Background:
Downtown Toledo Parking Authority prepared this Parking Inventory Report for The Gateway Consulting Group, September, 1999. The Downtown Toledo Parking Authority updated its 1997 Parking Study of available parking spaces in Downtown Toledo. In addition an inventory of public parking spaces in the Warehouse District was also counted. The purpose of this report is to evaluate the adequacy of the existing public parking system to accommodate increased parking demand as well as provide flexibility to satisfy downtown revitalization efforts. The following study identifies the parking contained within three eighths of a mile radius of the proposed downtown ballpark. While the design of the ballpark has not been determined, if it is built on the proposed site (1) it may have a center field entrance near the present corner of Monroe and Superior Streets. For the purpose of this study the distances are measured from the proposed center field entrance of the ballpark location. The study considers the downtown public parking space inventory of off-street parking facilities and on-street parking spaces; as well as, the available parking inventory within the adjacent Warehouse District.

• Gateway Consulting Group has indicated that the proposed site is bordered by Huron, Washington, St. Clair, and Monroe Streets. The home plate would be near Huron and Washington Streets.

Study Approach:
The Downtown Toledo Parking Authority study of the public parking inventory for the proposed ballpark is designed to inform the key decision makers of the availability of a large reservoir of existing downtown parking assets. With these parking assets, already developed and in place, there would be no requirement of additional expense to purchase land, clear, and develop parking for the proposed ballpark. The existing inventory represents substantial savings for the ballpark development costs.

Ned Skeldon Stadium located in Maumee at the Lucas-County Recreation Center contains a 1,400 parking space lot that provides parking up to a distance of one-half mile from the entrance to the stadium. When Ned Skeldon Stadium is occupied at 100% capacity, patrons park up to one-half mile from the entrance to the facility. In order to assure patrons that an abundant supply of parking exists in close proximity to the proposed downtown ballpark, Downtown Toledo Parking Authority has measured public parking space availability by distances from the center field entrance to the proposed Downtown ballpark within a radius of 1/8 mile, 1/4 mile, and 3/8 mile. The study consists of a combination of an inventory of public parking spaces contained in the updated “1997 Downtown Toledo Parking Study” and a visual inventory of public parking spaces, both on street and off-street, currently available within the Warehouse District.

Downtown Toledo Parking Authority updated the 1997 Downtown Parking Study inventory in August of 1999. Several walking tours of the Warehouse District were conducted during the month of September to measure the quantities of public parking spaces.

Study Area:
The study area consists of a combination of the Warehouse District bounded by Monroe Street, Maumee River, Indiana Avenue, 14th Street, I-75, Logan Street, and a portion of Downtown Toledo bounded by Maumee River, Orange Street, Jackson Street, 14th Street, and Monroe Street. Parking spaces are divided into 220-yard wide zones radiating out from the center field entrance to the proposed downtown ballpark. A map detailing the available parking space inventory is included within the report.

PARKING INVENTORY

There are over 18,000 parking spaces in Downtown Toledo. Many of these parking spaces are located in proximity of the proposed downtown ballpark. The 18,000 parking spaces mean little to visitors who attend events held at various locations within the Downtown if these spaces are not located convenient to one’s destination.

This report provides the basis for good decision making based on a more than adequate supply of public-parking spaces available to meet the proposed development’s peak parking demand. The Authority has examined the proposed location of the downtown ballpark and has calculated the current parking inventory excluding the parking inventory eliminated by the structure.

Downtown public parking inventory is divided into two broad categories; one is on-street public parking that consists of zones that are marked by signs and are as follows:

Non-metered public parking zones:

1. Parking Permitted (unlimited)
2. 15 minute parking permitted
3. 30 minute parking permitted
4. 60 minute parking permitted
5. 90 minute parking permitted

Parking permitted zones are prevalent in areas of low traffic density such as the Warehouse District and 12th through 14th Streets. The Toledo Police Department during normal business hours from 8:00 a. m. to 5:00 p. m. weekdays regulates parking time. There are a total of 23 zones containing 302 parking spaces located within 3/8 mile of the entrance to the proposed stadium.

Metered Parking Zones:

1. 15 minute parking
2. 1 Hour parking
3. 2 Hour parking

Metered parking zones are located in the more densely populated, high demand traffic areas of downtown. There are very few 15- minute meters and they service drop-off/pick- up businesses. There is an abundance of 1-hour parking meter zones throughout the downtown core. 2-hour meter zones are located on the periphery of the downtown core. There are 73 metered parking zones containing 577 parking spaces located within 3/8-mile radius of the centerfield entrance to the proposed ballpark.

ParkSmart meter monitors manage the on-street meter program for Downtown Toledo Parking Authority from 8:00 a .m to 11:00 a. m. and 2:00 p. m. to 5:00 p. m. Monday through Friday except on official announced holidays. Metered parking is available free after 5:00 p. m. on weekdays and free from 5:00 p. m. Friday until 8:00 a. m. Monday morning.

Secondly downtown parking is available through numerous parking lots and multi-level facilities that are either privately or publicly owned. Numerous surface lots dot the downtown landscape. Many offer public parking and are provide convenient and easy access to many of the key Downtown Toledo destinations. Most of the surface lots are operated by parking companies and are marked by good information signs. There are a total of thirty-four surface parking lots providing 3,724 parking spaces within a 3/8-mile radius of the centerfield entrance to the proposed ballpark.

Included within this category of off-street parking is a number of multi-level parking facilities. These structures provide a significant number of convenient parking spaces located within the core of downtown. Parking facilities permit a large number of vehicles to park close to the visitor’s destination. There are 10 multi-level parking facilities containing 5,281 parking spaces within 3/8-mile radius of the entrance to the proposed ballpark.

Summary:
Currently, there are 9,884 parking spaces divided among the various parking categories mentioned above located within 3/8-mile of the proposed center field entrance at Monroe and Superior Street. Locating the stadium at this site permits the Mud Hens to tap a huge reservoir of parking. Much of the parking inventory is heavily used by downtown employees, clients, and visitors during normal business hours; however, this same inventory supports huge special event attendance throughout the year. In fact tens of thousands of visitors attend the numerous special entertainment events such as Rally by the River, Rib Off, Riverfest, Fourth of July Celebration, First Night, Taste of Toledo, and Greekfest. These special events occur during evening hours, on holidays and weekends and do not impact the normal weekday business demand on the parking supply.

If we use the Urban Land Institute suggested planning data for a sports facility, we find that persons attending a sport event will walk up to 2,000 feet. Vehicle occupancy is calculated at a ratio of 2.4 persons per vehicle for a 10,000-seat ballpark. Using these planning ratios we find the results to be significantly favorable to Downtown Toledo. 9,884 parking spaces located within a 3/8-mile radius equal enough fans to fill a 24,000-seat stadium. If we were to calculate adding any of the privately owned parking that is not typically available for public parking, there would be an additional 2,975 parking spaces over and above the 9,884 public parking spaces considered in this report. That represents enough parking supply to fill a 30,000-seat stadium. The 9,884 public parking spaces that make up the available downtown inventory are within 2,000 ft of the proposed centerfield entrance. In fact we have calculated that within a 1/4 –mile radius of the proposed site, there are 6,623 public parking spaces that equates to enough parking to fill a 15,600 seat facility to standing room only. Many of the parking spaces are closer if we were to consider a home plate entrance.

There is a sufficient supply of parking within all of downtown and the Warehouse District to support several large functions at the same time. For instance the parking supply for COSI, Valentine Theatre, and International Park would not be impacted by a sold out stadium event. Most of this parking supply is located at the outer edge of the 3/8-mile distance from the stadium entrance and large portion is located outside of the 3/8-mile radius.

There is sufficient parking supply within the downtown core and Warehouse District to easily accommodate the peak parking demand of the proposed ballpark. As the accompanying maps demonstrate, the necessary parking spaces are contained within a relatively small area of downtown. We may also note that there would be no negative impact on the parking available for the Erie Street market. Additional public parking is being developed further south of the Erie Street Market on Erie Street.