Village of Nyack Parking Work Session

Village of Nyack Village Hall, 9 North Broadway, Nyack, NY 10960 Workshop Meeting of the Village Board of Trustees January 30, 6:30 pm YouTube meeting livestream access link (public comment is in-person only): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJIPWjS1Be7gq4S7KiIh7Ag 1. Mayor’s Introduction 2. Hospital parking zone policy review (see memo) 1 Hospital Parking Zone Policy Memo AYS 11-5-24, rev 1-30-25 The Board of Trustees (“BOT”) has heard complaints from residents regarding high demand for on street parking spaces in residential areas around Montefiore Nyack Hospital (and certain behaviors associated with this parking, such as double parking, blocking driveways and noise). In recent years, the Hospital has added parking capacity by building a parking garage, and claims to have roughly doubled on-site parking utilization from about 150 surface parking spots before the garage, to a routine usage of about 300 garage spaces today. If overall hospital parking demand is flat, this should have removed some demand for on-street parking. However, fees imposed by the hospital for use of its parking garage create an incentive to seek free parking on Village streets.1 Village streets in the vicinity are frequently filled with parked cars from hospital staff and visitors, to the detriment of use by others living in or visiting the neighborhoods. BOCES and the churches on N. Franklin Ave create parking demand, in addition to residential demand. Stakeholders in this policy question include: hospital staff and visitors, residents (both single family detached homes and apartment buildings), the churches on N Franklin, BOCES staff and students, and village staff. PREVIOUS EFFORTS The 2007 parking study (link) does not provide any analysis of hospital parking impacts, per se, though it provides a comprehensive parking inventory and demand analysis for this part of the village. The Village previously sought to address the parking concern, around year 2012, through extensive public input, by adopting alternate side parking regulations in a hospital impact zone prohibiting parking 8 AM to 11 AM, in place of the 3-6 AM prohibition elsewhere in the Village, to disrupt all-day daytime parking and thereby create greater daytime parking opportunity for residents. This change was never codified into local law. In 2020, Montefiore Nyack Hospital’s parking deck plans included parking demand analysis, provided in the attached report, which included specific recommendations for increased metering in the vicinity of the hospital. CURRENT PARKING REGIME Streets currently included in the 8-11 AM alternate side program:2 1 $10/ 4 hours; Staff dayshift $70/month, 4-12 shift $30/month, Night shift and weekends, free. 2 See Nyack Code section 330-54 Overnight alternate side of the street parking – the section was never updated with the 8-11 AM parking rules (!). 1  • N Midland Ave, Fifth Ave to Sixth Ave (for some unknown reason, the section of N. Midland between Sickles and Haven on the east side, which is residential, has not been posted with any alternate side parking regulations in recent years). • Haven Ct • Rockland Pl • Duryea Pl • Sickles Ave, 9W to Rockland Pl • High Ave, 9W to N Midland both sides • Front St, 5th Ave to Sixth Ave Furthermore, • There are meters on N. Midland from Sickles to Fifth Ave (west side) and from Haven to Fifth Ave (east side) (3 hour max, enforced 10 AM – 7 PM). • 9W between Sickles and High Ave is “15 minute” parking, no meters. The current parking regime is shown in the map below: 1. Blue = no meters, 3-6 AM prohibition on alternate nights (except the part of N Midland between Sickles and Haven actually is not posted with alternate side regs). 2. Purple = no meters, 8-11 AM prohibition on alternate days. 3. Green = metered, 3 hour limit. 4. Yellow = 15 minutes limit, no metering OPTIONS FOR FURTHER RELIEF TO RESIDENTS FROM COMMERCIAL PARKING DEMAND If the BOT wishes to take further measures to ease the burden of commercial parking demand on residential streets, this policy memo describes a few options. As general principles please note: 1. It is not unusual in considering parking policy to hire an expert to conduct a parking demand survey, such as the hospital report attached here. We do not have a parking study from after the garage was built. 2. Near term actions: a. Expand 8-11 AM hospital zone parking regime –Add N Midland between Sickles and Haven where currently there are no alternate side signs. Conider including Fifth Ave between N Midland and Central, and include Francis and Central between Fifth and Sixth (this will seriously impinge upon BOCES teachers parking in this area). b. Add metering to Fifth between 9W and N Midland. 