PAWTUCKET DOWNTOWN DESIGN PLAN FINAL ... - VHB.com

PUBLIC PARKING MANAGEMENT
CONCLUSION
The PDDP is primarily recommends adjustments to the existing parking system
as its system size is adequate, but not very functional. Improved signage and
encouraging all day parkers to move out of on street spaces should alleviate
the parking perception problem and allow the current system to work more
effectively. Changing current methods of designing and constructing lots, both
in landscape and lighting, should also help make existing surface parking
more energy efficient, safer, and better for the natural environment. Perhaps
the largest change to parking in the PDDP is to the management of private
lots requirements in the zoning modification, as that will decrease the need for
making more parking in the coming years.
Eventually, when the density of commercial development increases significantly,
the city as a whole, including public agencies, private business and institutional
stakeholders, will need to look a larger parking strategy. When this occurs,
the city will presumably have more options with a larger tax base to raise
funding. When this occurs, we recommend that the city look for ways not to
increase parking areas, but rather parking density through the development
of parking garages and also consider investments that encourage the use of
public transportation, bicycle use, and pedestrian access to decrease parking
pressures. Shared parking strategies are also very useful; for example, the
future commuter rail stop parking could also be made available for weekend
shoppers. Private employers should also seek incentive programs with local
transit agencies, such as RIPTA, to encourage their employees to ride public
transit to work.
Generally, we hope that the city puts parking less in front of the overall growth
needs of the city infrastructure, as it has been for the past few decades,
because this incentivized the destruction of important historic buildings and
construction of more suburban models of site design. Future development
needs are hard to predict, but a parking “problem” can be alleviated in many
more ways as the city evolves than simply by adding more.
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