Del Ray Parking Study Suggests Future Implementation of Paid Parking

A recent parking study of Del Ray recommends the implementation of paid meters for the entire Mt. Vernon Avenue corridor once parking utilization in the area is in excess of 85 percent.

However, the final draft of the study conducted by Kimley-Horn and Associates for the city says "paid parking at this point in time is not appropriate for the Del Ray neighborhood."

According to the study, the current overall off-street utilization of parking in the Mt. Vernon Avenue area ranges between 26 percent and 56 percent and the overall on-street utilization currently ranges between 53 percent and 64 percent.

The report recommends additional monitoring and the accumulation of data to identify when the system approaches the 85 percent threshold. It also recommends the use of multi-space meters or credit card-enabled single-space meters once paid parking is implemented.

Immediate recommendations of the parking study include:

• Addition of general parking (with the existing two-hour time limits) along the northwest corner of Mt. Vernon Avenue and Windsor avenues.
• Implementing additional loading zones to support local business at various locations along Mt. Vernon Avenue, north of Custis Avenue.
• Creating Customer Convenience Zones, which are intended to be short-term (an hour or less), high-turnover spaces to serve businesses with quick turnaround transactions.
• To explore the addition of residential permit zones in areas where parking utilization data dictates additional parking restrictions.
• Removal of some taxi stands to add general parking (this recommended approach occurs in very minimal areas).

The study also suggests pursuing shared parking arrangements with private business and property owners whose parking lots are underutilized in the evening, improving wayfinding signage to parking and re-evaluating parking requirements for small development or redevelopment opportunities.

In November, Abi Lerner, a deputy director of the city’s department of Transportation and Environmental Services, told the Del Ray Citizens Association that a community meeting concerning the parking study would be held sometime in the first quarter of 2012.

The DRCA Land-Use Committee planned to meet with city staff at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at to discuss the parking study and other matters.