Neighborhood Parking Benefit Program
Warren Jimenez
The Neighborhood Parking Benefit Program (NPBP) is a parking management tool for growing business districts designed to charge market-based cost for on-street parking and return the net revenue generated to the metered districts for transportation improvements of their choice. Sam initiated this program to help business districts manage on-street parking to support economic vitality by encouraging parking turnover, improving circulation, maintaining air quality and promoting the use of alternative modes. In addition to economic vitality, the NPBP is designed to protect neighborhood livability by minimizing impacts on surrounding residents caused by spillover and commuter parking.
The primary purpose of the NPBP is to ensure efficient utilization of on-street parking and offer neighborhoods a new tool to control the spillover parking while generating revenue for the district’s transportation improvements. In addition to parking management, NPBP will also help the city to achieve the following broader transportation objectives:
• support land uses in existing and emerging main streets with an adequate supply of on street parking.
• maintain existing on-street parking in older neighborhoods and commercial areas where off-street parking is inadequate.
• encourage and promote use of transit service, carpools, bicycles and pedestrian modes as alternatives to automobiles for trips into and within the district.
• develop and maintain on-street parking meter districts to provide for customer turnover, reduce on-street parking use by commuters, efficiently allocate parking among diverse users and provide a funding source for transportation projects within the districts.
The City is currently evaluating the potential to establish Neighborhood Parking Benefits Program in several neighborhood business districts. Under the program, revenue from parking fees within a designated district would be ear marked for transportation improvements within that district. The city has retained a consultant to lead the technical evaluation in the proposed corridors to determine whether increased parking management measures (paid parking, permit programs) are warranted based on parking and land use conditions. In some districts, the program may be used in conjunction with the Area Parking Permit Program to ensure that parking is available for residents and their visitors.
Participation in the program is entirely voluntary to ensure that the neighborhood business district 
is supportive of the program. The approach will be collaborative involving all stakeholders, neighborhood and business associations as well as a detailed evaluation of parking conditions and potential impacts of meters. The proposed neighborhood business districts to be evaluated include:
• Hawthorne
• Martin Luther King / Grand
• Belmont
• Fremont
• Hollywood
• Division
• St. John's
The NPBP will be implemented based on multi-phase approach due to the nature and complexity of the program.
Phase 1: Community Involvement and Parking Analysis (April – May 2006)
This phase will emphasize community involvement including attending business and neighborhood meetings and creation of Citizen Working Groups for each corridor. Data collection and parking analysis will also take place to help the city determine viable target areas for the study.
Phase II: Demand, Supply and Market Pricing Analysis (June-August 2006)
This phase will include the technical evaluation of the six proposed corridors for potential inclusion in the NPBP. The analysis will include two tasks, first task will be a qualitative evaluation of the entire study areas. This will be followed by the second task, which will include detailed data collection and analysis of target areas identified. The outreach under this phase will focus on needs, opportunity and constraints within each corridor.
Phase III: Evaluation of Program Parameters (September-November 2006)
This phase will evaluate and identify program parameters, including pricing, time limits, parking technology and customer sensitivity. Financial and economic analysis and selection of a preferred technology will be undertaken under this phase.
Phase IV: Identify Project Needs and Draft NPBP Plan (December 2006)
This phase will focus on identification of project needs for each corridor, draft NPBP plan, implementation strategy and adoption of final report by City Council. Implementation consists of installing the parking meters/pay stations and/or area parking permit programs in areas agreed upon between the district and city staff and beginning the promotion of alternative transportation options to those driving and parking in the neighborhood.
Event Calendar
• April 27, 2006: Neighborhood-Business Leaders Parking Summit
• May 3rd, 2006: St Johns Community Working Group
• May 10th, 2006: SE Corridors Community Working Group
Program Contact:
Gabriel Onyeador, Program Manager
Neighborhood Parking Benefit Program
Portland Department of Transportation
1120 SW 5th Avenue, Suite 800
Portland, OR 97204
Phone: 503-823-7794
E-mail: gabe.onyeador@pdxtrans.com
Posted by Warren Jimenez on April 17, 2006
(7) Comments | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Filed Under Jobs & Economy, Office of Transportation, Our Initiatives, Transportation
Comments by site visitors
What are the choices for "transportation improvments"?
Posted by: CRAIG FLOWER | Apr 20, 2006 4:45:44 PM
Don't forget: consumers always vote with their wallets.
FREE PARKING at Washington Square, Clackamas Town Center, and Bridgeport Village.
Posted by: Alice | Apr 21, 2006 6:38:53 AM
How totally like THIS particular city government. We have crime problems, we have street and sewer problems, but rather than truly solve those problems, the city goes in search of a problem that doesn't really exist. Are the MAJORITY of the homeowners and business folks complaining? Are THEY the ones who came up with this problem and this possible solution? I'm sure you're going to say yes, but I'm also sure the real answer is no.
Once again, all this is is another way to WASTE taxpayer dollars and another way to TRY to force the public onto the bus, MAX and 'alternative types of transportation'. Your social engineering is again, showing through.
Posted by: mmmarvel | Apr 26, 2006 7:39:11 PM
The inner side eastside neighborhoods that have Tri-Met bus lines 4, 14 and 15th going through them and that are west of 39th have already had a significant increase in commuters parking in them the last few years. The have commuters who live in the outer suburbs are driving in and parking in the neighborhood and then catching the bus and riding it in to downtown to their place of work, thus saving having to pay high parking fees in the high rise parking structures. Also, this saves them time from either looking for a place to park or long wait in getting out of these high structures (up to 20 minutes in the morning and 25-30 in the evening). Or they simply park their vehicles there and ride their bikes in, thus using the neighbors as a “Park and Ride”.
Why should those who already have to struggle with a shortage of parking have to put up with this?
Posted by: John Noel | Apr 27, 2006 5:14:37 PM
Any Neighborhood Parking Benefit Program MUST include Area Parking Permit establishment at the same time for all residents that have no off-street parking available to them.
You should not have to PAY to park at your place of residence and PAY taxes on top of that.
Posted by: Bryan H. Ackler | May 9, 2006 4:02:19 PM
And how involved will the Neighborhood Parking Benefit Program (NPBP) be in
Commissioner Sam's and the Business Alliance's "downtown inner mall" project?
And how will they coordinate Metro's massive transit stop in the middle of the "mall" with the potential disruption to internal mall traffic?
Mall within a mall?
Just a thought.
Posted by: Bryan H. Ackler | May 16, 2006 3:28:46 PM
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So what does this say about NW 23rd Ave, where the City opted for parking structures as the first course of action (and where the first structure requires that a house be torn down), rather than on-street parking management?
Sam, can you get this fixed?
Posted by: Chris Smith | Apr 20, 2006 2:06:44 PM