Lancaster officials have the go-ahead to begin moving forward with reforms to the city’s Residential Permit Parking program, RPP for short, after the Traffic Commission gave its blessing last week.
At its Nov. 12 meeting, the commission approved the first two phases of a three-phase suite of action steps recommended by Kimley-Horn, the consulting firm that has been analyzing the city’s existing system.
The first phase is a suite of logistical and administrative changes; the second phase is a pilot test of the new version of the program.
The pilot is tentatively slated to start sometime in the second quarter next year, and is being eyed for two small areas, one in the city’s southeast, the other in the northwest.
If the results are positive, city officials plan to return to the Traffic Commission to authorize phase No. 3: A citywide rollout of the new RPP system. That will not happen until 2026 at the earliest. In the interim, the program, and the areas subject to RPP parking restrictions will remain essentially as-is.
The city ordinance that empowers the Traffic Commission does not explicitly say the commission can authorize pilot programs. Later this month, City Council is to vote on an ordinance granting that power, to ensure the commission’s authority is clear. That vote is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 26; the commission’s approval of the pilot program is conditional on the ordinance being approved.
‘Swiss cheese’
Street parking is tight in many parts of Lancaster. RPP is intended to ease the difficulty for residents by giving them priority for parking on their own blocks.
At present there is a moratorium on new RPP application. Before it was imposed, blocks could be considered for RPP if 75% of its households signed a petition. The Lancaster Parking Authority handles enforcement and issues tickets for violations.
In its current form, RPP is not working well, city officials and Kimley-Horn say. The process for adding blocks and granting extra parking permits is “very subjective,” yielding a patchwork or “Swiss cheese” of regulations, Kimley-Horn’s Robert Ferrin told the Traffic Commission at an earlier meeting in September.
In some areas, the RPP is significantly oversubscribed, with as many as three permits issued for each space available. Vehicles that can’t park in in RPP blocks park in non-RPP blocks nearby, creating excess demand there. In other areas, demand is light enough that RPP may not be justified.
Here’s what Kimley-Horn is proposing, phase by phase:
Phase 1
In this phase, the Traffic Commission is to develop a more defined process for RPP applications and appeals, as well as an “institutional use exemption.” The latter would give entities such as hospitals and funeral homes the ability to seek up to five permits in RPP zones.
The city and parking authority are to clarify and consolidate the information they provide about RPP, which is now offered piecemeal on their respective websites. They are to create online maps and signup portals and create a “tiered” renewal system, so that people need only submit all their eligibility information once every three years, rather than yearly.
They are to look at offering residents in certain areas access to overnight parking in the authority’s garages, taking advantage of their underutilized supply of overnight space.
Lastly, Kimley-Horn recommends equipping the parking authority with vehicle-mounted license plate readers, supplementing the hand-held readers its enforcement officers use now.
Residents told Kimley-Horn emphatically they want better RPP enforcement, Ferrin said. Vehicle-mounted readers will allow officers to sweep blocks and move from zone to zone more quickly. Moreover, the data that’s collected can be aggregated and used to understand parking demand and refine the RPP program.
The system will track parking data only and nothing else; it will not provide access to databases used by law enforcement, the authority’s executive director, Larry Cohen, said.
All the Phase 1 changes are worth doing in their own right, Ferrin said. That is, even if the city were to decide not to change the RPP rules, it still makes sense to improve enforcement and customer service and expand supply by leveraging available garage space.
Phase 2
In this phase, the city and parking authority would evaluate revisions to the RPP program’s eligibility criteria, approval processes and signage, trying them out in defined pilot areas.
The core goal is to base RPP designations on actual parking data, Ferrin said.
When an area is proposed for RPP, officials would collect several days’ worth of data over at least three time periods: 5 a.m., midday and evening.
Presumably, vehicles parked at 5 a.m. belong to local residents, so that data would serve as a base count. Data from the other two time frames would be set against it to gauge peak occupancy and the portion due to demand from outside the immediate area, such as adjacent businesses or institutions.
To be eligible for RPP, the survey would have to show peak occupancy of at least 60%, with more than half the vehicles belonging to non-residents.
Rather than single blocks, RPP areas would be at least two blocks square. The number of households that would need to petition for RPP would be lowered from 75% to 60%. That still offers a mechanism for residents to signal a desire for RPP, while offsetting the need to gather signatures over a larger area, city Transportation Planner Emma Hamme said.
Once a zone is designated as RPP, vehicles without permits would be limited to two hours’ parking, or would have to pay to park, depending on demonstrated demand levels.
If peak occupancy is below 60%, that indicates RPP isn’t needed, Ferrin said: There’s enough space to meet demand. If occupancy is above 80%, he said, restrictions might need to be tighter, perhaps even limiting parking to permit-holders only.
Permits would be limited: No more than two per single-family dwelling, no more than one per apartment unit. Households would be able to apply for an additional permit. The current system of guest and contractor permits would be simplified and streamlines.
A household’s first, second and third permit would cost $20, $40, and $80, respectively. There would be an exemption allowing low-income households to secure up to two permits for $20 each.
All of the above provisions would be tested throughout the pilot phase and adjusted, if necessary. The city plans “to see what works and see how it works,” Traffic Commission Chairman and Public Works Director Stephen Campbell said.
The two pilot locations have already been evaluated and appear to meet the peak threshold criteria, Ferrin said.
In general, RPP would remain as-is outside the pilot areas. However, blocks that are struggling with capacity due to nearby RPP areas could petition to be included in the pilot, or the Traffic Commission could consider bringing them into the new RPP system earlier, Campbell said.
Phase 3
In Phase 3 the retooled RPP would be rolled out citywide. For that to happen, city officials would need to return to the Traffic Commission and secure its formal approval.
Right now, about 20% of households that have RPPs aren’t actually in a RPP zone. Their eligibility would be phased out. Zones that don’t meet the new criteria would be eliminated.
The rollout would occur gradually over several years, Ferrin said.
He and Campbell were asked if residents would be allowed to challenge zone delisting decisions. For example, actual peak demand may not occur on the days or at the times the city decides to measure.
Yes, there should be give and take in a public, transparent process, Ferrin said, but there can’t be unlimited scope for negotiation: Ultimately, outcomes need to be data-driven and based on defined criteria.
