City to study parking needs

   The last time Colorado Springs analyzed downtown parking needs, Bill Clinton was in office, gasoline sold for $1.29 a gallon and England was mourning the death of Princess Diana.

   That was 1997.

   Lots has happened since then, so parking officials want to find out how to make the most of existing spaces and how the system is positioned for the future.

   Parking System Manager Greg Warnke said plans to hire a consultant to study the issue predated a $53 million deal struck last week to keep the U.S. Olympic Committee's headquarters here, including promising 240 parking spaces in the city's new garage for USOC's employees.

   But that commitment - for nearly half the spaces at the new facility at Nevada and Colorado avenues - lends urgency to the $70,000 study, which will analyze supply and demand and forecast needs in the next 10 years.

   "It will increase the need," Warnke said of the USOC's plan to occupy a multistory building at Tejon Street and Colorado.

   "We'll look at different models that would estimate the number of people coming downtown based on what's there."

   Unlike the 1997 report, Warnke said, the new study's goal is not to document the need for garages.

   The 1997 analysis concluded the city needed 660 more spaces. That led to construction of a three-floor, 305-space garage at Cascade Avenue and Bijou Street and a seven-story, 525-space addition to the Nevada and Colorado garage.

   The city also owns a six-story garage at Nevada and Kiowa Street. Only the Cascade facility could handle additional floors, he said.

   "Because so much has changed, we want to update our supply and demand again," Warnke said. "We want to look at what's coming in the future, what impact that will have on parking and have a forecast of what's going to be needed."

   For example, the City Council recently approved the 22-story Cooper Tower at the southeast corner of Kiowa and Nevada. The project calls for 327 parking spaces on three floors, but Warnke said the hotel, shops and condominiums might generate the need for more.

   The downtown area - Bijou on the north, Vermijo Street on the south, Interstate 25 on the west and the alley between Weber and Wahsatch streets on the east - is exempt from parking requirements normally imposed on development projects.

   The study will determine where and when parking is in the most demand by analyzing on- and off-street usage at 8 a.m., 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on a typical weekday and weekend day.

   Although the city's system has reached 90 percent occupancy, Warnke said he's not looking to expand.

   "We want to see if there are parking spaces being underutilized that would meet current and future parking demands," he said.

   Some private lots are empty during the day and filled at night, or vice versa. Also, churches' lots are used on weekends, but might go largely unused during the week, he said.

   "We'd like to see what's out there we can use," he said.

   Warnke said the study will help the parking system, which operates on revenue from meters, garages and parking fines, prepare for the next 10 years.

   Proposals from consultants are due May 20, and results of the study are expected by fall.

   CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazette.com