PURCHASE OF ELECTRONIC PARKING METERS

IN COMMERCIAL ZONE

RECOMMENDATION :

It is recommended:

1. Allow up to 4 hours per stay at Silver Meters.
2. The City Council approve this purchase of Electronic Parking Meters from Duncan Industries.
3. Approve the appropriation of $104,121 from the Equipment Replacement Fund Account for the purchase.

BACKGROUND:

The City Council considered and approved a number of changes to parking regulations. These were later approved by the Coastal Commission.

This new program went into the following changes:

Residential Permit Area Proposal - 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. 6th St. to 16th St.

Enforcement Hours - Meters

• Yellow Meters: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Silver Meters: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Enforcement hours from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., 7 days a week.

2 or 3 hours.

ANALYSIS:

The enforcement of hours for residential permit areas and meter areas in the coastal zone has been posted. The maximum stay in the meter area is two hours only. The silver pole meters are located in these commercial clusters:

Second Street, Downtown, 22nd Street.

Staff conducted an informal survey of these commercial clusters and received the following comments:

Business owners and merchants were overwhelmingly pleased with the 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. enforcement because the hours improved patron parking in the evening hours. Prior, residents would park in front in the commercial zone after 6 p.m. and stay all night.

Conversely, business patrons would park in the residential areas. The enforcement hours have had the desired affect of returning residents to parking in residential neighborhoods and businesses having parking spaces available in commercial areas.

The businesses that did have a negative impact were two dinner clubs, The Comedy and Magic Club, and the Bottle Inn. Each was affected by the two-hour meter limit and the enforcement until 10 p.m. Their patrons on average spend three to four hours at the clubs and restaurant. Currently, the businesses or patrons are feeding the meters or a parking citation is issued.

Possible remedies are:

Return enforcement hours to 6 p.m. in impacted area

(not recommended by staff.)

Maintain new enforcement hours and upgrade silver poled meters to all electronic meters with the capacity for one to four hour parking. (Recommended by staff.)

There are approximately 1,600 parking meters in the City. 300 are silver-poled meters and 1,300 are yellow-poled meters.

Staff is requesting approval to upgrade all the silver-poled meters to electronic meters. The average age of silver-poled meters is twenty years or more. The electronic meters would provide more flexibility in setting hours for parking paid and any rate changes the City Council may propose in the future.

Electronic meters have several advantages over mechanical meters:

Provide audit feature, count monies; rate changes automatically done with computer software, reduction in maintenance costs. Patron receives exact time purchased; less failure rate, less patron complaints.

CASH KEY FEATURE

Electronic meters also have a Cash Key feature which is a debit (pre-pay) system. The meter is programmed to decrement the cash key to purchase time on meters equipped to accept it.

The Cash Key is a key shaped device that may be conveniently carried on the motorist's key ring. It is loaded with prepaid parking value purchased by the motorist from the parking authority (Finance Department.) The motorist may then use the Cash Key to purchase parking time on motors equipped to accept it.

DUNCAN METERS

Duncan Industries is the premier parking meter manufacturer in the country of both mechanical and electronic meters. They comprise more than eighty percent of the industry manufacturer for parking meters. They provided and have provided for the City of Hermosa Beach the best service, quality of parts and maintenance record than their nearest competition - Park-O-Meter (POM) Company. Our POM mechanical meters are being phased out because of their poor quality of repair parts and high maintenance record.

The Duncan Eagle CK Electronic Meter, Model 70, would meet or exceed the electronic meter required for the City.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION

1. Upgrade existing mechanical Duncan Meter inventory parts to electronic meter.

Conversion to Eagle CK electronic mechanism only -

$170.95 each, quantity 85.

2. Purchase 250 new Duncan Electronic Meters at $326.62 each.

(See attached cost quote.)

Order would take approximately three to four weeks to receive and installation would begin in order of priority.

The City of Hermosa Beach currently has Duncan Electronic Meters at the center median yellow poles from Herondo Street to 10th Street on Hermosa Avenue,

installation was part of the street upgrade.

Fiscal Impact:

Funds in the amount of $104,121 would be appropriated from the Equipment Replacement fund for the prescribed amount.

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