Avon parking survey: 1,000 responses, 75% negative sentiment; council seeks more operational data

Marketing and communications manager Elizabeth Wood presented the results of Avon's December–January parking survey, reporting roughly 1,000 respondents, approximately 5,000 data points and a 75% negative sentiment interpretation for open comments.

Wood said the survey found most respondents do not live in Avon and many report avoiding trips to the commercial core because of parking management. Open‑ended responses (about 798) included repeated references to 'Hoffman Properties' in roughly 11–12% of those answers. Staff told council they pulled confidential sales tax information and did not observe a drop in sales tax tied to parking enforcement.

Councilors asked for additional operational metrics to better target policy changes: lot occupancy rates, peak times for demand, and compliance percentages (for example, percent of vehicles in rec center lots that are being used by rec patrons versus long‑term parkers). The police chief noted the department enforces parking on town public property and rarely issues tickets on private lots unless property owners request enforcement.

Mayor Underwood noted the council would retire to executive session later for legal advice on the town's private parking regulatory authority; she emphasized no decisions would be made in that closed session.

Quote: "We had a 75% completion rate and over 5,000 data points collected," Elizabeth Wood said of the survey.

Next steps: staff will return with lot‑level occupancy and compliance metrics, a compilation of open‑ended comments if requested, and legal advice on the town's parking regulatory authority.