Ketchum takes first step toward parking
plan
Committee convenes to review options
By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer
A special committee convened by the city
of Ketchum last week reviewed a set of potential parking-management strategies
for the city, including one to implement paid parking in the downtown area.
Don Cunningham, code enforcement
officer for the Ketchum Police Department, works on Tuesday to enforce parking
regulations in central Ketchum. In 2001, the city issued a total of 3,077
parking tickets, mostly for violations of time limits in two-hour-parking zones.
Express photo by Willy Cook
Meeting for the first time Friday, May 2,
the Downtown Ketchum Parking Advisory Committee took no decisive action, but set
the foundation for an eventual recommendation to city officials on how to manage
the city’s limited public parking in future years.
The initial meeting of the committee came
just days after the city’s parking consultant, Oregon-based Kittelson &
Associates, released its preliminary recommendations to the city. In the report,
the consultant lists numerous goals and management strategies for city officials
to consider.
Committee members on Friday included
Ketchum businessmen Eldridge French, Sigi Vogl and Chip Atkinson, city parking
agent Kim Rogers, Sun Valley resident Milt Adam, Wood River Rideshare executive
director Beth Callister, city engineer Dick Fosbury and two Kittelson
consultants.
At the heart of the matter is the question
of whether there is a bona fide parking shortage in Ketchum and whether the city
should use paid parking as a tool to manage its public parking spaces.
Judith Gray, chief representative of
Kittelson & Associates, told committee members that Ketchum—based on a set of
state-generated growth projections—will find itself with a parking shortage if
it doesn’t act to increase or better manage its existing inventory.
Gray said the city has approximately 1,700
public parking spaces—most of which are along the streets—and about 1,300
privately owned spaces.
She said the fact that the city has more
public parking than private parking is one of the key positive aspects of the
city’s situation. "Ketchum has done a lot of things right," she said.
However, she noted that a study of a
typical Friday afternoon in Ketchum revealed that 74 percent of the public
parking and 64 percent of the private parking was occupied. "That’s actually
quite high," she said.
An 85 percent occupancy level is
considered "full" by industry standards, mainly because effective parking zones
should provide a "buffer" to allow some turnover, she noted.
John Ringert, a Kittelson & Associates
engineer, said time-restricted parking in parts of central Ketchum is "working
pretty well," with less than 10 percent of motorists violating the restrictions.
Gray added that studies of state Highway
75 have shown that 14 percent of highway commuters carpool, a figure that she
called "a very good starting point." She and Ringert said improvements to the
region’s public transit system and increased participation in public transit
should be the focus of initiatives outside the city boundaries.
Inside the city boundaries, Ketchum
officials have several options, Gray said.
If the city were to do nothing, her report
to the city notes, general demand for parking in 2025 would exceed supply by
approximately 450 to 900 spaces. "Therefore, the city of Ketchum should
anticipate development of a minimum of 450 parking spaces to meet future
demand," the report says.
To meet that goal, the city can increase
its supply of parking spaces or work to decrease the demand, Gray said.
Management strategies identified by the
Kittelson report include:
- Implementing paid parking for public
lots and on-street spaces.
- Limiting parking in two-hour zones to
one daily visit per vehicle for each block face to restrict business employees
from switching places during the day.
- Reconfiguring the time limits in
restricted areas, possibly by establishing shorter time maximums in
high-turnover areas.
- Improving signage to direct motorists
to public parking and so-called "shared parking," areas where a property owner
allows public parking at designated times.
- Exploring funding options to develop
more public parking or park-and-ride lots outside of town.
In discussing the issue, committee members
broadly agreed on their goals for managing parking in the city.
Atkinson said his primary concern is that
all decisions about the matter should consider how to maintain the economic
vitality of the downtown area.
Several committee members said they want
the future plan to promote a "pedestrian-friendly" environment in the city.
However, Adam questioned whether a parking
"problem" actually exists at all in Ketchum.
Harold Moniz, Ketchum senior planner,
informed the committee that any plan will have to be approved by the Ketchum
City Council.
At their regular meeting Monday, May 5,
City Council members briefly addressed the issue at the request of Councilman
Randy Hall.
Prompted by Hall, the panel tentatively
agreed to send a letter to Parsons Brinckerhoff—the Utah-based consultant
helping the state to develop alternatives for expanding Highway 75 through the
Wood River Valley—asking the company to consider in its research that Ketchum
may implement paid parking in the future.
Hall noted that the letter might help the
state consultant to evaluate one alternative that includes high-occupancy
vehicle lanes to and from Ketchum.
Mayor Ed Simon suggested at the meeting
that paid parking might very well be in Ketchum’s future. "We don’t have an
urgent need for paid parking," he said. "We have an urgent need to plan for paid
parking."