Parking Strategies

Even as Temple grows and public transit efficiency increases, parking will continue to be in demand in a vibrant and active downtown. Planning for the future means having a strategy for how parking will accommodate growth and the corresponding increased demand for parking.

Parking Garages Locating parking lots that can be converted to garages and tie garage construction to growth metrics is part of that strategy. The City of Temple has already begun to pursue that strategy with two parking garages that are to begin construction in response to surrounding redevelopment projects. Parking garages may be a combination of publicprivate use and free or fee based parking. Hourly Parking Currently there are portions of the Downtown Core that are governed by hourly parking standards, with 2-hour parking being the standard. This approach encourages parking turnover while providing free public parking.

On-Street Parking On-street parking is a major contributor to parking capacity within the downtown. In all downtown environments, parking lots are not readily available, so on-street parking needs to turn over to allow for customers to access area businesses. Metered Parking Metered parking has a similar impact on encouraging parking turnover as hourly parking standards. However there is a revenue component that provides extra incentive for turnover. Metered parking can however discourage customers from visiting downtown.

Resident Permit Parking As increased demand for parking in the downtown grows, outside neighborhoods may be affected. One way to protect neighborhoods from parking encroachment is to establish a residential permit, limiting non-residents from parking in residential neighborhoods.

Not to Scale

Parking

New or Improved On-Street Parking Existing On-Street Parking Parking Garage Underway Potential MLK Festival Grounds Parking Garage Potential City Hall Parking Garage Potential Santa Fe Plaza Parking Garage Parking Garage Walk Zone (2 Blocks) 62 Downtown District

On-street Parking Off-street Parking

761 1,630

Additional Capacity Additional Capacity

Additional capacity accounts for spaces that would be added by construction of parking garage. 640 garage parking spaces are underway resulting in 538 additional public spaces.