Contrary to popular belief, downtown Oxford does not have a parking shortage, according to an expert in the field sent by Main Street Oakland County.
‘I do a lot of studies in a lot of cities and the village and the DDA probably have done one of the best jobs of providing parking of any place that I’ve been in the United States,? said John D. Edwards, a transportation consultant from Atlanta, Georgia with 40 years experience.
Edwards spent 2? days in Oxford last week conducting a ‘parking overview? of the downtown. This free ‘technical visit? is one of the perks of being a Main Street community.
‘My conclusion from this is that there is an adequate amount or number of parking spaces now. I want to stress the word now,? Edwards told officials during a public presentation on Thursday.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement, he noted.
Edwards spend his time here conducting a series of interviews and parking surveys at various times of day. He counted a total of 719 ‘marked? parking spaces (50 on-street and 669-off street), ‘both public and private,? which comprised the ‘study area? for his parking surveys.
‘We did not include any data on spaces that were not marked,? he said.
Last Wednesday, Edwards counted the number of occupied parking spaces at 3 and 6 p.m. He did so again at 11 a.m., noon, 1, 2, and 3 p.m. on Thursday.
He found that 3 p.m. Wednesday had highest percentage of occupied spaces ? 57 percent or 408 of the 719 marked spaces.
‘This is a very low number,? Edwards said. ‘We would normally expect probably 75 percent overall occupancy.?
‘What this says is that there are a lot of spaces that are available,? he said.
Edwards noted the occupancy survey will be updated with some counts from Friday and Saturday nights.
Based on his work, Edwards made some recommendations on how to immediately improve the efficiency of the existing parking system and increase the supply of spaces with low-cost improvements.
‘This is oriented toward today. What can we do in the next six months?? he said, noting all his suggestions are ‘relatively easy to do and they don’t cost much money.?
Edwards recommended the following to ‘maximize what you have right now? ?
n Re-mark the off-street parking areas ? ‘It’s really hard to tell where the spaces are,? Edwards said. The cost of marking (painting) a space is $3 to $4 and ‘you get more for your money there than any other place.?
n Re-mark on-street spaces and designate new ones ? A community in Texas added 52 spaces just by marking its on-street parking, according to Edwards. Some areas where on-street parking could be marked here include Hudson and E. Burdick streets, Washington Street in front of Starbucks, and a ‘very short section? of W. Burdick Street.
n Redesign existing lots ? ‘There are several lots I think you could redesign,? Edwards said. By ‘reorienting? the parking, the village can increase the number of spaces in a lot.
n Promoting the available parking ? Edwards said this can be done by installing larger signage to let people know where the off-street parking is. The current signs are ‘too small,? he said. He also suggested printing a ‘couple thousand? maps showing where parking is throughout the downtown area. These maps could be distributed to customers through downtown businesses and available at the village offices.
n Educating people about the value of parking ? ‘We need to spread the word,? Edwards said. Employees need to know that each on-street parking space is worth about $17,000 annually in gross retail sales and how important it is to have these spaces available for customers. Media articles about parking are helpful and important in this education.
n Expand the parking exempt zone ? Currently, three out of the four downtown parking quadrants do not require businesses to provide off-street parking. The northeast quadrant is the only one that is not parking exempt. Edwards recommended changing its status to make it ‘consistent? with the others. ‘I think everybody ought to be treated the same way downtown.?