The City of Bozeman Parking Commission is undertaking a comprehensive parking study of the downtown business district. The study will address a number of critical aspects including: downtown parking policies; future downtown parking needs and opportunities; and future parking cost projections. The Parking Commission released a Request For Proposals in 2015 and received five responses from national parking consulting firms. Rick Williams Consulting of Portland, Oregon was selected to conduct the study. “We conducted parking studies in 2010, 2012 and 2014 that exclusively analyzed how downtown’s existing parking inventory was being used,” said Chris Naumann, executive director of the Downtown Bozeman Partnership and Parking Commission member. “The Comprehensive Downtown Parking Plan will focus on the future of parking in terms of demand, inventory needs, and financing aspects,” Naumann explained. A series of stakeholder meetings about the plan are scheduled for mid-January.
On Wednesday, January 13th at 6:30pm at City Hall will be a meeting for downtown residents and neighborhoods adjacent to downtown. The following morning, Thursday, January 14th, Rick Williams Consulting will present an update about the plan to the Parking Commission at 7:30am. Then at noon Thursday, January 14th, will be a meeting for downtown business and property owners at City Hall. A draft of the plan is expected to be completed in early March 2016 with the final plan presented to the Parking Commission in April 2016. Thomas Thorpe, City of Bozeman Parking Manager, said, “Parking downtown is an important issue, one that affects all aspects of our downtown economy. Having a master plan is critical to make well-informed, data-driven decisions that impact the businesses and patrons of downtown. This Plan will help the Parking Division and Parking Commission navigate growth and development downtown for years to come, leading to benefits for our whole community.” •