HAND DELIVERED December 12, 2003 Mr. James S. Bancroft Chair, Board of Directors St. Joseph Center 204 Hampton Drive Venice, California 90291-8633 RE: Existing and Future Parking Demand Analysis St. Joseph Center Expansion Dear James, We have completed an updated assessment of the existing and forecast future parking conditions for the proposed expansion project at your St. Joseph Center facilities on Hampton Drive in Venice. As you know, this analysis was undertaken in order to establish actual parking utilizations for the St. Joseph Center and the other unrelated user on the project site (St. Clement Church and Catholic Charities Services) as a baseline from which to estimate the future parking needs of the Center following the expansion of the facilities. These parking utilization evaluations provide empirical parking data to supplement the parking requirements determined from the City of Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) by the Department of Building and Safety. The LAMC requirements are based on general characteristics for various land uses, and do not account for the unique operations of the St. Joseph Center, including nominal site staffing and low vehicular usage by Center clientele. Most of the patrons served by the Center are low income, and often do not drive to or from the facilities, frequently use public transit, and therefore decrease parking demand for the Center. The results of the study are discussed in detail later in this report, but to summarize, a week long parking utilization survey conducted at the site indicated that there are currently a total of approximately 136 on site parking spaces. These spaces are shared by employees and visitors of the three primary uses occupying the site (St. Clement Church, St. Joseph Center, and Catholic Charities Services). Because of the nature of their operations, these existing uses do not fully utilize the on site parking facilities, making available a number of the unused spaces for public parking. The peak parking demand for the current St. Joseph Center facilities is approximately 42 spaces, which occurs at several times during the week; on Tuesday mornings between about 10:30 and 11:00 AM, and again on Wednesday afternoons from about 3:00 to 5:00 PM. However, because the St. Joseph Center facilities share parking with the other uses of the site, the parking utilization for the entire site is also key. The peak weekday daytime parking activity occurs between approximately 10:30 AM to 12:00 noon on Tuesday. During these times, the three uses occupied a maximum of 53 spaces, or about 39 percent of the 136 spaces available.
Letter to James Bancroft December 12, 2003 Page Two The St. Joseph Center utilized between 40 and 42 spaces during these peak activity periods, while the St. Clement Church occupied six to eight spaces, and the Catholic Charities Services used five spaces. During these same times, public parking occupied some or all of the remaining spaces. It should be noted here that the maximum weekday parking utilizations for the entire site actually occurred on a Friday evening, between about 8:00 and 9:00 PM, during Friday Mass services at the St. Clement Church. At this time, a total of 71 spaces, or about 52 percent of the total provided, were occupied by the three primary uses of the parking facilities. However, at 8:00 PM on weekdays, the Catholic Charities Services facilities are closed, and the St. Joseph Center is operating at only minimal staffing levels. During the 8:00 to 9:00 PM Friday period, the Catholic Charities Services facilities generated no parking needs, while the St. Joseph Center occupied only 10 spaces (including five spaces used to park the Center s service vans overnight). The St. Clement Church utilized the remaining 61 spaces. However, as detailed later in this report, this late evening overall peak parking demand for the site will be superceded by a midday weekday peak demand in the future, as the St. Joseph Center facilities are expanded. Therefore, in order to present comparable parking demand data for before and after conditions, the parking analyses summarized herein focus on the critical weekday daytime periods, although both existing and future evening and weekend parking needs are also discussed in detail. The proposed project is anticipated to increase the existing floor space available to the St. Joseph Center. However, this increase is planned primarily to provide additional areas for the existing operations and programs, which are currently housed in undersized and aging facilities. Although some increase in the number of patrons and employees is anticipated, resulting in periodic increases in parking demand for the Center, the amount of parking proposed for the new facility will be adequate to meet the maximum forecast future parking needs for the site. The proposed project will not change the size, operations, or future parking needs of the St. Clement Church or Catholic Charities Services uses. The project also will reconfigure the existing parking facilities on the site. The existing internal connection between the upper and lower parking areas will be removed, as will the Hampton Drive driveway to the lower parking areas. The elimination of the internal vehicular ramp between the upper and lower lots will not substantially impact the operations of the on site parking. The existing ramp, which provides one-way down access between the upper and lower lots, is narrow and awkwardly positioned, and is therefore infrequently utilized. The removal of this ramp will also eliminate potential internal circulation conflicts and present a more efficient parking layout. The upper lot parking layout will remain essentially unchanged, although removal of the internal circulation and a more efficient layout will allow for an approximately eight-space increase in capacity to a total of approximately 64 spaces. The
