In one of its final acts before being dissolved, the Parking Authority authorized a parking assessment to address short- and long-term parking needs, including potentially identifying a location for a second downtown parking deck.

The Parking Authority approved a $40,000 contract with Parlin-based CME Associates during its Dec. 27 special meeting. The Dec. 27 Parking Authority meeting agenda and minutes were obtained through an Open Public Records Request (OPRA).

The four-page technical and cost proposal for professional engineering services for a downtown Rahway parking study was submitted in December to acting Parking Authority executive director Robert Landolfi, who also serves as interim city administrator and interim director of the Redevelopment Agency.

CME Associates anticipates “performing parking evaluation and data collection needed to assess current conditions and develop recommendations that will address future parking needs” in the city:

• Perform morning, evening and Saturday parking occupancy counts at municipal parking facilities during peak periods to establish parking lot occupancy rates and identify location and times in which parking supply shortages are at their highest levels;
• Evaluate current municipal parking facility operations and layouts including time limits, parking rates, methods of fee collection, restrictions, parking space layouts and hours of operation to develop potential improvements that may increase parking supply during peak periods.
• Review parking data in conjunction with parking space occupancy count data collected to qualify, locate and establish time periods of the current and future expected parking shortages;
• Review and identify potential areas where additional on-street parking supply can be created downtown through road re-striping and/or road reconstruction;
• Review properties downtown that can potentially be used for development of new surface parking lots;
• Quantify the amount of additional parking spaces that can be added to existing supply downtown through introduction of on-street parking spaces and off-street surface parking lots;
• Identify potential location downtown where a second parking deck can be constructed and develop a proposed parking space count for the facility.
• Develop short-term and interim recommendations that can be implemented quickly and economically to improve current parking conditions and add to existing parking supply.
• Develop mid-range parking improvements that can be implemented in the next two to five years (2021-2024) to significantly increase the parking supply downtown. Improvements may require acquisition of property by the city.
• Develop long-term parking improvements (5 to 10 years/2024-2029) to accommodate expected future growth within downtown.

Upon completion of the study, CME will prepare a comprehensive report summarizing data collection, analyses, findings and recommendations for consideration by the city.

The Parking Authority was an autonomous agency overseen by a five-member board of commissioners, appointed by City Council. Last year, the authority was dissolved, with parking operations under the purview of a Parking Utility within city government.

The last time parking inventory was studied was 2009 when Tim Haahs and Associates projected a future parking shortage of about 343 spaces over the next 10 years.