South Grand Parking Study
September 20, 2001

6:00 Introductions

6:05 Review of Agenda - anything to add?

6:10 Review of Minutes from 9-06-01 meeting

6:15 Approve RFP

6:40 Volunteer Recruitment

7:00 New Business/Announcements
"Effective Community Parking Strategies" at East-West Gateway on October 3rd, 3 - 4 PM. See handout.

7:10 Next Meeting

7:15 Adjourn

Meeting opened by Emily Andrews SLACO

Self-introductions around room, in attendance were:
Patrick Moore, Tower Grove East
Fran Fanara, Commerce Bank
Dave Drebes, Tower Grove East
Michelle Taylor, Commercial District Manager
Nolan Rogers, Harris Stowe Intern
Mark Abbott, Tower Grove South
Sarah Winter, Tower Grove East
Brian Marston, Tower Grove South
Paul Stefanski, Tower Grove South
Dave McCreery, S. Grand Business District
Ray Lai, St. Louis Planning & Urban Design Agency
Alderman Ken Ortmann, 9th Ward
Alderwoman Jennifer Florida, 15th Ward
Emily Andrews, SLACO

Minutes from 9-20-01 and agenda were reviewed and approved.

Emily Andrews - Steve Shapiro, who teaches an architecture course at Washington University couldn't make it tonight, so he sent a class description to share with the group.

RFP Approval:
Brain Marston - submitted a few minor changes by e-mail. Ray Lai will incorporate those. Also, the Tower Grove Heights nomination for the National Register of Historic Places has been approved. Ray will update the RFP to indicate this.

Going around the table, all Steering Committee members who were present approved the RFP.

Ray Lai - Next the city will look over the RFP. If they have no major changes, it will be advertised. The proposals will be due four weeks after the RFP is advertised. At the two-week point, we will hold an information session at Commerce Bank.

The group agreed that the best day for this information session would be Thursday, October 11 at 11 am.

Ray - The information session will be open to Steering Committee members. We are holding it in the study area to allow applicants to visit and spend their lunch money here. If all goes according to our current plan, proposals will be due on October 29.

Dave McCreery - Has there been any preliminary interest in the RFP?

Both Patrick Moore and Jennifer Florida have been approached by interested firms. Both referred the firms to Ray.

Ray - If anyone has suggestions of firms that PDA should mail the RFP (either local or out of town), please get those to me in the next week.

Patrick - How long will it take to award the contract?

Ray - The selection committee is an ad hoc committee and we're waiting for confirmation from potential members. Both the selection committee & the Steering Committee will review the RFP's. The Steering Committee will make their recommendations. It will probably take 2 or 3 weeks to select a consultant.

Patrick - What's the time limit for completing the study?

Ray - No more than 6 months.

Emily - Where is the RFP advertised - in what section of the paper?

Ray - There is a classified section of "Proposals."

Jennifer - Will it be advertised on the City Information Network (CIN)?

Ray - Yes, SLDC has a page where we can post it.

Emily - What will the steering committee's role be at the information session?

Patrick - Well, it would be good to have Nolan and Steve there to answer questions about their work and what they can offer.

Ray - The information session is basically a Q & A session for the consultants. Steering Committee members will be able to answer questions, etc.

Michelle Taylor - If there is a minimal turn out at this information session, don't be disappointed. Normally we don't hold information sessions for proposals this small.

Ray - We do ask consultants to RSVP, so if no one does, we won't hold the session.

Volunteer Recruitment:
Jennifer - Neighborhood associations can pass around sign up sheets at their meetings. Tower Grove Heights meets next week. Grand Oak Hill met last week - they meet every other month.

Dave McCreery - I want to make sure everyone's aware of the CID (Community Improvement District) that will be implemented in January of 2002. We've been holding sessions to find out what people's expectations are for CID funding. This morning we began by dividing into groups: improvement & betterment, marketing & promotion, and security. But parking was probably the number one priority for people. I'm sure we could get some of them to volunteer.

