A meeting was held last Thursday to discuss the Council Draft version of the Joaquin Neighborhood's parking permit program. The meeting was held primarily for South Joaquin residents, who listened, provided feedback, and voted. The vote was 20 - 13 in favor of the permit program. Concerns were focused on visitor parking, and the implementation of the plan.
There were some points that I feel need further explanation. First of all, the basics of the permits. A permit entitles you to park in a particular subdistrict, and owner occupants can get 2 free, and purchase one other. The permits will be "hanging" meaning they can be transferred from car to car as needed. So, if you have a driveway that holds 2 cars, and you have 3 "cars" of visitors, you can use those permits for your visitors, and still be able to handle everyone. Permits for owner occupants are not car specific. They will be for tenants.
Another issue--businesses must be located without the technical boundaries of the neighborhood in order to be eligible for permits. So, Central Business District businesses won't be eligible. That includes all University Ave located businesses.
Things that I feel we need to change, or improve:
There were some points that I feel need further explanation. First of all, the basics of the permits. A permit entitles you to park in a particular subdistrict, and owner occupants can get 2 free, and purchase one other. The permits will be "hanging" meaning they can be transferred from car to car as needed. So, if you have a driveway that holds 2 cars, and you have 3 "cars" of visitors, you can use those permits for your visitors, and still be able to handle everyone. Permits for owner occupants are not car specific. They will be for tenants.
Another issue--businesses must be located without the technical boundaries of the neighborhood in order to be eligible for permits. So, Central Business District businesses won't be eligible. That includes all University Ave located businesses.
Things that I feel we need to change, or improve:
- I feel the amount of free visitor "one day" spots available to each address needs to be increased. These will be a print-off the web sort of permit. The current plan gives 6 a year per address. That just isn't enough.
- I will probably recommend that instead of having 3 subdistricts within South Joaquin, there would be just 1 overall district. This would make it easier for folks to visit friends, home /visit teach, etc.
- I plan to recommend an "appeal" process which could enable residents with special circumstances to request additional permits, or perhaps more "visitor permits."
- I plan to request a program which would allow local church buildings to request non-enforcement periods on streets immediately surrounding their buildings.
I am still hoping for input from each of you.
8 comments:
My block has not had parking problems and several nearby blocks are in a similar situation. Is it possible for some blocks to opt out of the permit process. This is another bureaucracy to deal with and if it isn't absolutely necessary we shouldn't implement it. Those who came to the meeting may not be representative of the neighborhood. They may be the ones with the most difficult problems.
I was unable to attend the meeting but I would be willing to participate in a survey of my area to see where the most difficult problems exist.
Its true that some areas have less problems than others. But, because of the Foothills and University Gardens permit areas which were passed 2 weeks ago, as well as if the North Joaquin plan or part of the South Joaquin plan go into force, your area will see problems. Commuter parking will move your way, and your status will change. Whether we like it or not, the Council already approved the Joaquin Village project. We simply have to protect ourselves from the possible overflow of cars into our area.
I am an owner/landlord. I visit my home regularly to make improvements. Since I pay taxes on my home, I feel I should be able to park in front of it to make repairs and work in the yard as often as necessary. Requiring me to pay for permits to park in front of my own home just isn't right. Extra fees and burdens will act as a deterrent to continuing upkeep. I also agree that allowances for visitor parking need to be greatly increased. My tenants will not be able to hold social gatherings, such as bridal showers, etc. and invite families and friends. Visiting families and dates will not have a place to park, particularly evenings and weekends. I feel evenings and Saturdays should have less restrictions
I am an owner/landlord. I visit my home regularly to make improvements. Since I pay taxes on my home, I feel I should be able to park in front of it to make repairs and work in the yard as often as necessary. Requiring me to pay for permits to park in front of my own home just isn't right. Extra fees and burdens will act as a deterrent to continuing upkeep. I also agree that allowances for visitor parking need to be greatly increased. My tenants will not be able to hold social gatherings, such as bridal showers, etc. and invite families and friends. Visiting families and dates will not have a place to park, particularly evenings and weekends. I feel evenings and Saturdays should have less restrictions.
I second bill's comment. The attendance at the meeting seemed rather scarce. Perhaps we could get a better idea of the overall opinion if we did some kind of survey. I'd be willing to volunteer some hours to helping such an endeavor.
Would it be possible to get the details of the program proposal here or a link to somewhere it's already posted?
Here is the link to the City's website that has the info requested.
http://www.provo.org/comdev.parking.html
FYI:
Attendance at neighborhood meetings is always scarce, no matter how much publicity is done, and how many flyers are published and distributed. Over 250 of them went out for the past meeting, and we still only gathered 33 people. Ideas for gathering more would be very welcome. If you have friends, get their email addresses onto the neighborhood email list.
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