Council asks staff to explore dedicated transportation revenue and near-term parking management steps

Transportation and parking dominated a portion of the retreat discussion, with councilors and staff exploring short-term management steps and longer-term dedicated funding options.

Councilor Charlotte and transportation staff reviewed data-collection steps and recommended pilot or near-term measures for parking (for example, converting portions of downtown to timed parking, piloting residential or event controls and collecting updated utilization data). Staff said parking-management recommendations, including potential paid parking or garage options, will be presented back with the latest data and an implementation timetable.

On dedicated transportation revenue, staff flagged potentially promising tools: developer impact fees to fund transportation improvements, user fees (parking or program-specific charges) and other local revenue options. Staff noted that property tax and general sales-tax increases carry political and legal constraints, while some dedicated fees or impact charges can be enacted locally but require analysis and legal review. Council asked staff to produce a short report on what dedicated transportation revenue could look like, including near-term options that could be acted on in FY2026 and longer-term alternatives that would require more study or joint action with county partners.

Councilors also connected transportation funding to broader planning and budget priorities, noting that any dedicated revenue should be coordinated with the proposed comp-plan/strategic-vision work and the town—apital improvement planning process.

Staff will return a scoping memo that includes: recommended near-term parking-management pilots; a menu of possible dedicated-transportation funding mechanisms (impact fees, user fees, possible lodging/sales tax options and their authority/approval pathways); and an estimated timeline and staffing/consultant needs.