Commission recommends marketing, signage, weekend free parking and limited permit oversell to boost use of underused Depot Square Garage

City staff told the Boulder Junction joint Travel Demand Management (TDM) and Parking commissions on May 21 that the Depot Square Garage is substantially underused and offers options to better match parking supply to demand.

"When we looked at how the Depot Square Garage was being used in April, we found it was pretty consistently underutilized, averaging just about 17% full with the peak just over 26%," Sam Bromberg, senior project manager with Community Vitality, said. "That's only about 65 cars parked on average in the 392‑space garage. That presents an opportunity to better match available parking with the needs of the district."

Bromberg said staff focused on the Depot Square Garage because the district, as a member of the Depot Square Ownership Association, has the most influence over that facility. Her team reviewed on‑ and off‑street parking, permit allocations, and frequently raised challenges and offered five main recommendations: explore purchasing RTD's allocation of about 75 garage spaces; pilot an oversell of monthly permits (starting at about 10%); install improved real‑time signage and integration with parking apps; offer free parking on weekends; and, if RTD spaces were acquired, reserve some discounted permits for income‑qualified residents (staff suggested keeping the existing market rate at about $150/month and an income‑qualified rate of about $75/month to match similar nearby buildings).

Bromberg said an oversell could help because "not everyone uses their permit every day, especially with more people working hybrid or remote. If we could oversell permits by even 10%, we could help boost use without a whole lot of risk." She also noted the garage is slated to convert to Metropolis payment and permit software by the end of third quarter 2025, which could make drive‑in/drive‑out validation easier for businesses.

Commissioners expressed broad support for the non‑purchase recommendations (oversell, signage/apps, weekend free parking and resident discounts if acquisition occurs) while asking for more detail before pursuing purchase of RTD spaces. Commissioners asked staff to clarify potential ongoing maintenance or operational obligations, the likely cost to acquire RTD spaces (staff noted a prior, differently scoped purchase of 100 spaces cost about $2.4 million a decade ago), and how any newly available garage permits might be allocated among residents, commercial tenants and commuters.

Several commissioners also emphasized that activating underperforming retail on the district's north end should remain a priority and that any strategy to shift supply toward the garage should be paired with marketing and wayfinding to attract visitors to neighborhood businesses. "If we can support those businesses with some free options, it will push people to the garage because there's no other place to park," one commissioner said during discussion.

Staff clarified other operational points raised during the meeting: RTD currently holds an allocation of spaces in the garage that is governed by the station/ownership arrangements (and state statute limits some RTD parking uses); RTD users would not automatically retain free garage parking if the district acquired those spaces; and some Cushman & Wakefield‑managed properties currently lease portions of the garage but are not fully using their allocations while commercial vacancies remain.

Next steps, as stated by staff, include: seeking commissioner feedback on the proposed package; clarifying cost and operational implications of acquiring RTD spaces; tracking the neighborhood permit petition (the city had received about 20 of the 25 required signatures for a neighborhood permit petition at the time of the meeting); preparing an implementation timeline for the recommended steps; and completing the Metropolis conversion for the garage in Q3 2025.

Commissioners supported moving forward with improved signage, weekend free parking pilot, permit oversell piloting and integration with payment/validation software, while asking staff to return with cost estimates and a clearer implementation plan before engaging RTD about purchasing its space allocation.

Ending: Staff will return with cost estimates and an implementation timeline for commissioner consideration; the commission encouraged pairing any parking changes with marketing and wayfinding to help bring shoppers to currently underused retail corridors.