Mark Abbott - Now that we're working with Steve's class on the GIS mapping, we need to get the parking inventory finished quickly - in the next three weeks. So we actually have an immediate need for volunteers. We'll need help counting parking spaces on residential streets on Saturday, September 29.

Patrick - How about from 8 - 12?

Mark - We'll meet at the Bread Co. at 8:30 and hit the streets at 9:00.

Dave McCreery - Mark, will you be providing detailed instructions?

Mark - Yes.

Jennifer - Will we be working in teams?

Mark - That will probably work best.

Michelle - And we're counting existing spaces?

Mark - Yes, existing residential spaces. Before we got started, we had to organize a spreadsheet that the Wash U. students can use in ArcView. Nolan and I will be meeting on Sunday to count metered spaces. Wash U Students will also be joining us on September 29.

Ray - For residential streets, we'll also count units in buildings, fire hydrants, no parking areas, handicapped spaces and driveways.

Patrick - When Tower Grove East did their housing survey, it raised some suspicion. People wanted to know what we were doing. It would be a good idea to wear nametags.

Emily - How many volunteers do you need Mark?

Mark - 28. That would be two per block.

Sarah -- The residents on blocks just east of Grand (where I live) are often students and there's often more than one car per unit. Often parking pads in the back are so poor that the city doesn't consider them legal parking spaces. So people on these blocks might be willing to help out too. I'll let them know about September 29.

Jennifer - The inventory will include all parking - meters, private lots, residential, etc?

Mark - Yes, but on 9-29, we'll just be counting residential.

There was quite a bit of discussion about counting garages and parking pads on 9-29. Mark decided that the street spaces are the first priority, alley spaces are the second, and we'll see how far we can get.

Michelle - Is there anything in TGE's housing survey we can use?

Patrick - Maybe the number of units per structure.

Emily - I will entrust Brian and Patrick to make an announcement and recruit volunteers at next week's Tower Grove Heights and Tower Grove East meetings. Volunteers are to meet at the Bread Company on Saturday, September 29 at 8:30 am to help count residential parking spaces. Mark will organize the volunteers and provide instructions.

Dave McCreery - How was last week's Wash U. class?

Dave Drebes - Brian, Mark, Nolan, Ray & I attended.

Ray - There are six students in the class. We indicated that our priority is the the 2nd assignment in the class description passed out this evening. ("Assist/work with the Harris Stowe intern by translating the existing parking condition data into ArcView. You will also be responsible for gathering data for several block units in the study area.") We were there to answer the student questions and explain what we're looking for.

Mark - We should be able to present the spreadsheet at our next meeting.

Paul Stefanski - What about public vs. private parking that supports the business district?

Brian - I think we definitely need to observe the percentage of current parking being used.

Ray - The study will provide us a new formula for parking on South Grand.

Ken Ortmann - But the situation changes. We've talked about doing car counts yearly or every six months. Maybe we could find students to help with that.

Sarah -- The businesses and residents are interdependent. It would not be easy rent buildings if our tenants were always complaining about parking.

Ken - The formula will continue to change, mostly because we have more cars on the street than we ever did before. That's not just in this neighborhood, but in my entire ward.

Announcements:
Patrick - I'm selling tickets for the DeSales fundraiser "A Taste of the South Side." It's at St. Pius V on Friday November 2nd.

Ken - On Saturday, October 13, the Salvation Army on Arsenal will offer pet vaccinations & chips for a low cost. At the same time Benton Park West is holding a Chili Fundraiser at Salvation Army.

Dave McCreery - Passed out an article from the Main Street News entitled "The Seven Deadly Sins (of Main Street Revitalization)."

Ray - The American Planning Association audio conference on "Effective Community Parking Standards" on Wednesday, October 3, 3 - 4 PM at East West Gateway. The conference is free, but you do need to register by October 2nd. To register contact Kim Wesley at 314-421-4220 or kimberly.wesley@ewgateway.org.

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES:
Meet at the Bread Company to help count parking spaces!
Saturday, September 29
8:30 am - 12:00 pm