Reports

Parking

Downtown Parking Garage Survey

B-TOP members surveyed three downtown Bloomington parking garages to determine usage patterns over a week in fall of 2006:

• The B-TOP 2006 Downtown Parking Garage Report
• A one-page summary of the economic impact of 0.8 parking spaces per bedroom in Smallwood.
• A what-if description of the impact of no parking spaces in Smallwood.

The city responded by hiring Walker Parking Consultants to perform an expanded survey. In February 2007, they produced their draft parking report (external link). We provided a B-TOP response to draft parking report.

Downtown Parking Plan (DRAFT: June 18, 2007)

B-TOP has developed a Parking Plan for Downtown Bloomington to address the immediate need for improvements in downtown parking policy. In particular, this plan specifies how parking meters should be used (where, when, price, etc.) and how parking garage spaces should be allocated. It implements most of the suggestions of the Walker draft report.

B-TOP presented the parking plan to the mayor and city council. They revised the plan to substantially decrease the cost of parking and increase the subsidy on parking, citing "psychological concerns." They are aware of the fact that by decreasing the cost of parking, they will cause increased demand and reduce our future ability to make reasonable parking choices. They don't care, and passed the revised plan on July 11, 2007.