HomeMy WebLinkAboutPEC17-0046_Parking Management plan_1510167799.pdf Memo to: Town of Vail—Planning and Environmental Commission
Revision Date: October 25 2017
Re: Solar Vail Development—Plan for Parking and Resident Transportation
Background and Purpose:
The proposed structure will consist of 65 rental units and approximately 1250 sq ft of net office space.
The development includes 6 surface parking spaces and 28 spaces under the structure.
The office space will be utilized primarily by the employee housing department of the Sonnenalp Hotel,
with primary focus being the leasing and management of the subject property. Any remaining space
would be occupied by other Sonnenalp employees such as accounting etc. The applicant will make
application for Conditional Use Permit for the space not occupied for accessory uses. Town code would
require 5 parking spaces for the office space, but since the office workers will be daytime only and could
easily commute to the building by Sonnenalp shuttle from the hotel or downvalley,we think it is
appropriate to allocate only 2 spaces to the office space.
The remaining 32 spaces will serve the rental housing units. This works out to .49 Spaces per unit.
As this does not meet the Planning requirement of 1.5 per unit, Applicant hereby submits its
justification as to why this amount of parking is adequate in this situation, and outlines the plan for
Parking and Resident Transportation.
Existing use and Experience
The existing building is comprised of 24 one bedroom units. During the winter season 2016/17,there
were 46 employees housed at Solar Vail. Only 4 employees had cars on-site fulltime. This stems from
the fact that the majority of tenants are seasonal employees, many of whom are foreign and do not
have cars. In fact, the Sonnenalp assigned 4 of the Solar Vail spaces to employees from other
Sonnenalp properties and regularly used Solar Vail parking to handle overflow vehicles from the hotel.
Description of New Development
The proposed development will consist of 43 studios, 13 one bedrooms, 6 two bedroom units and 3
three bedroom units. This will change from time to time, but we estimate the building will have about
110 beds—less than 2 people per unit on average. Obviously this is a very different situation than a
dormitory building that a ski company might have with 3, 4 or even 6 people per unit. So the ratio of
parking spaces per bed is really more important than the ratio of spaces per unit. From speaking to
other Landlords in the area, we conclude that the Solar Vail ratio of.31 spaces per bed is comparable to
the ratio at other employee housing buildings that focus on seasonal employees_
Characteristics of Resident Population
As discussed above,the majority of Sonnenalp's employees in Solar Vail will be seasonal employees (3
months),J-1 Visa employees (12 months) and Q-Visa employees (15 months) and other short term
employees hired for the winter or summer season periods. These people tend to not have cars.
Leasing Priorities
It is important to recognize that parking in a Rental property is a very different issue than parking in a
for-sale property because the Owner/Landlord has control over the residents. Other factors being
equal, preference will be given to employees who do not have a car. We predict that there will be
strong demand for the 16 units rented to non-Sonnenalp employees and this should allow this non-car
preference.
Advantages of Solar Vail Location
Solar Vail's location is a huge factor in the parking requirements. It is a 7 minute walk across the
pedestrian bridge from Solar Vail to the Lionshead gondola and 14 minutes to the Hotel. For those
needing to go other locations or for after-work transit, there is a town bus stop on the North Frontage
Road in front of the school next door. Bus routes stopping here include West Vail Red,West Vail Green,
Lionsridge Loop,Sandstone and the westbound Highway 6 ECO bus. A 5 minute walk over the
pedestrian bridge to the Concert Hall Plaza bus stop adds access to the in-town bus and both West Vail
routes. And most ECO routes stop at the Lionsridge transit stop which is only a 6 minute walk from Solar
Vail.
The new building will provide ample locked bicycle storage for residents and will provide 3 "town
cruiser bikes"for common use.
Parking at Other Sonnenalp properties
For employees that do have a car, the Sonnenalp can offer alternate housing at its other employee
housing locations, including Bighorn Lodge (9 studios and 5 one bedrooms) which have ample parking
options. The excess parking available at these locations could also be utilized as off-site parking for Solar
Vail residents if the need arises.
Sonnenalp shuttle transportation for residents
If there is a demonstrated need for it,the Sonnenalp could operate a shuttle bus to make runs to
shopping, other work-places, or other uses. This would encourage and facilitate tenants without cars.