Letter to James Bancroft December 12, 2003 Page Three existing lower parking areas will be consolidated into a single surface parking lot at the northwest corner of the site providing approximately 72 spaces. Thus, the future layout of the site parking facilities will continue to provide a total of 136 spaces, as is the current condition. The results of our analyses indicate that weekday parking demands for the St. Joseph Center facility could increase following the completion and occupancy of the project. The forecast maximum parking demand for the expanded St. Joseph Center is estimated to increase from a maximum of 42 spaces to approximately 74 spaces, occurring at about 4:00 PM on Wednesdays. Combined with the parking needs of the St. Clement Church and Catholic Charities Services facilities, whose parking needs are unaffected by the project, the total maximum shared parking demand for these three uses is conservatively estimated to be a total of approximately 81 spaces, occurring at about 2:00 PM on Wednesdays. Total site parking demands for these three uses will be less during all other weekday times. Actual future parking demands are expected to be substantially less than these forecasts, since the worst case analysis parking demand forecast methodology used to estimate the future parking needs of the St. Joseph Center expansion assumed much higher vehicle utilizations by the Center clientele than were actually observed. However, this forecast indicates that, even under these worst case parking demand scenarios, over one-third of the future parking spaces provided will be unutilized. As a result, the diocese can continue to make available a minimum of 55 parking spaces during all weekday periods between 7:00 AM and 5:00 PM for the continued use as public parking. After this time, additional public parking can become available as the three primary uses close for the day. The amount of unused site parking will generally be sufficient to accommodate the observed demand for the existing public parking spaces. As noted previously, the forecast future parking demands identified for the proposed St. Joseph Center project are highly conservative, and it is unlikely that the peak number of spaces estimated will be utilized. However, should these peak forecast parking demands occur, a minimum of approximately 55 spaces would be available at all weekday times for public parking. This is somewhat fewer than the maximum observed utilization of the existing public lot (73 spaces at 8:00 PM on Fridays). There is high demand for public parking in the project vicinity, and there are several public parking lots in the area designed to serve these public parking needs on a full-time basis. However, the ability of the St. Clement diocese to continue to make available a substantial amount of its own private parking for public use will help meet the existing and future parking demands in the project area, and significant effects on the surrounding residential parking availability are not anticipated to result from the development of the St. Joseph Center project. Thus, the results of the parking demand analyses for the proposed St. Joseph Center expansion project indicate that the 136 spaces proposed for the future parking facilities will be sufficient to accommodate the forecast maximum weekday parking demands for the three primary uses on the
Letter to James Bancroft December 12, 2003 Page Four site, plus allow for the continuation of public parking without resulting in significant overflow or displaced parking to area on street commercial and residential parking availability. Weekend parking conditions will be unaffected by the proposed St. Joseph Center project. Background The St. Joseph Center, established in 1976, is a non-profit organization that provides a variety of family-oriented services at 204 Hampton Drive: a food pantry to distribute groceries to poor families, child care and parenting programs, after school and mentoring activities for youths aged 6 to 17, and classes and educational workshops. The Center s administrative offices are also located at the Hampton Drive site. The Center operates generally between the hours of 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM Monday through Friday, although some after school programs and adult education classes are held during the evenings of various days of the week. These programs and classes generally end no later than 6:30 PM. St. Joseph Center does not operate at high levels on weekends, but does maintain some program activity (i.e. meetings). These nominal weekend activities do not substantially effect weekend parking demand. As the number of programs and persons assisted has increased, the existing Hampton Drive facilities have become severely undersized. As a result, the range of programs and services available has been affected. The proposed project will expand the size of the existing facilities, primarily to better serve the existing programs, although in order to provide more efficient case management and operations of the Center, some slight increase in the number of staff may occur. Additionally, new classroom and child care facilities space will be available, and some of the programs (including the daycare center) may be slightly expanded, although no significant increase in the number of participants in most of the Center s existing programs is anticipated. Existing Site Conditions The proposed project will expand the existing St. Joseph Center facilities at 204 Hampton Drive. The site occupies the northern portion of the block bounded by Marine Street on the north, Third Street on the south, Hampton Street on the west, and Rose Avenue on the south, as shown in Figure 1. The St. Joseph Center facility itself is located in the southwest quadrant of the site, which it shares with two other uses; St. Clement Church, and Catholic Charities Services. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles owns the entire site, which is administered by St. Clement Church. St. Joseph Center leases its current facilities. The City of Los Angeles/City of Santa Monica boundary bisects the site from west to east, with the northern portion, containing the St. Clement Church and rectory building, located in the City of Santa Monica, while the St. Joseph Center and Catholic Charities Services facilities are located in the City of Los Angeles.
Letter to James Bancroft December 12, 2003 Page Six The existing St. Joseph Center facilities are comprised of a total of approximately 10,674 square feet of administrative and case management offices, classrooms, child care facilities, and ancillary uses. The existing parking areas on the site contain a total of approximately 136 spaces. The site currently exhibits a significant grade differential from east to west, with the St. Clement Church, rectory, and approximately 56 parking spaces (including 2 garage parking spaces for the St. Clement rectory) located in the easterly upper portion of the site, while the existing St. Joseph Center facilities and the remaining 80 spaces are located in the lower portion. Internal circulation is currently allowed between the site parking areas via a one-way down ramp from the upper to lower parking lots, and employees of and visitors to any of the on site facilities generally intermingle within these parking areas. Because the number of vehicles associated with the operations of St. Joseph Center, Catholic Charities Services, and St. Clement Church are typically low, a number of parking spaces located in the northwest corner of the site are currently unused by the on site development, and are provided by St. Clement Church to a parking operator, who in turn, makes the spaces available as public parking to area businesses and visitors. Users of these public spaces are permitted only to park in the northwest corner lot, which contains approximately 58 spaces, so as not to interfere with the day to day operations of the remainder of the site s facilities. A schematic layout of the existing site uses and parking areas is shown in Figure 2. The number of employees and program participants using the St. Joseph Center facilities varies throughout the day, and is based on the number of programs and cases on going at any particular time. In general, the Center has up to about 39 staff, including part time employees, on site at any time. The daycare center currently serves approximately 19 children, who are dropped off at the site between 7:30 and 8:30 AM. Additionally, throughout the day, as the various programs and classes are offered, participants arrive and depart the site. A summary of the current activities and employee/participant levels is contained in Attachment A of this document. Most of the program and classroom participants use public transportation or walk to the site, and thus do not generate a need for spaces in the site s parking areas. While this factor greatly influences the amount of parking needed to accommodate the St. Joseph Center operations, such operational factors are not generally recognized by the City s parking requirements specified in the Municipal Code. Application of the current code parking requirements (including the City of Los Angeles Municipal Code, the Venice Coastal Zone Specific Plan, and the City of Santa Monica Municipal Code) indicates that the future site, including the proposed expansion of the St. Joseph Center facilities plus the unchanged St. Clement Church and rectory, and the Catholic Charities Services facilities) would require a total of 122 parking spaces to be available at all times. However, these code requirements do not recognize that the Church component of the existing development does not require substantial parking during the weekday daytime periods. Additionally, as described earlier, the actual parking demands for the three primary uses at the
Letter to James Bancroft December 12, 2003 Page Eight site are far fewer than these code requirements forecast, allowing the diocese to lease spaces for use as public parking to help meet the area parking demands. This ability would be essentially eliminated based on the inordinately high parking code requirements as compared to the actual usage. A summary of the code parking requirement calculations is contained in Attachment B. As a result of these circumstances, this detailed parking utilization analysis was undertaken to identify the actual parking needs of the existing site, including the St. Joseph Center as well as the St. Clement Church and rectory, the Catholic Charities Services operations. The survey data also formed the basis for the forecasts of future site parking needs following completion of the proposed expansion of the St. Joseph Center facilities. The methodology, results, and conclusions of the parking analyses are described in the following sections of this report. Study Methodology To assess the current parking conditions and to provide a baseline for estimation of potential future parking needs for the site, a series of on site parking sweeps and surveys were conducted. These surveys documented the total parking utilization on each day of a typical week (Monday through Friday). Saturday and Sunday parking sweeps were also performed, although as noted previously, St. Joseph Center does not operate at high levels on weekends, although it does maintain some program activity (i.e. meetings). This usage is occasional and does not materially affect site parking demand on weekends. However, since the on site parking spaces are also used by the St. Clement Church and Catholic Charities Services facilities on weekends, and these users are active at various times of the weekend with services, events, or various meetings, weekend parking counts were conducted to ensure that adequate site parking would be available in the future for all site occupants. The parking observations for this analysis were conducted during the week between Monday February 10 th and Sunday February 16 th, 2003, although due to inclement weather conditions, counts for the Thursday activities were conducted during the following week, on February 20 th. Supplemental data was also collected for weekday evening conditions (7:00 to 9:00 PM) and weekends (extended data until 9:00 PM on both Saturday and Sunday) during the week of Friday November 14 th through Thursday November 20 th. In total, the data collection activities included a physical count the number and locations of cars actually parked in the on site facilities during key times of the weekdays between 7:30 AM and 9:00 PM, including every half-hour between 7:30 and 11:00 AM, which encompasses the highest parking activities for the St. Joseph Center. This time period includes the arrival of the facility staff, child care drop off activities, food pantry operations, and the beginning of individual case management activities. Weekend counts were conducted at fewer times, although also generally between 8:00 AM and 9:00 PM, to reflect peak activity based on St. Clement Church and Catholic Charities Services schedules.
Letter to James Bancroft December 12, 2003 Page Nine Some concern has been expressed regarding the timing of the parking counts, which occurred during the winter months, when demand for public parking in the area is generally diminished from its summer peak. While this is true, it should be recognized that the purpose of this analysis is to identify the parking needs of the subject site, not latent demand for off street parking by other businesses or visitors to the area. It is acknowledged that the project vicinity experiences heavy parking demand during the summer months, as visitors and tourists explore the Venice and southern Santa Monica businesses, or search for beach parking. The diocese recognizes this demand, and voluntarily makes available unused parking within its own lot to help meet these public parking needs. However, the goal of this study is to portray the worst case parking demands for the St. Joseph Center, St. Clement Church, and Catholic Charities Services facilities, to ensure that the proposed expansion project provides sufficient on site parking to preclude parking overflow impacts in the surrounding neighborhoods. To that end, conducting the parking counts during colder, rainier months provides this worst case condition. Many of the site s employees, visitors, and clients walk, bicycle, or ride public transportation to and from the facilities. During wet or cooler weather, persons with private vehicles are more likely to use them than to walk or bicycle in inclement weather. Additionally, the counts did not occur during daylight savings time, and evenings became dark starting at about 4:30 PM. This earlier darkness also discourages walking or bicycling. Thus, conducting the parking counts during the winter months is anticipated to result in higher vehicular utilizations by employees and visitors than during summer months, thereby resulting in intrinsically higher existing parking demand, and creating a worst case conservative estimate for future parking needs for the site. Any unused parking spaces can then be made available for public parking purposes. Latent public parking demand in the project vicinity is high regardless of the season, and is anticipated that any available public spaces will be extensively utilized. The parking surveys also involved the identification of the destination of the vehicle s users during each of the sweeps. Through the cooperation of all of the site s occupants, identification placards were placed in each of the employee vehicles during the survey periods so that the amount of parking utilized by employees of each of the on site facilities could be documented. Additionally, staff from the St. Joseph Center assisted the Crain & Associates parking count personnel in identifying vehicles belonging to participants, volunteers, and visitors of each of the facilities during each of the parking sweep periods. Thus, a detailed parking profile was developed for each of the on site facilities during each of the survey days, so that both the existing and future parking implications of the project could be identified.
Letter to James Bancroft December 12, 2003 Page Ten The potential utilization of off site parking spaces by the site employees and/or clients and visitors was also surveyed. However, the results of those sweeps indicated that only nominal and sporadic street parking by St. Joseph Center, St. Clement Church, or Catholic Charities related traffic occurs. All of the employees and program participants who drive park in the on site parking lots, and only infrequent and insignificant numbers of visitors to any of the site s facilities park on the street. This is due primarily to a lack of available on street parking in the project area, due to high residential parking usage resulting from the homes and apartments in the vicinity, many of which do not provide code parking, and some of which provide no off street parking at all. As a result, the parking analyses and conclusions of this report are focused on the data obtained from the sweeps and surveys conducted for the on site parking lots. Existing Weekday Parking Demand The parking sweep data is summarized in the tables contained in Attachment C. The results of the parking sweeps indicated that the peak site-related parking activity occurred on a Tuesday, between approximately 10:30 AM and 12:00 Noon. During this time, the St. Joseph Center utilized a total of between 40 and 42 spaces (18 to 19 employees, 18 to 20 program participants and/or visitors, plus three St. Joseph Center service vehicles). The St. Clement Church utilized between six and eight spaces, and the Catholic Charities Services facility occupied five additional spaces. Thus, the combination of the St. Joseph/St. Clement/Catholic Charities facilities utilized a maximum of 53 of the total of 136 spaces, or about 39 percent of the available parking, during the week. During this peak period of parking utilization, a total of between 55 and 58 vehicles observed using the public parking spaces in the northwest lot, bringing to a maximum of 111 the total number of vehicles on the site during the peak parking activity for the three primary on site uses (approximately 82 percent of the 136 spaces provided). At no time during the survey period did the parking for these uses overflow onto the adjacent streets. The maximum individual utilizations observed during the week showed a peak of 42 spaces utilized by the St. Joseph Center (Tuesday between 10:30 and 11:30 AM, and again on Wednesday between 3:00 and 5:00 PM), a peak use of 8 spaces for the St. Clement Church (Tuesday between 11:00 AM and 12:00 noon not including the peak of 64 spaces for late services at 9:00 PM on Friday), and a maximum of six spaces for the Catholic Charities Services (Monday between 11:00 AM and 12:00 Noon). Even if these individual peaks were combined (they do not occur simultaneously), the total parking use for these facilities would be 56 spaces, or approximately 41 percent of the total 136 parking spaces available on the site. (Note: if the Friday evening St. Clement Church maximum parking demand of 64 spaces is included, the maximum individual use parking demands would be 112 spaces, or about 82 percent of the total number of spaces available. This generally nominal employee and visitor utilization of the site s parking facilities is typical of the level of parking demands for the three primary uses of the site,
Letter to James Bancroft December 12, 2003 Page Eleven and has allowed the archdiocese to make available the approximately 58 spaces in the northwest surface parking lot on the site for lease as public parking. The public parking spaces in the northwest parking lot were essentially full much of the surveyed week, although parking use diminished somewhat during the later parts of the week. The maximum weekday daytime use occurred between 11:00 AM and 12:00 Noon on Monday, at 61 spaces, and use on this day remained above 54 vehicles between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM. Parking use was also high on Tuesday, with a maximum daytime use of 58 spaces (peak of 59 spaces at 8:00 PM), and again on Thursday, with 56 spaces occupied during the peak period. On Wednesdays and Fridays, the peak daytime parking utilizations were lower, at 43 spaces and 32 spaces, respectively. However, public parking demands increased markedly in the evenings on these two days, with a peak demand on Wednesday of 55 spaces at 8:00 PM, and a weekday high of 73 spaces occupied at 8:00 PM on Friday. It is anticipated that, during summer months, demand for public parking on this site would be heavy throughout the day and into the evenings, and that any available spaces would be utilized, particularly during the later parts of the week. Proposed Project As noted previously, the proposed project will expand the St. Joseph Center facilities, essentially to provide better facilities and more space to accommodate existing staffing and programs. The existing 10,674 square foot facility will be demolished, and a new two story structure containing a total of approximately 29,086 square feet will be constructed. The conceptual layout for the new facility and the remainder of the site is shown in Figure 3. The new building will provide a substantial improvement in the facilities available. The first floor of the new building will provide space for the operations of the Center s assistance and education programs, including general use classrooms, a multi-purpose room, child care classrooms, a culinary classroom, kitchen, food pantry areas, and storage and other ancillary areas. The second floor of the facility will house the administrative offices and case management areas, including offices and conference rooms for administrative staffs, case management offices, a computer lab, various work stations, plus a break room/kitchen area and waiting room/reception areas and storage facilities. In addition to the new St. Joseph Center building, the on site parking facilities will be modified, although a total of 136 parking spaces will continue to be provided for the shared utilization of all of the existing uses on the site. The primary changes will result in the removal of the existing internal circulation ramp, which will physically separate the on site parking into two separate lots, the elimination of an approximately 25-space existing parking area adjacent to the existing St. Joseph Center building (on the east), and a reconfiguration of the surface parking area at the northwest corner of the project site. Following completion of the proposed project, the new
Letter to James Bancroft December 12, 2003 Page Thirteen upper lot will provide a total of approximately 64 spaces, again including the two garage spaces for the St. Clement rectory. The existing access to this lot, provided via a single driveway from Third Street and two driveways from Marine Street, will remain unchanged. The new lower lot will provide a total of 72 spaces, and access to this lot will be modified. The existing driveway on Marine Street will remain as the only entrance, with the existing Hampton Drive driveway closed to provide more efficient internal circulation. The removal of the internal vehicular ramp between the new upper and lower lots will eliminate potential internal circulation conflicts and present a more efficient parking layout. Internal circulation between the two lots is not necessary under the proposed future operations of the site, and allows for better internal circulation. The existing ramp only provides one-way down access between the upper and lower lots, and due to its narrow width and awkward positioning on the site, is infrequently utilized. The elimination of internal circulation between the two lots also allows for better separation and reduced confusion for use of the potential public parking spaces in the lower lot during periods of reduced site parking needs. The current staffing and program service levels are not anticipated to change substantially, although some increases in a variety of programs are proposed. A total of approximately 10 new staff members, including new administrative, child care, and part time staff, will be added to the site to accommodate the proposed expansion of programs currently operating at the Hampton Avenue site. The most substantial change to the existing programs at the site involves the expansion of the child care operations from approximately 19 children to a maximum of about 48 children. However, it is expected that this expansion of the child care operations would result in only nominal and transient parking related increases during the child drop off (7:30 to 8:30 AM) and pick up (3:30 to 5:00 PM) activities. Other existing programs are also anticipated to expand slightly, although most would not significantly affect the amount of traffic or parking associated with the site. The existing After School program, currently accommodating about nine children, would be expanded to serve a total of 12 children. All of the children are currently brought to the site via one of the Center s shuttle buses, and the new students will also ride this bus. The Senior Outreach program could add up to five new clients per day. Parent support group and parent/infant group classes may expand to provide one additional class per week each of about 10 persons. These classes are held only on Wednesday and Thursday during the late morning and early afternoon. The Center s computer classes, held only on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, could expand to offer approximately 11 additional seats per class. A small business development class, held on Monday evening and Friday afternoon, might add up to five additional students per class. In addition to the programs described above, which currently operate from the Hampton Drive facilities, St. Joseph Center provides two additional services. The existing Culinary Training Program serves approximately 16 clients with two staff persons will be moved to the expanded
