Leased spaces in parking structure up for discussion

Roughly half of the parking spaces in the city’s new downtown parking structure are planned to be leased parking spots.

“The parking structure was designed as a retail parking structure,” City Manager Chuck Stearns said. “But it’s desirable to get as many employee cars off Central Avenue and get them relocated [to free up street parking spaces].”

The city is considering leasing out between 96 and 127 of the 212 parking spaces inside the parking structure attached to the new City Hall building, both currently under construction.

City Council at its April 4 meeting looked at several options for the leased spaces. Stearns said the idea is to generate about $50,000 annually in revenue to assist with operation and maintenance costs of the parking structure.

If the city leases 96 spaces at a rate of $30 per month that would generate a maximum annual revenue of about $35,000. If it leases 96 spaces at $50 per month that would generate a maximum of just under $60,000.

 The city also is considering leasing 127 spaces. At $30 per month for each space, that would generate about $45,000, while $50 per month would bring in a maximum of just over $75,000.

The city could charge different rates for uncovered and covered parking — 69 uncovered spaces at $30 per month and 58 covered spaces at $40, would generate $52,000 per year in revenue.

“Do we think realistically we can get 127 leases?” Councilor Frank Sweeney asked.

Stearns said a formal survey hasn’t been taken, but the Heart of Whitefish organization has spoken with its members and there is interest in the leases. However, the group prefers the lesser cost amount and to differentiate between covered and uncovered.

“At $30 we’re going to see a pretty strong demand and then later in a year or two you could raise the rates,” Stearns said. “You do want to start with lower rates because you want to get people into the structure and getting used to using it.”

During public comment, Rhonda Fitzgerald, a member of the Heart of Whitefish, asked the city to make sure the lease rates encourage business owners to sign up.

“Structure the rates to get as many employee cars off the street as possible,” she said. “We need to leave the street parking for visitors.”

Councilor Jen Frandsen said she favors creating two different sections for the leased parking.

“I think we want to incentivize the uncovered parking by making it cost less,” she said. “If we don’t differentiate, also many of the retail or restaurant employees would most likely be always parking in the uncovered parking because they arrive later.”

Plans are for leased parking to be located on the second and third floors of the parking structure. Retail parking would primarily be on the first floor and some short-term parking spaces would also be included.

The city is planning to use a license plate recognition system for the leased parking spaces on the second and third levels of the parking structure. The cameras scan the license plates as the vehicle enters the leased area of the garage and determines whether it is authorized to park there. If it’s not allowed or if the plate can’t be read because of snow, the system then notifies a technician.

“We cannot have control gates at the entrance to the parking structure because any small queue of cars waiting to enter the structure will back up onto First Street,” Stearns said. “Also, parking gates are very high maintenance, inflexible and not very convenient and easy for customers.”

Council did give an informal OK to install the infrastructure, including power and network cables for the cameras, allowing for greater flexibility in where the cameras will ultimately be located. The specifics of the leased spaces will eventually determine how many cameras are necessary.

Frandsen said she wants flexibility for how leases will be implemented.

“We need as many areas for the conduit for the cameras as possible, so we can move the cameras around in the future if we need to,” she said.

Currently, the city is looking at the leased parking spaces to be for 12 hours per day on Monday through Friday. At night and on weekends, the entire parking structure would be free and unlimited parking. Cars left overnight in the leased parking spaces would be towed.

The first floor would be free likely with a 3-hour limit for the majority of the parking and about 10 short-term spaces would be nearest to the entrance from the parking garage to City Hall.

Mayor John Muhlfeld questioned plans to use money raised from leased parking to pay for the salary a new city employee to maintain the facility.

“When we set the goal for the lease revenue it was anticipated to be used for operation and maintenance,” Muhlfeld said. “Through all of the discussion, there was never talk of creating an additional position for a lease manager. I always thought that lease revenue would go toward replacing light bulbs, painting and that type of maintenance.”

Stearns said the operation and maintenance cost estimates for the parking structure always included budgeting for salary.

“We need someone to clean, plow and sweep the structure,” he said. “We need a person to do the maintenance and monitor the lease parking.”

Stearns said the city’s parking enforcement person will monitor the hourly parking spaces inside the parking structure, but someone would still be needed to manage the rest of the parking structure.

“If we don’t pay for the position with money from the leases, then we pay for that out of general property taxes,” Stearns said. “Council would have to raise property taxes for that position. We will discuss that more when we do the budget this year.”

Stearns proposes the new position of a full-time maintenance technician for both the parking structure and the new City Hall. He said the technician would do the enforcement of the leased parking, as well as maintenance of the structure, and could manage the Emergency Services Center facility.

Depending on the option chosen for the leased spaces, the revenue generated would cover or nearly cover the estimated salary cost of about $60,000.