Ferndale Hears Parking Study Results
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Jan. 27, 2015)
On Monday night Ferndale City Council heard the results of the parking study done by Republic Parking and Carl Walker that looked at current use of the parking system and projected use based on the 3-60 Project being considered by the City, which would take the Withington Parking Lot and West Troy Parking Lots and develop them into a mix of parking, offices, retail spaces and residential uses.
The purpose of these studies were two fold,” said Acting City Manager Joe Gacioch. “The first part was to help the City evaluate and understand the amount of typical parking traffic during the week and on weekends, and the impact of this demand on the city’s current parking supply… Number two the purpose would be to help the city evaluate whether the parking supply that has been included in the 3-60 Development proposed would meet both our existing demand and the future demand that would be generated by the proposed project.”
The study was done by on-site personnel counting vehicles through the study period. It did not include vehicles that parked on side streets because there was no way to differentiate between residents and visitors to Downtown. The new parking meters do collect data, but they wanted to be sure that the counts were accurate and included people who failed to feed the meters or who parked in places that were not standard parking spots. Acting City Manager Gacioch explained they wanted to focus on the part of the system that they could manage, but also said that the City is working on how to make residential parking better for residents, including more enforcement of parking time limits.
The study found that currently during the week the parking system west of Woodward during the weekdays was 64% and on the weekends it was 86%. They looked at potential future supply and demand based on the 3-60 Project as well the presumption that existing vacant properties become occupied. There are currently 854 spaces. The project would add 605 (283 in Withington and 137 in W. Troy), for a total of 1459. The effective supply number would be 1,304 spaces. The future peak demand would be 1,169 spaces, leaving a surplus of 135 spaces.
“My observation from this report is that our parking lots are 50% vacant most of the day. And so we have opportunity to fill those parking lots with new workers, new residents, so that our parking lots aren’t vacant 50% of the time of the day. That was my takeaway. There’s actually room to bring more people into the downtown during the daytime, which is what our retailers have been looking for, and our businesses, so that they have more foot traffic during the day,” said Councilperson Melanie Piana.
She was concerned however that the study did not seem to take into consideration the potential for public transit in the future, and the growing number of people who do not rely on cars to get everywhere.
“I know were in a really awkward period of no transit and parking problems during peak times,” Piana said “We don’t need as many parking spots because transit is coming.”
She noted that the 3-60 Project would be a 70% increase in spaces. “My concern is I don’t want to overbuild parking in Ferndale,” she said.
Councilperson Greg Pawlica noted that if parking demand declined in the future and they ended up with too many parking spaces in 3-60, that it could leave the possibility for other parking lots to be redeveloped or possibly turned into pocket parks. He was careful to note this was just a potential idea and not something he was advocating for or against.
There was no vote taken on any of the 3-60 Project related issues, and the report was a small part of the information being gathered as the City considers a public-private partnership to create mixed use development on the Withington and West Troy lots. Piana said she was not ready to draw any conclusions from the report.
Mayor Dave Coulter was surprised by the results. “My take away is that the numbers don’t seem to indicate the type of parking problem that we seem to think we have.
“We just assume that we have a parking problem. I haven’t heard any bigger issues since becoming mayor then we’ve got to do something about parking.”
The study also showed that projected parking increases caused by the 3-60 Project would likely occur earlier in the day than the peak times currently experienced. With office workers and retail using the spaces in the day, their use would peak around 2pm and start tapering off as the typical work day ends. As this number goes down, the current peak demand goes up as people come into Downtown Ferndale to shop after work or to enjoy dinner.
Jaye Spiro, owner of Mejishi Martial Arts is among a group of 40 business owners who sent Council a letter of concern about the 3-60 Project, which included fears that construction of the project would kill small businesses whose customers may have trouble finding parking during the construction. Spiro’s business has been in Downtown Ferndale for 21 years. “I want to be very clear that I think we’re the ones that make Ferndale cool and more sports bars, I don’t think are really necessary in our environment in order to make this place vital,” she said. “Will you kill us in order to have a higher density downtown? Please don’t do that.” The owners of Painting with a Twist, Assaggi Bistro, and Shine On Yoga also shared similar concerns.
The 3-60 Project is expected to present an update a special City Council meeting on Feb. 9 at 5:30pm at Ferndale City Hall.
The parking study results can be downloaded at: http://ferndale-mi.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=3&clip_id=495&meta_id=44844
Editor Note: This story has been updated to include more about the methodology of the study and the City Manager response to people parking in the residential areas.
For more stories on the 3-60 Project see:
https://oaklandcounty115.com/2015/01/09/melanie-piana-twenty-years-revitalizing-downtown-ferndale/
https://oaklandcounty115.com/2014/10/24/mayor-coulter-talks-fema-water-rates-3-60-and-more-at-senior-town-hall-video/
https://oaklandcounty115.com/2014/08/19/ferndale-3-60-opposition-meeting-aug-21/
https://oaklandcounty115.com/2014/08/15/video-jake-sigal-talks-about-3-60-project/
https://oaklandcounty115.com/2014/07/12/38-businesses-share-3-60-project-concerns-public-mtg-july-16/
https://oaklandcounty115.com/2014/07/07/info-meeting-for-ferndales-3-60-project-july-9/
https://oaklandcounty115.com/2014/06/11/big-dreams-for-ferndale-as-360-project-concepts-take-shape
https://oaklandcounty115.com/2014/03/11/ferndale-council-picks-3-60-group-for-parking-and-tech-development/
https://oaklandcounty115.com/2014/03/09/companies-vie-for-the-potential-to-develop-in-downtown-ferndale/
More information:
www.downtownferndale.com
http://www.ferndalemi.gov
www.ferndalemoves.com
For more pictures, plan and video of the council meeting, visit http://www.ferndalemi.gov/Government/Departments/City_Clerk/City_Council_Video_Meeting_Minutes and look for the July 9, 2014 meeting.
EDITORS NOTE: The project is called the 3-60 Project, not 360 Project (gotta make the search engines happy though)