Letter to James Bancroft December 12, 2003 Page Fourteen Center once it is completed. This program is anticipated to operate from approximately 8:30 AM to 6:00 PM on weekdays. Additionally, the Center s Affordable Housing counseling program will relocate 3 new staff members and approximately 10 clients per day to offices within the new facilities. This program also operates from about 8:30 AM to 6:00 PM, Monday through Friday. These slight increases or relocations in staffing and programs are the only significant changes to the existing site operations for St. Joseph Center. Other programs currently at the site, such as the food pantry and case management operations are not anticipated to expand. A summary of the anticipated future operations, staffing, and programs for the St. Joseph Center is shown in Attachment A. This attachment also contains the summary of existing operations of the facility, so that direct comparison can be made between the existing and future staffing levels, clientele use, and hours of operations of the facility. Future Parking Demand Forecast Methodology and Assumptions In order to quantify the potential effects of the expansion project on the future parking needs for the St. Joseph Center, the existing parking demands for the Center, identified earlier in this report, were combined with estimates of increased parking needs based on the proposed expansion in programs and staffing. The following section discusses the methodologies and assumptions used to estimate the potential future parking needs for the proposed project. First, the existing empirical parking data collected for the site was used as a baseline. No changes were made to these observations, as the project does not propose to change or reduce these existing programs or its current staffing levels. Then, based on the programmed increases and program/participant expansions noted in the attached project summary, the anticipated parking demands associated with the increased staffing or expanded St. Joseph Center programs were identified for each time period of each weekday. For instance, the project program notes that on Wednesdays between 9:30 and 11:30 AM, a second Parent/Infant Group class totaling up to 10 students might be offered. Thus, a maximum of 10 new attendees could be present at the site during these hours, raising the potential for new parking demands beyond those identified in the survey of existing conditions. However, a review of the empirical parking data for the St. Joseph Center indicates a very low vehicular parking use in comparison to the number of employees, clients, and visitors at the site during the day. This data, supported by observations and experience of the Center s employees and staff, indicates that very few of the non-employees drive to the site. From observations of parking use during the parking sweeps, it is estimated that fewer than 40 percent of the clients and program participants actually drive; most take public transportation or walk to the site.
Letter to James Bancroft December 12, 2003 Page Fifteen Thus, using the example noted above, the 10 additional persons attending the Parent/Infant Group classes would be expected to generate a parking need for only about four additional vehicles rather than 10 vehicles. However, although these observations are not easily documented, the reduced vehicle usage does occur and should be accounted for in forecasts of future parking demand for the St. Joseph Center. Therefore, in order to be conservative, the estimates of future parking needs assumes that approximately 60 percent of the non-employee program participants drive to the site for their appointments or classes. Additionally, it was assumed that 85 percent of the parents using the child care program would drive their own vehicles to the site to drop off or pick up their children. This is approximately equivalent to the regional average vehicle occupancy of 1.2 persons per vehicle as indicated in Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) publications on travel characteristics of Southern California. The estimates of future parking needs for the child care drop off and pick up activities conservatively assumed that one parking space would be required for each vehicle arrival, although the drop off and pick up activities are transient, and occur over the course of more than an hour. In actuality, it is unlikely that the drop off or pick up activities would overlap in any significant manner that would necessitate an individual parking space for each vehicle. Rather, it is most likely that one space would be used by a number of child carerelated vehicles, since they account for only short duration drop off and pick up activities during the 7:30 to 8:30 AM (drop off) and 3:30 to 5:00 PM (pick up) periods. Lastly, all of the new staff members (a total of approximately 10 new staff, including administrative, child care, and part time employees) were assumed to drive their own vehicles to the site. The accumulation of new employees was assumed to be similar to the overall employee parking activity observed for the existing facilities, although the new Culinary Training and Affordable Housing Program staffs were both assumed to be at the site for the full duration of the classes (8:00 AM to 6:00 PM) each weekday. No other significant changes to staffing, clientele, or operations of the St. Joseph Center were assumed to occur due to the proposed expansion project. Additionally, the proposed project was assumed to have no effect on the parking utilizations of the St. Clement Church or Christian Charities Services operations. These assumptions are expected to result in a worst case assessment of the potential parking needs for the expanded St. Joseph Center. Due to the reasons described above, it is unlikely that the parking demands for the new St. Joseph Center facility will increase substantially beyond those observed for the existing site operations. However, in order to identify all potential future parking impacts of the project, and to ensure that no significant parking shortages occur in the future following development of the project, the most conservative approach applicable was utilized. The results of that analysis are described in the following section.
