5PM City Council Study Session @ City Hall

Meeting Agenda
Watch the meeting streaming live starting at 5PM
Attend the meeting @ City Hall Council Chambers - 911 10th Street - (map)
Send comments on any of the following topics to PublicComment@cityofgolden.net BEFORE 3PM
Provide in-person comment (limited to 3 minutes) during the Business Meeting, at 7:45PM.

Tonight's Study Session begins at 5PM. The Business Meeting will begin at 6:30PM. Public comment is not allowed during the study session, though you can send written public comment ahead of time. In-person public comment must wait until the Business Meeting at 7:45PM.

Tonight's Study Session Topics:

Transportation Demand Management Plan

The Planning Department will present a proposed Transportation Demand Management (TDM) plan. TDM plans are designed to reduce the number of cars on the roads and in the parking lots by encouraging walking, biking, and public transportation. In some cases, developers who provide TDM plans are allowed to build less-than-required-by-code parking spaces. The Clayworks project going in on the former Coors Ceramics property has a TDM plan, so it will be interesting to see how they add many new shops, restaurants, offices, and a hotel without straining downtown Golden's already-tight parking situation.

The meeting memo includes the survey responses the City gathered from about 100 participants (pp 8-52). On page 3, Staff summarized the responses as follows:

People live too far from work to use alternatives to cars.
- Distance, topography
Non-car options are perceived to be unsafe, uncomfortable, inconvenient or simply not practical.
- Aggressive drivers
Parking shortages are perceived to be one of the biggest challenges in Golden, particularly for customers.
Desire for safer bike lanes.
Find ways to make it easier for people to walk around town. More bike storage/racks in Golden.
Interest in the Ore Cart being more comprehensive to reach the more rural parts of the City (unclear if this is referring to areas within or outside City limits).
Desire for e-bikes to help with topographic and weather challenges.

The high-level Transportation Demand Management (pp. 53-58) recommends many strategies for weaning people from their cars. Staff will be asking City Council whether they're ready to formally adopt the plan.

Revisions to Downtown Parking Cash in Lieu Provisions

Since 2003, the City has allowed developers to provide cash rather than building parking on their own property. The thought was that visitors to the new buildings could use the public parking garages. The cash provided to the City was intended to provide additional parking when needed. City Staff periodically checks the parking garages and they say we still have excess capacity.

The Cash in Lieu program only applied to new buildings. Older buildings sometimes change tenants--for instance, office space becoming a restaurant. The restaurant may need more parking than the office did, but since it's in an old building, the business is not required to provide either parking or cash in lieu of parking.

Staff is asking Council whether they want to make any changes to the program. Options include:

Do nothing--leave things are they are
Increase the price for cash in lieu of parking
Allow developers to submit TDM plans in place of some of their required parking.

If Council moves forward with a proposed voluntary downtown TDM program, this could be a means of reducing single occupancy vehicle use downtown and the associated demand on parking spaces, while also giving Golden’s downtown business owners more flexibility to expand their footprint as their needs change.