The Downtown Dover Parking Facility and Management Study was presented to the Dover City Council on Wednesday, November 7, 2007. It provided and overview of the parking study, providing critical recommendations based on the site studies which concluded a parking garage should be constructed at Orchard Street. The study also provides a financial feasibility of the structure, and a direction to implement it.

An overview compares data gathered through the Rizzo Study and the LMG Verification Study. It states the purpose and need for the implementation of the 2005 Rizzo Study, and a proactive approach to supporting economic development with a parking garage. The studies tracked parking occupancy with pre-existing parking between different times of the morning and afternoon to establish the purpose and need for a parking garage. The utilization had an average of 58% throughout the study, with an 80-100% utilization near downtown in the core parking areas.

Stakeholder meetings have been held in March and June of 2007, as well as public participation in the process including documents posted on the website after each meeting, thousands of notices mailed and distributed, and over 40 one-on-one meetings. The present parking garage concept and a draft engineering report was presented to the Dover City Council in November of 2007.

The reports recommend constructing the Orchard Street garage, implementing on-street parking management, reorganizing existing parking, and provide financing for parking including partnerships with the private sector, tax increase financing, and lease agreements. According to the report, parking should be linked closely with downtown businesses and merchants because it is a driving force of economic development. The cost of parking should be borne by the users who benefit from the parking.

Reorganization suggested in the report is to have the Transportation Advisory Commission work with the Parking Division Manager under the Economic Development Office and the Dover City Council rather than between the Dover Police Chief and the Dover City Council. This allows the City’s Finance Department to have oversight, guided by a master plan. This also allows a Parking Manager to be part of the City’s management team.

The management of parking is most effective through paid-parking, including the use of pay stations/kiosks, tokens, and vouchers. This produces additional revenue for the city for financing the parking garage, and provides the most effective means to manage parking behavior. To enforce the management, the City of Dover can amend the traffic code, create a special enforcement zone, and create permit parking.

Twelve sites were evaluated for the parking garage, including the Steam Plant, School Street, Dover Transportation Center, First Street, Foster’s, the Library, the Riverfront Parcel, Robbins Auto, TD BankNorth, Third Street, and Water Street. The study found Orchard Street to be the most feasible and accessible location to construct a parking garage. The study also found that the Parking Garage in Dover NH would cost approximately 9.6 Million Dollars in capital outlay, and cost $830,000 every year including maintenance and bond payments each year. The report concludes that the Parking Garage can be completed by the Summer of 2009.

Get the PDF: