THE
Regular Meeting
The regular meeting of the
Morgantown Parking Authority was held at
PRESENT: Chairman
Ernest Fortuna, Vice-Chairman
Papandreas and Tom Arnold.
ABSENT:
OTHERS PRESENT: Terry
Cutright and Kelly Palmer of
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Ernest
Fortuna at
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Upon a motion by Mr. Papandreas seconded by Mr. McEwuen and approved by unanimous vote, the minutes of the regular meeting of July 13, 2005 were approved as presented.
The regular business was suspended to allow Ms. Terry
Cutright,
NEW BUSINESS:
Ms. Cutright thanked the Parking Authority members for their support throughout the year and thanked them for the success of the Spruce Street Farmers Market. She is currently serving on the Arts & River Festival Board and would like to request a more acceptable fee for event parking for this event. The Arts & Rivers Board members believe that the $5 parking fee is too high and would like to have it reduced to $2 or $3. If this is not possible then the Board doesn’t want to have event parking for the festival. Mr. Arnold agreed that event parking would not be suitable for the Arts & River Festival.
Ms. Kelly Palmer requested $2 event parking from
Mr. McEwuen doesn’t feel that event parking is needed during Kids Day because most people will not park long enough to justify the $2 event parking. Ms. Cutright said the event parking sign draws people’s attention to the fact that there is an event going on because some people are not aware that there is an event until they see the signs. Mr. Arnold said he would like to get permanent electrical signs that would advertise events and post important notices. The signs he is interested in are illegal in the downtown. Ms. Cutright informed him that the Parking Authority would be exempt from the sign ordinance and recommended Mr. Arnold speak with the City Manager on the issue.
Parking Problem on the Upper Block of High Street:
Ms. Cutright stated that businesses in the upper (400)
block of High Street are concerned with loosing parking spaces when the
students return for the fall semester.
She would like to have 4x6 triangle placards with sliding slots placed
on the meters. She would like to insert
information in the slots stating “No WVU student parking”. Mr. McEwuen said he is not in favor of
putting the restriction on the meters and the student-parking problem will be
eliminated once the
Mr. Arnold said there is a problem with employees and business owners parking on the 300 block of High Street. There are four vehicles taking up spaces in front of one business. Ms. Cutright said an ordinance should be drawn up for “Customer Parking Only” on High Street.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
Mr. Arnold met with Noli Alarcon of Tim Haus Associates
regarding the
Mr. Arnold will be sending the footprint for the garage to them and would like to start the interview process. Mr. Papandreas asked if there was a height restriction on the garage. Mr. Arnold said he would like to stay close to the size of the surrounding buildings.
Mr. Byrne
said the downtown is becoming more residential with more housing being
built. Kanecore is a developer who plans
to build a 1000 bed apartment complex called “
Mr.
Arnold spoke with
Mr. Byrne said
Illegal Parking in the Wharf District:
Mr.
Arnold said the illegal parking problem in the Wharf is not limited to just the
vacant property owned by Cohen. There
was a difference of $7,000 in revenue loss from July 2004 to July 2005 for the
Wharf District. The City Planner,
Maintenance Projects in Public Safety Garage and Pleasant Street Deck:
Mr. Arnold said Concrete Preservations did a great job in the Spruce Street parking garage. The leaks have been fixed and the decks have been scrubbed and sealed. The garage was completed in time to hold the annual “Greatest Garage Sale on Earth”. The Contractors have since moved to Lot-D, the Pleasant Street parking garage, and the work on the deck is underway.
NEW BUSINESS:
Request to Remove 3 Parking Spaces at the Intersection of University Avenue and Prospect Street:
A request to remove 3 parking spaces at the intersection of University Avenue and Prospect Street was received from WVU. They would like to extend the left turn lane on Prospect next to Stewart Hall. The three spaces are currently truck-loading zones with annual revenue of $3317.50. The three truck loading zone spaces will be relocated on the opposite side of the street. Mr. Boroff is in favor of this request.
Mr. Byrne suggested the Authority negotiate with the University and link this with the Wiley Street garage project. He said the Authority is willing to work with the University but would like some cooperation from them on the Wiley Street project.
University Avenue Garage Stair Replacement:
Mr. Arnold said Lu Dempsey has been doing a good job for the Parking Authority. Mr. Dempsey recommended replacing the stair skids and keeping the existing railings and landings. The walls will be removed allowing people to see through.
MPA Logo Change:
After the July Parking Authority meeting Mr. Arnold took the Parking Authorities suggestion on changing the logo back to the staff and downtown merchants. They are all in agreement that the name “Park Morgantown” will leave people to believe there is an actual park in Morgantown.
Mr. Arnold asked the Authority members what they thought of the name “Park Morgantown”. Mr. Papandreas and Mr. McEwuen both like the name. Mr. Fortuna, however, said he doesn’t like the name and believes the word Authority should somehow be kept in the name. He asked what it would cost to change the parking signs if the name were changed. Mr. Arnold said the Parking Authority’s name is not on any of the signs so it isn’t an issue. Mr. McEwuen said he would get a visual drawing of the “Park Morgantown” logo for the members to view.
Mr. Papandreas suggested the name “Parking Morgantown”. He said the name has to have either the word “park” or “parking” in it. Mr. Byrne said the Parking Authority might consider getting a marketing group to look at changing the Authority’s image. Mr. Arnold said he isn’t in favor of paying the expense for getting a marketing group, however, he will call John Edwards for his opinion.
OTHER MATTERS:
Change Lot O to Ten-Hours:
To help alleviate the parking problem on High Street Mr. Arnold has changed Lot-O from a two-hour lot to a ten-hour lot. Right now Lot-O doesn’t fill up during the day so he will try this on a temporary basis to see how it does.
ADJOURNMENT:
There being no further business Mr. Byrne moved to adjourn, seconded by Mr. Papandreas and approved by unanimous vote, the meeting was adjourned at 4:40 P.M.
_____________________________ ______________________________
DATE Ernest Fortuna, Chairman
Prepared by: _____________________________________
Dianna L. Kovalcheck