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BACKGROUND City Council authorized staff to prepare the Parking Plan at its October 6, 2015 meeting. At the December 15, 2015 City Council meeting, staff provided an update on the plan and parking solutions that were implemented to date, or that would be implemented in the short-term. Staff has now received a draft of the Parking Plan and is providing an update to the City Council before presenting the report to the Pleasanton Downtown Association, the Economic Vitality Committee, other interested organizations, and other members of the general public. SUMMARY OF REPORT AND DISCUSSION The Downtown Parking Strategy and Implementation Plan dated June 16, 2016, Attachment 1 to this report, was developed with the objective of identifying how to best ensure sufficient and convenient parking would be available in the Downtown area, both in the near -term and the long -term. The Parking Plan discusses: existing parking conditions; increasing the parking supply, including the feasibility and cost of developing a parking structure; influences that affect parking conditions, parking demand management strategies; an implementation plan for management of the existing parking supply; and policy /Municipal Code updates, all of which are discussed in further detail below. Existing Parking Conditions The commercial area of Downtown has approximately 3,320 parking spaces, including both on- street and off- street, public, and private parking supplies. The City's 2008 acquisition and improvement of the Alameda County Transportation Corridor has resulted in additional paved parking spaces and additional unpaved spaces. The Downtown Specific Plan indicates there are approximately 843,000 square feet of commercial space within the Downtown, resulting in a parking ratio of 1 space for each 250 square feet of building floor area. In the aggregate, there is a sufficient number of parking spaces Downtown to accommodate typical peak existing demand. However, most of the off - street parking is on private property and is not available for general use by the public. The Parking Plan identified that although on- street parking in the core commercial area closest to Main Street was parked at capacity, on- street parking on the periphery of Downtown was typically available, even at peak times. This suggests a high potential for implementing parking management solutions to better utilize the most desirable parking spaces in the core while directing some of the parking demand to the less- utilized spaces on the periphery. The existing conditions analysis also identified both pedestrian and bicycle related barriers, which contribute to inefficient parking space utilization and increased parking demand. Steep grades adjacent to the Transportation Corridor, vacant lots and fences create barriers that impede pedestrian access to and from parking lots, and narrow sidewalks discourage walking. Barriers that discourage bicycling include gaps in bicycle facilities both approaching Downtown and within the Downtown and limited and inconvenient bicycle storage and parking. Page 2 of 9