The consulting team believes that the parking study should focus on parking spaces equidistant from both sides of Grand Avenue. It would not be logical to suggest that since the blocks to the west of Grand are longer, that they provide more usable parking for the Business District. Very few Business District customers would be willing to park at the corner of Spring and any of the cross streets. It is just to far to believe that any regular customer base would actually park here. The customer surveys show this attitude is true, where 82% responded that they would not park more than half a block on to a residential side street.
Additionally, by suggesting that 100% of these street parking spaces included in the parking study area may be available to customers of the Business District, the parking study is making an over assumption of the available parking. The residential parking information shows that many of the residents must park on the street. The parking study does not take into consideration fire hydrants, mailboxes, or other minor no parking zones that may exist along the side streets. Poor car spacing could also lower the exact amount of spaces possible on the side streets. These factors that diminish the available parking on the side streets should offset any potential gains that could be made if the limits of the study area were stretched out further than the distance considered on the drawing sheet A1.
The parking study makes an assumption of relativity, where customers will generally park only half way down the block balanced with the fact that not all of the street parking will always be available to the Business District Customers. Perhaps at some peak times, some of the customers might park just a little farther down the block since residents have filled the street closer to Grand. There is no exact science or mathematical way to determine the random occurrence of resident or customer parking behavior. To assume 100% of the street parking for the full length of the block is available to Business District customers is not reasonable, and would clearly skew the parking study to suggest that there is more useful parking in the area than actually exists.