Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Parking Study topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
UW'Platteville students present midterm downtown parking study; committee discusses timed parking, signage and enforcement
Summary
UW'Platteville senior engineering students reported preliminary findings from a downtown parking study covering about 1,400 stalls, drone imagery, and a public survey (300+ responses as of Oct. 9). Committee members discussed time limits, signage, enforcement tools (license-plate imaging) and next steps; students will deliver a final report and presentation in December.
Senior students from the UW'Platteville Civil and Environmental Engineering program gave the Public Safety Committee a midterm update on a downtown parking study, outlining methods, preliminary results and planned deliverables.
Administrator Rindian introduced the student team, which said it had completed a sign inventory and is using ArcGIS Survey123 and drone imagery to measure occupancy and turnover. "We took drone imagery of Saturday, Tuesday and Friday," a presenter said, and later confirmed collection dates as Tuesday the 23rd and Friday the 26th of September. The students said they surveyed roughly 1,400 stalls in the study area and showed a heat map indicating that most center-square sections had 70'to'80% maximum occupancy at the times sampled, with one section exceeding 95% at peak.
The team also reported public-engagement results: the city distributed a Survey123 questionnaire on Oct. 6 that had collected more than 300 responses by Oct. 9. Students summarized common comments: parking is generally adequate except during events, large trucks or vehicles in the square reduce visibility (a particular problem for people with disabilities), and some people raised safety concerns after changes to the center median and a new seating area.
Committee members asked how enforcement and time limits would work. The students and a staff member reviewed a prior 2015 study that recommended two-hour timed parking and a so-called "shuffle" enforcement approach; one staff commentator said the ordinance allows the council to set the specific time by resolution. They discussed enforcement options including license-plate imaging to detect vehicles that have not moved after a set period. "We did it with a unit that we borrowed to see how it did it," a speaker said of the license-plate method, adding that it can identify vehicles that have not moved between passes.
Members and presenters discussed alternatives such as four-hour limits on outer rings, maps or signage directing visitors to underused public lots, and encouraging employees to park off the square to increase turnover. The students said they will refine turnover and occupancy calculations, create more graphics, and reference parking manuals and relevant literature before delivering a final report and a likely final presentation on Dec. 1. "We greatly appreciate the opportunity to conduct this study for the city of Monroe," a student said.
The committee did not take formal action on the study during this meeting; members thanked the students and accepted the midterm report as informational. The students will return with a final report and recommendations later in the year.
