City of Wichita Parking Meeting

Documenter name: Ayshia McCray

Agency: Kansas Leadership Center

Date: Nov. 7, 2024

See more about this meeting at Documenters.org

Notes

 City of Wichita Parking Meeting Agenda 11/07/2024

The meeting began with Troy Anderson, Assistant City Manager addressing the public by recapping a previous parking meeting that took place on October 28,2024. Anderson showcased the parking plans, options A through E, illustrating projected costs, length of construction, pros and cons of each option and referenced data collected. Anderson explained that the city of Wichita needs about $12-18 million worth of deferred maintenance, and stated that “we have not been putting money in our parking assets over the last decade”.

How to fund the cost of this parking initiative was originally suggested to be covered by the parking fund. It has now transitioned into the Capital Improvement Plan/Capital Improvement Program. 

On November 19, the city council will be voting on the implementation of a paid parking system. The objective of this meeting was to gain the perspective of the public with the various options and to introduce the newest option, Option E.

Each option will have free parking on Sundays, free parking after 6:00 pm Monday through Friday and free after 9:00 pm on Saturday with varying costs for garages and parking lots.

Out of the 5 options, Option A is the most profitable for the city and if chosen would be implemented in June 2026. There are debates between free parking for the first 15 minutes, free parking for the first hour (Option B), free parking during certain events like Old Town Farm and Art Market (Option A), or free parking in areas like Delano and Old Town (Option C: No parking meters or time limits in Old Town).

Anderson highlighted a con to the first hour of free parking in the Delano area, stating that data collected showed that about 35% of visitors in the Delano only stayed for an hour or less. Anderson emphasized that there would be a loss of about a third of the projected revenue.

Option D is the greatest outlier, which would not include any of the 2019 Wichita Parking and Multimodal Plan and contains an overall vague explanation in comparison to the other plans.

After the presentation from Anderson and a few questions from audience members. Kansas Leadership Center (KLC) staff members Jason Bosch: Leadership Developer and Jaryth Barten: Program Manager (KLC) addressed the audience by giving an overview of KLC , welcoming the audience to hold space for some civic dialogue and embracing the discomfort of change. These discomforting side effects being fears, uncertainty and loss.

The audience was asked to break into small groups, and were handed colored sheets (pink, orange, blue and green) with questioned prompts. Several audience members left when asked to split into the small groups.

• Group Pink: What losses real or perceived do we fear with the proposed changes to parking?
• Group Orange: What feels uncertain about the downtown parking situation?
• Group Blue: What assumptions might we be making about the impact that a paid parking system will have?
• Group Green: What do we need from the city staff and council as this issue moves forward?

Real or perceived losses

• The public shared concerns of loss from customers, loss of profit in their business(es) and cost of paying for employee’s parking fees.
• They questioned if there will be an incentive quota for parking monitors.
• The loss of tenants in residential areas, speculated on if parking fees will be included in rental leases, loss of volunteers for nonprofits and overall concern for their employees that may not be able to afford parking fees with their income.

Uncertainty arises for the group

•  Loss of customer/loss of business
•  Group questioned if there would be enough accessibility parking
• Will the parking lots/parking garages be ADA Parking Compliance ?
• Will visitors block driveways & entryways to avoid cost or park in resident parking spots?
• Will businesses validate parking for guests?
• How will the cost of parking affect their bottom line?

Assumptions the group held were:

• Angry people
• Loss of business/loss of customers
• Increased competition from other non parking fee areas
• Businesses will leave the area and venture to areas that don’t charge for parking
• Less foot traffic in shops, restaurant and community events
• Will the uniqueness of downtown be lost with parking fees?
• How will the city council engage with the public to address this change and ensure it appeals to both residents and visitors in the Downtown area?
• Inconvenience of parking
• Cost of infrastructure will go up

Needs from the city council and staff are:

• More transparency on the financial cost
• More public information
• The desire for more education outside the city’s government site
• More data
• Educating people that aren’t in attendance
• Projections of business cost for parking fees
• Regulation and enforcement of designated parking areas
• Improvements to the Wichita Transit System, including more routes. in particular on the west side of Wichita
• Will there be free parking for inconvenient parking like the top floor of a parking garage?

Council Member Brandon Johnson closed the meeting and encouraged audience members to email their city council members with their concerns.

Summary

• My takeaways are that there will be a parking system implemented, although there is some hesitancy and apprehension. It has been done in most cities and it can work.
• Citizens should reach out to their city council members about their concerns before November 19 and be in attendance on November 19 at 6pm when it will be voted on by the city council.
• Lastly, asking themselves the four prompted questions presented by KLC to see what may come up for them in this change and explore what would help them feel more confident with the change.

Follow-Up Questions

• Will there be a tax write off for parking fees for businesses? Will there be a tax write off for parking in general?
• How will this initiative be equitable? If someone doesn’t have a smartphone and can not download a parking app, what is the alternative for them?
• How many job opportunities will be available to implement the new parking system?

If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@kansasleadershipcenter.org with "Correction Request" in the subject line.