As the City of Livermore has grown and flourished, parking has become increasingly challenging for residents and visitors. This continued growth combined with development plans that will eliminate two of downtowns largest public lots spurred the City to develop a parking management plan to address these challenges and support future growth. Watry Design worked with Nelson Nygaard to evaluate existing conditions, analyze projected future parking demand and recommend strategies to increase supply, better manage demand, adjust parking policies related to new development and finance components of the implementation of the parking program.
A study of the existing parking supply revealed that parking occupancy in downtown during peak periods exceeds the industry standard of 85% for much of the day. However while public parking lots were actually over 100% capacity, the public parking garage did not exceed 70% even in peak periods. The study also found that employees frequently parked for more than 4 hours at a time, hindering turnover rates. In addition to the study, the team also engaged with property owners, businesses and residents to formulate the most effective strategies for more effectively managing the parking supply.
To improve parking in the short term while also planning to replace the 560 spaces that will be lost to development of Livermore Village, the team developed a wide range of strategies that could be implemented immediately, in the short term, and in the medium term to address the City's parking needs. Each strategy was identified according to the level of impact it would have along with estimated costs to implement to aid the City in selecting the best solutions.
Short term strategies recommended by the team that could be easily implemented included improved wayfinding and adding real-time parking availability for the public parking garage, increasing enforcement of parking regulations and encouraging a privately run valet service during peak times. Short term strategies that could be implemented within 1-2 years included increasing public parking supply through shared parking agreements, implementing an employee parking program and providing additional surface parking next to the public parking garage. Medium term strategies aimed at replacing the parking that will be lost to development of the Livermore Village included building a new public parking garage and utilizing demand-based pricing.
The City implemented a number of the short-term strategies recommended by the study and put together an implementation program to refine costs, timelines, and provide detailed next-steps for the remaining strategies.
Project Details
- Owner: City of Livermore
- Urban Planner: Nelson Nygaard
- Project Status: Completed 2014
