Chad Eiken, Vancouver’s community and economic development director, said when the school district begins the land-use application process, the city will require a traffic study to look at, for example, how many trips the building might generate.
In general, parking uptown and downtown, both on street and in city lots and garages, is adequate for the city’s current demand, at least per usual planning standards, according to a yearlong parking efficiency study conducted for the city last year.
Staff with Dixon Resources Unlimited watched on-street and off-street parking in the city in July and August to get a feel for traffic during the busiest time of the year. They found, in general, the city’s parking inventory was largely adequate, even though off-street parking appeared to be underused.
Vancouver Parking Manager Steve Kaspan said the city aims for 85 percent parking occupancy, an industry guideline; planners aim to keep a maximum 85 percent of spots full before tweaking management strategies. For on-street parking, that typically looks like one or two available spots per block face.
Even if there’s generally enough room, by professional standards, downtown is growing, and that’s affecting parking.
“The dynamics of parking are really changing,” Teresa Brum, the city’s economic development division manager, said at a city council work session late last month. “This finite number of spaces is requiring this constant and dynamic management, and now with conditions changing the way they are downtown, we think that more off-street parking is likely needed to help address current and future employee demand.”
The city manages about 3,000 on-street parking spots, including 400 spaces in Uptown Village. The city also has 1,250 off-street spaces in two public garages and seven lots. Much of that space is in and around downtown.
Since 2013, Brum said downtown has seen six new apartment buildings, 47 new places to eat and drink and 37 new start-up tech companies, as well as the 200-employee DiscoverOrg software company and construction of the 45,000-square-foot Hudson Building.
Furthermore, the sale of land near Providence Academy might mean the loss of 400 leased spots, many used by downtown workers, in the next few years. Another tower planned for the Vancouvercenter Apartments will come with parking, but that doesn’t mean it’ll relieve all of the pressure. There’s also the matter of increased patron and visitor traffic as more events and businesses in the area grow in popularity.
Currently, the city is working with its consultant and staff to hash out potential new policies to address upcoming parking needs, which might include removing the option for a free 20 minutes at parking meters or creating a demand-pricing structure.
As for how a school might fit into that picture, there isn’t really a similar land-use case in downtown, Eiken said. There are no day care businesses, and VSAA is in uptown.
“I guess the fortunate thing is the p.m. period would be much earlier than when the office and downtown employees are getting out of work,” he said. “But the a.m. peak could be interesting, when everybody’s trying to get into downtown.”
District staff said it was considering a multistory campus building with a central outdoor plaza space for activities, and possibly, a rooftop or upper-floor open space, as well.
As part of a development plan made with Killian Pacific and the state, the city plans to build a public parking garage on the property.
It’s likely part of that garage will be available for school staff, he said. The city’s also in talks with the library to find more parking for their patrons, and it might end up being in the parking structure.
The school is one of the district’s planned projects paid for through its $458 million bond measure from 2017. District records show the developer planned to donate half the fair market value of the site to the district, and the district will pay the rest in cash or on a payment plan.
Vancouver Public Schools spokeswoman Pat Nuzzo said a final price hasn’t been worked out yet, as the district is still in the earliest stages of planning for the school.
“Right now, we’re still in the planning of what the vision is for the school, which means the overall theme, I guess, of the program,” she said.
Likewise, she added, the district has yet to estimate total enrollment or staffing.