Letter to James Bancroft December 12, 2003 Page Sixteen Future Project Weekday Parking Demands The results of the forecast future parking demands for the St. Joseph Center are summarized in the tables contained in Attachment D. As shown in these tables, the peak forecast parking demands for the proposed future St. Joseph Center facility will occur on Wednesday afternoons between approximately 4:00 and 5:00 PM. During this time, the Center could need up to a total of approximately 74 parking spaces, based on the highly conservative methodology described previously. Actual future parking demands are expected to be 10 to 20 percent lower than this forecast. The analyses also indicate that peak parking demands for the St. Joseph Center could remain relatively high during the first half of the week, with peak parking demands of 69 spaces on Monday and Tuesday mornings. The maximum parking needs drop to 63 spaces or fewer for Thursday and Friday. The development of the proposed project will not affect the operations or parking demands for the existing St. Clement Church or Catholic Charities operations. The weekday parking demands for these uses would be expected to remain as indicated in the summary of existing parking demands. However, since the future parking scheme for the site will continue to provide shared parking for all on site users within both on site parking lots, the parking needs of the entire site were quantified. The potential parking demands of the entire site (all three site uses) were estimated by combining the existing St. Clement Church and Catholic Charities Services parking demands (shown in the existing site parking sweep summaries) with the anticipated future parking demands for the St. Joseph Center described in the previous paragraph. These estimates are summarized in Attachment E. Based on the existing and forecast parking demands for the site, the peak weekday parking needs for the three primary uses (proposed St. Joseph Center, St. Clement Church, and Catholic Charities) are estimated to be approximately 81 spaces, between about 2:00 and 3:00 PM on Wednesdays. This total amount of parking is 55 spaces less than the total of 136 spaces provided under the proposed site parking lot reconfiguration plan. Thus, even under the highly conservative analysis assumptions used, the site will continue to utilize substantially fewer spaces than are provided, even during the peak demand periods. Impacts to On Site Public Parking As described earlier in this analysis, due to the low parking demands associated with the three primary uses of the site, approximately 58 spaces located in the parking area at the northwest corner of the site are currently made available by St. Clement Church on a lease basis to a parking operator to provide public parking spaces for the project vicinity. Some spaces in this parking lot are leased by this independent operator to local businesses. The parking sweeps
Letter to James Bancroft December 12, 2003 Page Seventeen conducted for the site included identification of the current public parking utilization of these on site spaces. These sweeps indicated that the public spaces were fully utilized (over 90 percent occupancy) during at least one hour of each day of the weeklong survey, with the exception of Wednesday and Friday daytime periods. The lot was occasionally over full, with the observed utilizations exceeding the number of striped spaces. As summarized in Attachment E, the results of the parking demand forecasts for future conditions at the project site indicate that the maximum anticipated weekday daytime (7:00 AM to 5:00 PM) parking demand for the three primary on site uses will be approximately 81 spaces, or approximately 55 spaces fewer than the 136 total spaces proposed. However, additional spaces are available during weekday evening and weekend periods, when one or more of the three subject uses are closed. The number of available public parking spaces on the site during each day of the week is summarized in Attachment F. A comparison of the available spaces with the observed public parking demands at the site is also indicated in this summary. The minimum of 55 available spaces is 18 spaces fewer than the maximum observed occupancy of the public parking area, which exhibited a peak usage of 73 spaces between 8:00 9:00 PM on Friday, although this is only 3 spaces fewer than the 58 spaces in the northwest lot generally made available for public parking by the diocese. Based on the observed public parking utilizations, it is apparent that, during peak demand activity periods, the public lot is utilized beyond its striped capacity, and it is likely to continue to be so used. Assuming that no change in the demand for the public parking spaces occurs, the proposed expansion of the St. Joseph Center facilities could result in a slight reduction in parking spaces available to the public during weekday daytime periods. However, two important issues should be recognized in reaching this conclusion. First, the forecasts of anticipated future parking demands for the expanded St. Joseph Center are highly conservative, and are not likely to actually be achieved. Second, as described earlier in this report, if no recognition of the actual parking characteristics and operations of the site is included in the parking evaluations, the applicable code parking requirements for the site would require provision of a total of 122 parking spaces for use of the on site facilities alone, leaving only 14 unused spaces available for use as public parking. Thus, under the actual (forecast) parking conditions described in this report, the St. Clement diocese can continue to make available a substantial portion of its parking (approximately 55 spaces during weekday periods prior to 5:00 PM, with additional spaces on evenings and weekends) to address the desire for public parking spaces in the project vicinity. It is acknowledged that the area exhibits a high demand for additional public parking for a variety of reasons throughout the year (although particularly during the summer months), and that any public parking spaces provided by the diocese will certainly be utilized to the fullest extent during peak parking demand periods. However, our analysis of the effects of the development of
