According to Downtown Development Specialist Katie Axt, City Manager Jim Arndt signed the proposal from Concepts21 earlier this week. It's one of the steps outlined in the city's pre-development agreement with Weyland Ventures, which could lead to a development on city-owned property at 2nd and Broadway.
Axt told West Kentucky Star the study will focus on three areas: 1) existing conditions regarding the number of parking spaces, signage, and accessibility; 2) future parking needs related to future re-development scenarios, such as the city block project or anything else over the next 5-10 years; and 3) analysis and recommendations based on listening sessions and other findings.
Axt said the city's parking policies are based on a typical day and typical usage, but they will work to accommodate special events in the area.
"When you look at special events and peak periods of time, having a flexible and adaptable policy that can accommodate those fluctuations and lots of people being downtown, is something that we will be looking at," Axt said.
She said this study is useful to more than just the city block project.
Axt said, "We know that with new development in downtown, parking is a public concern. We want to get it right. We want to make sure that parking is working for us and we are using our streets better. The trigger for doing the parking assessment was tied to the city block project but the outcomes will apply to downtown more broadly and apply to the TIF district more broadly."
Axt said some of the listening sessions have led the city to make some immediate changes.
"We have several public parking lots, but the majority of the public only knows about the parking lot at the gazebo on 2nd and Broadway. So, we need to better about signage, about lighting, about wayfinding," Axt said. "Also, we found out that the only accessible parking for people with mobility issues are in our parking lots, so this is something that we're doing right now, where we're implementing handicapped parking throughout downtown, and that is an improvement that we're making immediately and you'll see the changes in January."
The year-long pre-development agreement was signed in April and several other tasks related to it have been completed, such as environmental review, geotech analysis and utility analysis. Axt said the parking study should take five weeks, and they hope to have recommendations from Concepts21 in early 2020.
Weyland Ventures has agreed to plan, design, and develop a 'mixed-use development' at the municipal parking lot surrounded by Second Street, Broadway, North Water Street, and Jefferson Street.
The proposed project would include a 4-story, 120-room hotel along Jefferson Street. Aside from the hotel, the city would continue to provide public parking places in this area, as well as an open area for public gatherings, and various mixed-use buildings.
