Title
Staff Report for a City of San Leandro City Council Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Approve a Consulting Services Agreement for an Amount Not to Exceed $40,000 Between the City of San Leandro and Dixon Resources Unlimited for On-Call Parking Management Support Services (to conduct parking impact studies on future residential and commercial development)
Staffreport
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution to approve a Consulting Services Agreement in the amount of $40,000 with Dixon Resources Unlimited (Dixon) for on-call support services pertaining to residential and commercial development projects and their parking impacts on the surrounding neighborhood.
This pilot program will enable City staff, particularly in the Community Development Department, to utilize the services of Dixon on a case by case basis to assess specific development projects and their parking impacts on the surrounding areas.
BACKGROUND/ANALYSIS
In early 2021, the City Council directed City staff to seek out expertise to assist in evaluating parking impacts of higher density residential and commercial development on surrounding on-street parking. According to the 2035 General Plan, San Leandro’s population is expected to continue growing in size through new residential development that is projected to meet the high demand for housing (particularly affordable housing). As a result, the potential loss of on-street parking due to growth is expected to be an issue of ongoing public concern. Furthermore, these concerns are likely to be further compounded because of new State laws that mandate a streamlined permitting process with less opportunities for local control over minimum parking standards. Indeed, in some cases local agencies will be prohibited from requiring any onsite parking whatsoever for certain types of projects. Based on these circumstances, the City Council expressed a desire for the City to more pro-actively assess on-street parking impacts generated from new development, particularly from higher density residential projects.
Dixon Resources has deep experience in assessing parking impacts for the City of San Leandro due to its ongoing work for the City going back to 2017. With assistance from Dixon, the City completed a Downtown Parking Management Plan (DPMP) to guide policies and regulations for parking in Downtown San Leandro. The Downtown Parking Management Plan was adopted by City Council July 17, 2017 and included a strategy to aid future land-use, economic development decisions and increase the sustainability of Downtown San Leandro. As part of its actions on July 17, 2017 the City Council also approved a Consulting Services Agreement with Dixon for oversight of the Downtown San Leandro parking system as well as implementation of the City’s new DPMP. The 2017 CSA was subsequently consequently extended, further engaging on-call services in support of the DPMP that continue today.
During the course of the implementation and ongoing maintenance of the DPMP, the expertise and experience of Dixon Resources Unlimited has proven crucial to the ongoing success of the program, and Dixon has gained a thorough understanding of San Leandro’s parking needs. Furthermore, Dixon possesses the knowledge and skill to comprehensively and effectively advise the City on the level to which a proposed development will affect nearby parking for the neighborhood, which can provide valuable insights for all project stakeholders.
When called upon by the City to analyze a new development project, Dixon Resources Unlimited will coordinate with the City’s third-party parking enforcement staff to conduct multi-day and multi-week on-street parking area inventory and usage analysis using License Plate Reader (LPR) technology. The use of LPR technology will streamline the data gathering process and make it more cost-effective. Dixon will ensure data privacy safety by implementing a tokenization process. Once license plate data is recorded via LPR, the data is transferred to a Genetec Server, which in turn transfers the data to a Dixon server. Here, the data is cleaned, transformed, tokenized, and the original data is deleted. This new data is then transferred to a Dixon Azure Server where the data is queried in a dashboard for analysis. This data can also be deleted almost instantaneously if necessary to ensure privacy.
The engagement of Dixon will not only help to streamline the entitlement processes of new developments in the coming year(s), but also ensure that existing parking requirements are addressed more pro-actively and with mitigated or minimal impact on project cost, neighborhood infractions or encroachments, and existing or proposed traffic and parking patterns.
Previous Actions
On September 16, 2016 the City Council, acting as the governing body of the Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency, approved the transfer of $600,000 in Redevelopment Agency bond funds to the City of San Leandro for implementation of parking improvements.
On July 17, 2017, the City Council approved the San Leandro Downtown Parking Management Plan and Recommendations for Short-term Parking Action Plan.
On July 17, 2017, the City Council, authorized the City Manager to Execute a Consulting Services Agreement with Dixon in the amount of $130,000 for Oversight of the Downtown San Leandro parking system and Guided Implementation of the City’s New Downtown Parking Management Plan, and to approve appropriation of $600,000 from the Successor Agency to the City of San Leandro Redevelopment Agency’s 2008 Bond Funds to the City of San Leandro Parking Fund’s 2017-2018 Operating Expenditures.
On February 20, 2018, the City Council approved an ordinance to amend the City of San Leandro Municipal Code Title 6, Chapters 6-1 and 6-2; to update definitions and regulations.
On July 16, 2018, the City Council approved an Amendment to the Consulting Services Agreement with Dixon, increasing the total compensation by $60,000.
On September 25, 2019, the City entered into a new Consulting Services Agreement with Dixon, for On-Call Extension Services as it pertains to the management of the Downtown Parking Management Plan.
Legal Analysis
The Consulting Services Agreement has been reviewed by the City Attorney’s Office and approved as to form.
Fiscal Impacts and Budget Authority
This General Fund Consulting Services Agreement will cost $40,000and sufficient funding exists in the Planning Services Division budget for fiscal year 2020-2021in account number 010-41-001-5120
Attachment to Resolution
• Consulting Services Agreement
• San Leandro Data Flowchart
PREPARED BY: Lars Halle, Economic Development Coordinator, Community Development