Rich, thanks for the pointer to page 24.“Given that the new demand stream is not anticipated to cover debt service for the garage, the parking system will need to increase revenue on existing spaces if it is to be self-supporting.”
OCTOBER 9, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2015, 9:09 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Designs and architectural renderings for a potential parking garage on Hudson Street were presented on Wednesday, providing the public an opportunity to view different proposals for the deck. A financial review was also presented.
Representatives from Desman Design Management and S&L Architecture Studio offered three different options with varying degrees of size and parking efficiency, along with distinctive architectural structures.
All three design ideas were for a four-story building with five levels of parking, one of which included a building that stayed within the footprint of the site while the other two explored taking some of the right-of-way from Hudson Street.
The Hudson Street site does have some constraints, said Desman Design principal Tim Tracy. The first option for a garage did not explore any unique solutions and contained angled parking and side ramps at the western and eastern ends of the building, which resulted in a 124,000-square-foot building and a net gain of 236 parking spaces.
The second option tinkered with the footprint of the site on the western side and resulted in a slightly larger facility at 130,000 square feet and a net gain of 253 spaces.
A third design expanded further on the idea of extending the lot and building a cantilever over the sidewalk, which would give the village a net gain of 317 spaces and a building that is 139,000 square feet. This option enables the village to get 330 square feet per car, which Tracy said is within the industry standard and also allows the access easement on the eastern end to be retained.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/garage-finances-design-detailed-1.1429249
Key verbatim assumptions/findings taken from the Village Council commissioned parking study prepared by Walker Associates:
Easing crowding does not, in and of itself, create a new revenue stream; it transfers revenue
from other metered spaces in the Village. The garage will likely encourage people to come
downtown who have been avoiding it due to parking constraints, but this is not a quantifiable
revenue stream and is not included in our analysis. More conservatively, we project the
following net new revenue streams for the garage:
• The 72-space Brogan Cadillac lot on South Broad Street at Essex Street and at the 92-
space Ken Smith Motors lot just east of the train tracks and north of Franklin Avenue are
going to be demolished for development. Both of these dealerships have closed and
lease out their parking. The Ken Smith Lot is permit parking for downtown employees.
The Brogan Lot accommodates commuters during the day and is leased out for
restaurant valet parking at night. We anticipate these demand streams would transfer
to the garage.
• We understand from Village staff that there are other restaurants downtown that use
valet services in private lots that would use the garage instead (probably doing away
with valet service since self-park options would be easier).
• The Village used to have 120 non-resident commuter permits, but doubled non-resident
permit rates because there was not enough space for these commuters. Currently
there are very few non-resident commuters parking in the train station area. The Village
plans to reduce the non-resident commuter rate to $875/year to increase that demand
stream again.
It is typical in downtowns that the revenue stream in a given garage is not sufficient to cover its
operating costs and debt service. Downtown parking systems are just that – systems – that rely
on pooled revenue from all resources, and especially the on-street meters (which tend to
have the highest turnover), to cover the higher cost associated with building and operating a
garage. This is the case in Ridgewood, where the net new revenue projected for the garage
is not projected to offset its expenses. Therefore, our revenue projection includes all downtown revenue and all expenses associated with the parking system. To operate the
garage and have a revenue-positive parking utility (with funds available for other parking lot
maintenance projects), we project that the Village will increase meter rates as follows:
• In 2016, meters will be extended until 9 p.m. and meter rates on key downtown streets
will increase to 75¢.
• In 2017, 75¢ meters will be increased to $1 and the rest of the on-street and off-street
meters will increase to 75¢.
• If needed, rates would increase by 25¢ after five years.
• Commuter permit rates would increase by $25 in 2021 and 2025.
This is going to become a boondoggle just like village hall, the cost will continue to increase as time goes on.
View any project advocated by this Council majority with skepticism. If the analysis lacks detail it’s because they don’t want you to know about it. This particular project feels like others that have come before it. We’re being told to just support it because the builders want to start right away – they don’t want to get bogged down by pesky details like cost and revenue forecasts.
Not sure that it lacks detail…they are there for all to see…Ridgewood, are you paying attention??
Yes, indeed, the builders are itching to start. What the hell do they care about our taxes and quality of life? They make money and then they are gone. We are left supporting this behemoth,
I haven’t been following closely but has there ever been any serious consideration of the town purchasing the Ford location? If the village bought that lot for x amount, razed the buildings and prettied it up would’nt that suffice? Maybe down the line convert some of this property to double decker parking. I can just see where this parking garage debacle is headed. It’s gonna cost the town $20 million (oops…”we didn’t know the ground below needed spa work, blah blah blah”.
^correction..not spa work but EPA work.
Extending the meters to 9 PM would shoot ourselves in the foot. Do not do it.