 | | | Table provided | | | | | | Although a consultant's study into downtown Orinda's parking issues provided some interesting facts and insights, it appears to fall short of the actionable plan of pragmatic measures to solve Orinda's parking problems called for by the city council when it commissioned the study.
TJKM, the consultant that conducted the Downtown and Affected Neighborhoods Parking Study for the City of Orinda, presented its preliminary findings and recommendations at a community meeting on June 13, following nearly six months of data collection and analysis.
It will present its final report to the city council at an unspecified future date and no additional community meetings are planned, but public comments may still be submitted for consideration to tgilmore@cityoforinda.org.
For the present, TJKM's specific recommendations are limited to four measures to increase the management of existing parking inventory in the downtown and immediately adjacent neighborhoods.
Chris Kinzel made the presentation on behalf of TJKM, briefly explaining the methodology that was used and the findings made before outlining the recommendations. Essentially, the downtown and adjacent neighborhoods were classified into five zones. A total of 574 parking spaces were identified in these five areas. On the data collection date, Thursday, Feb. 25, parking occupancy and duration were recorded hourly at 8, 9 and 10 a.m. and at 3, 4, and 5 p.m. in each of the zones. Curiously, no data was reported for the midday period from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., when there is a perceptibly high volume of downtown parking and turnover related to banking, restaurant, library, Community Center use, and retail activity, a feature of the study that Kinzel did not explain.
Of the total inventory of spaces in the study area, 13 percent are not currently subject to a time limit, 37 percent are subject to a two-hour limit, 30 percent to a four-hour limit, and 12 percent to a one-hour limit. On average, the occupancy rate for all spaces for the day was found to be 48 percent, varying from a low of 32 per cent during the 8 a.m. hour to a high of 57 percent at 3 and 4 p.m. These percentages are broken down in further detail in the study. High demand areas were identified on Orinda Way, Santa Maria Way, Bates Boulevard, Brookwood Road, and in the Theater Square area.
TJKM also conducted an online survey on the city's website to identify the purpose and duration of trips involving downtown parking, and received 420 responses, 88 percent of which were from Orinda residents. Fifty-eight percent cited shopping and errands as the reasons for making their trips, but BART was given as the reason in 13 percent of the responses. On the other hand, 42 percent responded that their perception is BART parking is the reason for Orinda's high parking demand.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA