion on the impact of employee parking on parking management efforts

- suggestions to facilitate strict enforcement of parking rules

- concern over delay in alleviating parking problem behind Center St. businesses

It was suggested a strategic plan be formulated regarding future parking needs on a block by block basis. A 1988 parking study was referenced in discussing possible capacity behind the Marquis Theater.

It was also suggested that a pay-for-parking system be instituted and, subsequently, have business owners pay for patrons’ parking.

Many comments were directed at the impact of employees parking in nearby lots. Discussion took place on the method and system that could be used in compelling employees to park in specific areas in the downtown. It was questioned as to whether there is a parking problem or a parking management problem.

Mayor Johnson closed the meeting by stating the DDA would take note of the comments and discussions of the evening. The recommendations of the Parking Committee regarding parking management actions will be brought before City Council.

There being no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Carol T. Kasprowicz
Recording Secretary