Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

Downtown Parking Meeting

1. December 2006 • Bruce Fields
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From the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce:

The Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority and the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce invites all members of the public to participate in a public workshop on Wednesday, December 6 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the DTE Community Room, 425 S. Main, Ann Arbor, to discuss downtown parking conditions.

After much public input, Ann Arbor City Council accepted a report from Peter Calthorpe Associates earlier this year which provided a recommended vision and policy framework for the redevelopment of downtown Ann Arbor.Upon accepting the report, City Council approved a strategy for implementation of this report, including the recommendation to pursue a parking strategy for the downtown that would meet community goals.

To support this effort, the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority distributed an RFQ this spring and selected Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates to assemble a comprehensive study of the downtown parking system. To date their work has included utilization counts, land use analysis, an inventory of downtown private parking spaces, responses to a mail-in survey from 3,000 parking patrons, and several dozen patron interviews.

A public workshop has been scheduled Wednesday evening, December 6 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. to glean input from the public on their perception of downtown parking demand, conflicts during periods of peak utilization, parking priorities, and most importantly how parking can be managed to support the community’s overall goals and priorities. All members of the public are warmly invited to attend this workshop to provide input on this important topic.

For additional information, please contact Susan Pollay at the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority office at dda@a2dda.org or call 734/994-6697.



  1. A parking thread seems like a good place for this tidbit from the mailing list of The Ark:

    “—VALET PARKING IN DOWNTOWN ANN ARBOR—-

    Ann Arbor’s Downtown Development Authority and
    the Main Street Area Association have approved a
    pilot project for valet parking in downtown Ann
    Arbor. The project is being run by Melange
    Restaurant, below The Ark, and they have
    requested the 5 spaces in front of The Ark for
    the valet location. THE PARKING IS AVAILABLE TO
    ANYONE; IT’S $10 PER CAR AND IT WILL RUN
    THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHTS STARTING AT 6
    P.M. As the valet will be located directly in
    front of The Ark, we are very interested in
    hearing our patron’s feedback and experiences
    with the valet location and operation. Whether
    you use the valet service yourself or have
    observations from the perspective of standing in
    The Ark line, your feedback will be greatly
    appreciated. Feedback can be submitted
    through the feedback link on the front page of
    The Ark’s website.”

    The Ark’s website


       —HD    Dec. 1 '06 - 11:20PM    #

  2. Valet parking sounds like a great idea downtown, especially in that location. I don’t know if people would do it in the summer, but certainly they would in the winter. Any idea where the company is going to be parking the cars? I wonder if the valet company will have assigned spaces in the parking structures nearby?


       —Juliew    Dec. 1 '06 - 11:42PM    #

  3. The valet company will be using a private lot a bit south on Main street (not sure of the exact location). Public parking spaces will not be used for this purpose.


       —Jennifer Hall    Dec. 2 '06 - 01:01AM    #

  4. What form is the data in that has already been collected? For example, could it tell us anything meaningful about who uses the Library Lot?


       —David Cahill    Dec. 2 '06 - 02:39AM    #