Section 2 Analyses

2.1 Contextual Background

Over the past several years, Cary has been developing and defining a broader contextual vision for the entire downtown area. Seen as a cultural, commercial and service center for the broader community of Cary, the planning and policies set into place are also considered in the preparation of this 2007 parking study.

The Cary Streetscape Master Plan prepared with the assistance of the Urban Resource Group specifically identifies parking related ‘Guiding Principals’. The statement (below) is consistent with modern thinking or ‘best-practices’ for parking development in urban cores where increased density and pedestrian activity are desirable.

“Parking should be provided on-street or in parking decks situated within the interior of blocks so as not to consume street frontage. Alternatively, provide limited on-site parking tucked behind the buildings that face the street”

Rich and Associates also adopts a philosophy that parking should support the community’s greater vision for economic activity by being adequate, but not a surplus beyond the existing and potential need. Specifically, our approach is to consider parking allocation, location, design, multi-modal opportunities and operating efficiency in conjunction with necessary expansion.

2.2 Analysis Introduction

This section of the report is an assessment of how the existing parking is operating and how much new parking may be required based on current and anticipated future developments. For the analysis, Rich and Associates used turnover and occupancy data, parking and building inventories, business owner surveys and previous experience with parking to refine and determine the report’s analysis.

The process consisted of a two-part analysis. The first part of the analysis included a calculation of parking demand by block based on a building inventory and parking generation factors per 1,000 square feet of gross floor space. The demand was netted from the available supply and the resulting surplus or deficit determined on a block-by-block basis.

The second part of the analysis involved comparing the parking surplus and deficit patterns to the turnover and occupancy data. This comparison offered a benchmark, by which the surplus and deficit data was calibrated.

2.3 Parking Inventory

Table 2A summarizes the existing parking supply in the primary study area in downtown Cary. There are a total of approximately 3,464 parking spaces in the study area. Of theses 280 are on-street spaces and 1,009 are off-street public spaces. Except for the on-street parking, Town Hall complex and the Train Station, the Town has no true public parking in the study area.

Of the 1,009 public off-street spaces, 826 spaces are located at the Town Hall, 50 at the Library (public, but reserved for Library patrons and employees) and 133 at the train station. There are 2,175 private parking spaces in the core downtown focus area. The percentage comparison is as follows:

Table 2A – Public/Private Parking Comparison

	Public	Private
On-Street (280 stalls)	8%	0%
Off-Street (3,184 stalls)	29%	71%
Totals (3,462 stalls)	37%	63%

The importance of comparing the public to private ratio is that greater amounts of public parking allow for expanded shared use opportunities, reducing the overall amount of parking needed to service an equivalent amount of building space.

Similarly, public control over a majority amount of parking allows for the Town to effectively implement policy driven strategies with the parking. This allows the Town to be able to respond to development scenarios and opportunities in a timely and effective manner with parking provision.

Table 2B on page 4 is a detailed parking supply listing types and durations of parking by each block and is followed by Map 2, which is a spatial view of the parking supply. In cases where parking spaces were not marked, the numbers of parking spaces were estimated. For the purpose of the study any parking marked reserved or privately owned was designated as private parking.

Of the 1,897 spaces in the core (south of the tracks) the Town of Cary manages and controls only the on-street parking which is about 14 percent of the parking in the downtown core. Based on Rich and Associates’ experience and best practices, we have found that to successfully manage municipal parking it is desirable for the municipality to have control of at least 50 percent of the parking supply. This allows the municipality to effectively manage the parking in terms of allocation, changing demand, market pricing, and allows the parking to be enforced with greater efficiency. Cary falls short of this benchmark.

In general, on-street parking spaces are not striped or marked and signage is not always clear with respect to time restrictions. There is only one off-street lot that has time restrictions (Ashworth Village Lot has two hour restricted parking).

The parking supply table breaks down the parking supply into general categories. While there are no rules regarding the ratio of on-street to off-street parking, on-street parking always works best for customers and visitors in a downtown setting.

The definitions associated with Table 2B are as follows:

· Not Signed – no sign limiting the time a vehicle may park.

· 15 minute – signed 15 minute parking.

· One hour – signed 1 hour parking.

· Public – Town owned parking.

· Private – Privately owned parking.

· Loading Zone- spaces marked for loading

· ADA- signed barrier free spaces

In general, Rich and Associates recommends that the Town endeavor to control a greater percentage of the parking. Specifically, the Town should consider limiting new private parking, particularly surface lots that have a tendency to reduce building density and pedestrian activity.

Reduced density and reduced pedestrian activity both contribute to a need for more parking. Conversely, higher density and greater amounts of pedestrian activity have a tendency to reduce needed parking. Specific recommendations dealing with this are detailed in Section Four.

Employee parking and long-term parking for customers and visitors should always be encouraged in off-street locations. Employees in particular are more willing to walk greater distances. Rich and Associates typically recommends 350 feet as a benchmark distance for customer and visitor walking distance and 650 feet for employee walking distance to and from parking areas.

Map Two on page 5 illustrates graphically the available parking supply in the study area.

Table 2B – Downtown Focus Area Parking Supply Summary

Block >	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	Summary
On-Street
Not Signed		32	33		21	34	17		5							27	35		5					209
15 Minute						4