Regarding a downtown parking study presented by IP Services.

They are here tonight to present the flip notes about the findings of their services of their study, excuse me, as is city engineer Brad Pease, Henry Mestevsky, and Sergei as legal counsel.

James Bye Park here who's gonna uh prepare this presentation.

You have uh study kind of outline uh in front of you as well for the presentation of all, so I'll let James take it away.

Thanks.

Good evening, counsel.

Uh my name is James O'Connell.

I serve as the director of operations for IP services.

Um, and thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight.

Um I'll walk you through this presentation of the parking study, what we reviewed, what we observed, and what those findings suggest about how Carmel's parking system is functioning today and how it can continue to support downtown as it grows.

This is primarily a briefing.

Uh no decisions are coming out of this immediately, but my goal is to share what we observed so we can help frame how Carmel can stay ahead of future pressure rather than reacting to it later.

Um, like I said, the purpose of this is to share findings, provide context on the current system performance, and outline implementation concepts for future consideration.

This is simply an opportunity to review these findings and again add to the planning context.

So, core finding.

The central finding is that Carmel is not in a system wide parking capacity crisis.

However, pressure is beginning to concentrate in specific areas and during specific peak periods, particularly midtown and along Main Street, during the evening dining and major events.

This study showed that available capacity still exists across the system, but it's not as it's not always visible or intuitive to visitors.

And this is a stage where successful downtowns typically begin planning ahead, not because something is wrong, but because growth is working.

As far as the scope of the study goes, we reviewed system utilization across public and private supply during weekdays and weekend patterns.

We looked at curb usage and turnover, the development pipeline impacts, as well as event and seasonal variation.

Uh the goal was to understand how the system is actually behaving over time, not just how it feels at peak moments.

Most challenges seem to be localized and perception driven.

The peak demand concentrates in those midtown garages while city center and other garages still do have capacity.

Visitors perceive shortage when that front door spaces are full, even when there is capacity remaining in that garage.

So the opportunity is better visibility of the existing supply to help shape that redistribution.

Like I said, visitors prioritize immediate destination parking.

With that limited visibility into leftover availability, as well as inconsistent curb turnover along the highest demand blocks, those peak moments continue to shape long-term perception, and the result is people arriving circling around the downtown and frustration and anecdotes about challenges to parking when we we see that there's still availability.

We can do that by improving visibility, turnover, and coordination, especially during citywide events.

We want to preserve public access along the streets to support business vitality.

And we hope that Carmel continues its disciplined planning model as it relates to growth when it's needed, or could building when it's needed.

So the plan, or at least our study outlined three tracks of three courses of action that will help alleviate some of these challenges.

Track one was to improve the curb management, focusing on the highest demand blocks during peak periods.

Many of the most visible challenges occur at the curb rather than inside garages.

Improving turnover helps maintain that short-term access for retail and dining while encouraging longer stays to use garages.

This improves both access and the overall visitor experience.

Another part of track one was valet coordination.

Valet is an important amenity in a walkable downtown.

The goal is not to restrict valley operations, but to ensure they operate consistently within a shared curb environment.

Clear expectations support fairness, safety, and traffic flow.

This is about coordination and clarity rather than expansion or restriction.

Along track two, the goal is to make that capacity visible.

One of the fastest ways to improve the visitor experience is to let them know where there's available parking.

When drivers can easily see where capacity exists, circulation decrease circulation decreases, and the system feels more intuitive.

In effect, this adds usable capacity without constructing new supply.

And I think a good example of that is the downtown airport.

And then track three is planning ahead.

Today certain flexible areas help absorb peak and event demand, but as the redevelopment and development continues, some of that flexibility will change.

While there's no immediate need for new structured parking, future strategically located capacity will likely become appropriate as downtown continues to grow.

The key is planning deliberately, not reacting later.

I've highlighted in the report, I've highlighted the financially disciplined approach.

Um the recommendations follow that.

Maximizing the existing system first, phase improvements carefully, avoid premature capital construction, and maintain Carmel's strong fiscal discipline.

This ensures future capacity is added at the right place and at the right time.

Like I've said, key themes include improving curb toneer or enhancing visibility, coordinating valley operations, and monitoring long-term supply as redevelopment occurs.

These are planning themes, not necessarily actions that need to happen immediately.

Yeah.

In closing, Carmel is in a strong position.

There's no immediate capacity crisis.

There is an opportunity, though, to improve access and clarity.