Letter to James Bancroft December 12, 2003 Page Eighteen the proposed project indicates that it will not significantly affect the ability of the diocese to voluntarily contribute public parking spaces toward meeting this demand. Thus, the completion and occupancy of the proposed St. Joseph Center expansion is not expected to result in the displacement of significant existing on site public parking or create overflow parking impacts on the adjacent streets or in the nearby residential neighborhoods even under the worst case parking demand analyses conducted for this study. Weekend Parking Conditions As described in a previous section of this report, the St. Joseph Center does not currently operate on weekends, nor is it proposed to do so following development of the project. Thus, the only operations currently occurring on the project site on Saturday or Sunday involve the St. Clement Church, the Catholic Charities Services, or the operations of the public parking spaces. The weekend parking sweeps were not conducted as frequently as the weekday sweeps, nor did they encompass the same hours, due generally to a decline in the intensity and durations of on site uses. For Saturday, the Catholic Charities Services operates from mid-morning until approximately 4:00 PM. St. Clement Church has late mass on Saturdays beginning at 5:00PM. It was assumed that this service would last approximately 60 to 90 minutes. The Church also holds occasional meetings or events on Saturdays, and the public parking spaces are also utilized. Based on these factors, the Saturday parking sweeps were performed at 10:00 AM, 12:00 noon, 2:00 PM, and each hour from 4:00 to 9:00 PM. On Sundays, the site activity is even further reduced, with only the St. Clement Church services generally in operation. The last mass on Sundays begins at 12:15 PM. However, the Church holds meetings or events on Sundays, and the public parking continues to be utilized. Thus, on Sundays, parking sweeps were conducted starting at 8:00 AM and continuing through 9:00 PM. The results of the weekend parking sweeps are contained in Attachment F. As shown in the summary, peak parking activity on Saturday occurred at approximately 2:00 PM, with 106 of the 134 total spaces occupied. The St. Clement Church accounted for approximately 25 spaces, while the Catholic Charities Services utilized 11 additional spaces. The St. Joseph Center occupied a total of five spaces, for parking of its five fleet vehicles. The public parking spaces were again fully utilized, with 65 vehicles observed during the peak activity. On Sunday, the peak parking activity from the three primary uses occurred at about 1:00 PM, with 73 of the 136 on site spaces occupied. The St. Clement Church utilized a total of 67 spaces, the Catholic Charities Services occupied only one space, the St. Joseph Center occupied the five fleet vehicle spaces. During this time, the public lot held 61 vehicles, which was the peak demand for the day for that use. Thus, without including the public parking activity, Sunday
Letter to James Bancroft December 12, 2003 Page Nineteen resulted in the highest weekend demand for parking for the site, although the proposed St. Joseph center project will have no effect on site parking during this period. The proposed project will continue to provide a total of 136 spaces. Therefore, the weekend public parking operations can continue under their present arrangements with adequate parking available to meet the parking demands for the remainder of the site, as determined from the existing use parking surveys. The proposed future parking configuration will continue to provide sufficient on site parking to meet the weekend demands of the site, which is not anticipated to change as a result of development of the expanded St. Joseph Center. Conclusions Based on the parking data collected, along with observations of the vehicular usage for both employees and clientele of the site performed by both Crain & Associates and St. Joseph Center, the proposed expansion of the Center and reconfiguration of the site parking facilities will not result in a significant impact to parking in the project vicinity. The forecast peak weekday parking demand of the completed St. Joseph Center facility, plus the unchanged parking needs of St. Clement Church and Catholic Charities Services, is anticipated to be a maximum of 81 spaces, which can be accommodated by the proposed 136-space parking lot. This amount of parking will also generally allow for the continued operations of a minimum of approximately 55 public parking spaces on the site during weekday daytime periods without creating on street parking overflow onto the adjacent residential neighborhood streets, and no significant parking impacts are anticipated. It should be noted that this conclusion is based on highly conservative estimates of future parking needs for the St. Joseph Center. It is unlikely that the worst case parking conditions described in this report will occur, and actual peak parking demand for the proposed St. Joseph Center expansion is expected to be 10 to 20 percent less than the demands identified in this study. However, it is recommended that, once completed and fully operational, new parking counts be conducted for the site to establish actual parking needs. If actual conditions indicate that parking demand for the expanded project has not increased significantly, the diocese may have the opportunity to provide additional weekday public parking spaces for the project vicinity. On weekends, only the St. Clement Church, Catholic Charities Services facilities, and the leased public parking operations are actively utilized. The St. Joseph Center does not operate at a high activity level, although it does maintain a nominal meeting schedule. These meetings do not create a significant effect on the existing weekend parking utilization for the site, and the proposed St. Joseph Center expansion project will have no effect on the parking demands for these periods. The proposed number of on site parking spaces will be sufficient to meet the anticipated peak weekend parking demands.