City of Oak Harbor LID Blog: March 23, 2010 Planning Commission - Parking Maximums

Thursday, March 18, 2010

March 23, 2010 Planning Commission - Parking Maximums

On March 23 at 7:30pm, Planning Commission will continue their discussion on LID. This month, staff are following up on questions and issues raised by Commission at the last meeting about parking maximum standards.

Cities frequently have minimum parking standards for commercial and office uses, to ensure that sufficient parking is provided for each new use and avoid overflow parking in nearby neighborhoods. The problem with minimum parking standards is that they are often exceeded by 30-50% (Schueler, 1995), leaving large expanses of parking in commercial areas which is infrequently used. These "extra" spaces may only be used during peak times, such as the holidays. All of those underutilized parking stalls mean that there are large expanses of impervious surface (asphalt and concrete), which creates stormwater runoff that pollutes the Puget Sound.

In response to the large, underutilized parking areas, many jurisdictions set parking maximum standards to cap the number of spaces that can be provided for each new use. Parking maximum standards are not very common, but are beginning to be used more and more.

Planning Commission will discuss the parking maximum standard issue at their regular meeting this month. For more information and to get a copy of Planning Commission materials, please see the "Events" sidebar on this blog.

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Policy Issues

The following policy issues are currently being discussed by the Planning Commission:

(1) Should the City place limits on the amount of impervious surface in new developments?

(2) Should impervious limits be voluntary, incentive-based, or mandatory?

(3) Should LID streets be voluntary, incentive-based, or mandatory in new developments?

(4) Should LID parking facilities be voluntary, incentive-based, or mandatory?

(5) Should the City consider setting parking maximums for non-residential uses, i.e. putting a limit on the number of parking spaces for commercial, industrial, and office uses?

For more information on each of these issues, please see the blog post dated March 3, 2010.

Events

Standing Committees: no meetings to discuss LID topics are scheduled at this time.

Planning Commission:

March 23, 2010 @ 7:30 p.m. LID - Parking Maximum Standards (see memo below dated 3-18-2010).
Staff will discuss LID parking maximum standards and requests input and guidance from the Planning Commission and public.

February 23, 2010 @ 7:30 p.m. LID Code Project Update (see memo below dated 2-11-2010).
Staff will discuss LID practices for streets, parking facilities, and coverage limits. Staff requests input and guidance on each practice from the Planning Commission and public.

January 26, 2010 @ 7:30 p.m. Introduction to the Draft LID Code (see memo below dated 1-21-10attached).
Staff will introduce the draft LID code to the Planning Commission and give an overview of the specific LID practices within the code. In February, Planning Commission will begin discussions on each specific LID practice.
LIDMemoMarch-3-15-10

LID-Memo-2-11-10

LID-Memo-1-21-10

LIDIntroMemo-11-4-09

City Council: no meetings to discuss LID topics are scheduled at this time.

Tentative Schedule

The City will begin the LID code update by holding a series of public meetings at Planning Commission to get input from the community, developers and business owners. It is then anticipated that staff will incorporate the Planning Commission's and public comments into the draft code. Staff will then present Planning Commission and the public with the code during summer of 2010. Planning Commission will consider the code and then forward a recommendation to City Council for their consideration. This schedule is tentative and is subject to change in response to public input, requests for further study, or scheduling conflicts.

Nov '09-April '10 - Public Meetings
April '10-June '10 - Staff Drafts Code
July '10-Aug '10 - Draft Code Released to Public, Public Meetings, Planning Commission Consideration
Sept '10-Oct '10-City Council Consideration

Want More Information?

If you want more information on the background of the project than is provided here, please view the "Update Memo-2-13-09" attached to this post. That memo was sent to the Oak Harbor Planning Commission on February 13, 2009 and was presented to them at their March 17, 2009 meeting. You may also want to look at the Powerpoint presentation which was presented to Planning Commission on March 17 and is also attached to this post.

Update Memo 2-13-09 Update Presentation

Resources

The following are helpful web and print resources. I have tried to limit the resources to the highest-quality ones covering a variety of LID topics.

Web Resources:

http://www.lid-stormwater.net/index.html . This site has been developed through a Cooperative Assistance Agreement under the US EPA Office of Water 104b(3) Program. The site is intended to give planners, engineers assistance in designing and managing LID systems. Be sure and visit the "Start Design" and "Typical Landscapes" tabs.

http://www.epa.gov/nps/lid/ . The US Environmental Protection agencies website on LID with links to studies, design manuals and even more websites.

www.lowimpactdevelopment.org/. The Low Impact Development Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of Low Impact Development technology.

Helpful Documents:

http://www.psp.wa.gov/downloads/LID/LID_manual2005.pdf . This document is a manual produced by the Puget Sound Action team and Washington State University which discusses different LID techniques and physical designs.

Economics of LID:

http://www.econw.com/reports/ECONorthwest_Low-Impact-Development-Economics-Literature-Review.pdf . This document is a literature review of the economic benefits of LID by an economic consulting firm (ECONorthwest).

http://www.lowimpactdevelopment.org/lidphase2/pubs/LMI%20LID%20Report.pdf . This document discusses the development, construction, and maintenance costs of LID.

What is Low Impact Development?

This post describes what LID is. For more information and descriptions of LID, please visit the "Resources" section of this blog in the right-hand side bar.

LID is an environmentally-friendly way to treat stormwater water runoff. Conventional stormwater systems typically collect rain water runoff from buildings, sidewalks, driveways, and roads. The runoff from these "impervious" surfaces is commonly polluted with oil, pet waste, and other suspended solids which come from peoples cars, houses and other buildings. The system then conveys runoff in pipes to a storage and / or treatment area, which is very commonly a pond or an underground vault. Finally, the stormwater enters the public storm system, where it outfalls into a river, lake or the ocean. Oak Harbor's stormwater oufalls into the Harbor near Windjammer Park. Although the stormwater is treated prior to release in to Oak Harbor, many of the pollutants make it past the treatment systems and are released in Oak Harbor. Aquatic life has a difficult time surviving in these polluted waters. Sometimes, these pollutants make their way back into drinking water supplies and some studies have documented negative effects on humans.

LID techniques take a different approach to stormwater collection and treatment. As opposed to piping the runoff and collecting it at a central location, LID seeks to mimic a sites natural hydrology. This means runoff is filtered in grassy swales, vegetative buffers or pervious pavements which treat the water. Much of the water than inflitrates or percolates into the ground near where it falls, instead of being piped into a public stormwater system and released into Oak Harbor. LID provides better filtration and treatment of stormwater. In general, LID techniques focus on reducing or even eliminating impervious surfaces that are the leading way pollution travels into Oak Harbor. Thus, leaving trees on a site (instead of chopping them down) is one LID technique.

LID techniques can have financial advantages for developers and property owners. In some cases, LID techniques cost less to install than conventional methods, in addition to providing better treatment. As an example, one LID technique (narrowed street widths) reduces the amount of pavement needed to build a street. Less pavement means less asphalt and less cost for the developer. LID techniques can also allow developers to reduce the size of or eliminate stormwater ponds. The land, which was otherwise devoted to stormwater ponds, can then be used for other purposes, such as new buildings. Attached to this blog are pictures showing examples of LID techniques already in use in Oak Harbor.

There are literally dozens of LID and conventional stormwater treatment techniques. LID does not save the developer money in every case, so it does not always make financial sense to use LID. Financial benefits of LID are usually realized on a case-by-case basis, depending upon the existing conditions on a site (i.e., whether a site's soils allow for water to infiltrate), and the array of LID technologies available to a developer.