3. Resident-only or resident-preferential on-street parking permits – this requires NYS Home Rule Legislation, which is a significant undertaking and may be unsuccessful. Presumably, the Village would need to have the NYS approval for resident preference parking in place before moving forward with a plan to limit non-resident parking rights on residential streets, such as by setting a 2 or 3 hour time limit for all cars (except those with resident permits). The permit would exempt residents from paying for parking or 2  obeying a parking time limitation only within the hospital impact zone. Residents would still have to obey alternate side parking and all safety rules.3 4. A resident permit system, to be effective, would require the enforcement of time limits on parking by non-residents, via either metering or a 2-3 hour maximum parking time limit. a. Metering – this can take place via individual meter posts, muni meters and the ParkMobile app. Physical meters are costly and not usually installed in residential areas, but may make sense for certain streets (Fifth Ave and Sickles Ave, by hospital, e.g.). b. Time limit enforcement - The efficient enforcement of time limits, absent meters, will require purchase of a vehicle mounted License Plate Reader (LPR). This costs about $65K, and would be a nice thing to have for overall parking enforcement management. 5. A new hospital zone parking regime featuring a combination of resident permits and time limited parking for others would have certain predictable costs and benefits: a. PROS: a resident parking permit, combined with time-limited parking for all others, would reduce parking congestion and provide easier access to nearby onstreet parking for residents. b. CONS: i. Cost in hardware and software: Village will need improved parking permit software and LPR, and will need to post many new signs. ii. Cost to residents: the Village will need to charge residents a fee for a parking permit. Residents will need to keep their vehicle information up to date. iii. Inconvenience for residents’ guests: guests, too, will be subject to time limitation for onstreet parking during hours of enforcement (M-Sat., 10 AM – 7 PM). It is unclear how “guest passes” could be accomodated. iv. Staff costs: Despite options to automate online this permit system, the administration of permits – each of which will require verification of proof of residency, vehicle registration information, etc., updated regularly, for perhaps 1000 or 2000 eligible vehicles (the number of eligible vehicles is unknown), will require additional village staff. v. Restriction of parking access in the existing hospital zone (defined as existing 8-11 AM alternate side streets) will encourage visitors to park on adjacent streets, to an unknown degree, with impacts on other residents. 3 The summary of the law is that you cannot treat residents more favorably than non-residents, by way of Local Laws relating to traveling and parking on Village streets and roads, without a special Act of the NYS Legislature. A list of NY communities with this program can be found at this link. 3 FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS: 1. Process: a. If the board wants to pursue a residential parking preference with time limited parking for others, consider challenging villagers to demonstrate street by street support via a petitioning process, to ensure such a plan has broad support. b. Set expectations – NYS typically only approves resident-permit systems for limited areas with extraordinary need, outside of commercial zones. Note: A detailed study of current parking demand is beyond the capabilities of village staff. A sample study by the hospital during its garage planning process is attached for reference. 2. Policies deterring commercial on street parking will push hospital visitors further afield in search of free parking. Presumably, the Village would need to adopt a plan to expand the zone of hospital impacted streets to include, in addition to the existing area of 8-11 AM rules: a. Front Street past Sixth Ave to Village boundary? b. Fifth Ave from N Midland to Central Ave (consider making this parking lane a school bus drop off zone, 7-9 AM and 2-5 PM? Solves bus problem, disrupts regular hospital usage?…) c. Frances Ave (Fifth to Sixth)? d. Central Ave (Fifth to Sixth)? e. Sickles Ave, 9W west to the apartments? f. Sixth Ave, N. Midland Ave to Frances Ave? g. Sixth Ave, 9W to N Midland? 4  h. 9W, Sickles Ave to High Ave – currently it is all 15 minute zone, change to metering? 3. If the Village obtains a resident permit AND imposes a 2 hr limit on all others, it may make sense to revert the alternate side schedule back to 3-6 AM to provide greater flexibility for daytime parking use by residents and others. Adopt a plan to revert all 8-11 AM alternate side parking prohibitions to the 3-6 AM rule that provides the most amount of flexibility for daytime use, if this is what residents prefer. ATTACHED: Montefiore Nyack Hospital, Parking Deck Program Study, March 17, 2020. - link 2007 Parking Study – link 5