CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 2.0 Background ...................................................................................................................................... 1 2.1 Location ......................................................................................................................................... 1 2.2 Current Land Use ........................................................................................................................... 2 2.3 Proposed Development .................................................................................................................. 2 3.0 Parking Requirement ...................................................................................................................... 3 3.1 Rates in Other Jurisdictions ........................................................................................................... 3 4.0 Existing Parking Conditions ........................................................................................................... 4 5.0 Expected Parking Demand ............................................................................................................. 4 5.1 ITE Handbook ............................................................................................................................... 4 5.2 Observations .................................................................................................................................. 5 6.0 Summary .......................................................................................................................................... 6 6.1 Recommendations ......................................................................................................................... 6 Appendix A: Summary of Observations at Furniture Store Sites

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Boulevard Transportation, a division of Watt Consulting Group, was retained by Six Mile Furniture to undertake a parking study for the proposed Six Mile Furniture expansion at 1644/1652 Old Island Highway. This study assesses existing site parking conditions and anticipated parking demand associated with the proposed expansion to determine a satisfactory parking supply rate for the site.

2.0 BACKGROUND

2.1 Location

The site is located at 1644/ 1652 Old Island Highway, in the Town of View Royal. See Map 1. The site is approximately 600m north of the City of Colwood border and 1km south of Highway 1. Access is provided directly off the Old Island Highway.

Map 1. Study Area

2.2 Current Land Use

The site currently consists of furniture store, tool store, and automotive supply businesses totaling 30,299 sqft GFA (2,815 m²). See Table 1. The site is zoned C-7 - Business Park Commercial. Approximately 102 parking spaces are provided¹.

¹ Paint markings are in poor condition making it difficult to determine exactly how many spaces are available

2.3 Proposed Development

The proposal is for an additional 21,452 sqft GFA (1,993 m²) floor area, consisting of 20,010 sqft furniture store sales and an additional 1,442 sqft of retail floor space (tenant unknown). The site would consist of a total of 51,751 sqft (4,808 m²) GFA. See Table 1.

The proposal includes a total of 110 parking spaces (including 28 small car and two accessible spaces). The proposed supply is approximately 8-10 more spaces than is currently provided and results in a supply rate of one space per 470 sqft GFA (1 / 44m²) for the total site.

Table 1. Summary of Floor Area²

² Based on email correspondence from Omicron, April 15 2014

3.0 PARKING REQUIREMENT

The Town of View Royal’s Land Use Bylaw requires a total of 263 parking spaces based on the land use and floor space proposed³. See Table 2.

³ Estimated based on an assumed retail / warehouse breakdown - likely overestimates parking requirement

Table 2. Off-Street Parking Requirement

3.1 Rates in Other Jurisdictions

Of the thirteen municipalities in the CRD, only two others have parking requirements specific to furniture stores (the others would revert to a general retail and/or warehouse classification). See Table 3. Others use a single supply rate for furniture store land uses, where View Royal distinguishes between sales and warehouse. The Town’s Furniture and Appliances Sales rate is applied to much of the proposed land use and is over five-times higher than rates in the other communities, resulting in an extremely high parking requirement for the site.

Table 3. Parking Requirements in Other Jurisdictions⁴

⁴ Rates based on Zoning / Land Use Bylaws as of April 28 2014

4.0 EXISTING PARKING CONDITIONS

Three site observations were conducted to assess existing parking utilization. Observations were focused on the mid-afternoon to capture the peak period⁵. See Table 4. Peak occupancy was observed during the Monday mid-day observation when approximately one-quarter of available parking was occupied. It is expected that observations reflect typical peak period conditions, but may not account for extreme peaks resulting from sales/events.

Table 4. Summary of Site Observations

It should be noted that up to ten parking spaces are occupied by vehicles not associated with the site, including five spaces rented to nearby businesses and additional customers from nearby sites⁶. This suggests that site observations reflect a higher parking occupancy rate than would be present if only vehicles from the subject site land uses parked on-site.

⁵ The ITE Parking Generation handbook suggests that peak period is between noon and 6:00pm on Saturday ⁶ Based on email correspondence with Dodd’s Furniture, April 24 2014

5.0 EXPECTED PARKING DEMAND

Parking demand rates are developed to estimate the additional parking demand generated as a result of the proposed land uses. The focus is on the proposed furniture store sales space as it is the majority of the added land use, but the smaller retail space is also addressed.

5.1 ITE Handbook

The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Parking Generation handbook provides parking demand rates for a variety of land uses based on observations of sites across North America. The 85th-percentile peak period demand for Furniture Store land uses is 1.34 vehicles per 1,000 sqft (1 per 69m²), equivalent to 27 vehicles if applied to the proposed new floor area.

The ITE handbook’s Shopping Centre average peak demand rate⁷ is 3.96 per 1,000 sqft (1 per 24m²). Applied to the small (134 m²) general retail space at the back of the site results in demand for approximately 6 vehicles. This is consistent with the Town’s bylaw parking rate.

⁷ Based on a Friday in December

5.2 Observations

Observations were conducted at seven sites consisting of primarily furniture store or similar large-scale retail land uses⁸. Each site was observed twice – weekday mid-day and Saturday mid-day. Average peak demand was one vehicle per 213m². See Table 2. The highest demand rate is still lower than the ITE handbook rate. All but one of the sites were busier during the Tuesday mid-day observation than Saturday mid-day. Results are summarized in Appendix A.

⁸ Sites were chosen on single-use sites with off-street parking so that vehicles can be attributed to the furniture store land use.

Applying the average observed demand rate to the site’s proposed new furniture store land use results in peak demand of approximately 9 vehicles. This assumes the ratio of sales to warehouse floor area is consistent with observed sites.

Table 2. Summary of Peak Parking Demand at Similar Sites

6.0 SUMMARY

Furniture store land uses are difficult to accurately represent in land use regulations because they are comprised of retail and warehouse functions that have unique parking needs. The parking requirement for the subject site is thought to over-represent parking demand.

The existing site was determined to experience peak parking demand for 25 vehicles. The ITE handbook suggests that the proposed furniture store addition will experience peak parking demand will of 27 vehicles, while observations at similar sites suggest 9 vehicles. The small retail space (“shell space”) at the back of the site will contribute an additional 6 vehicles. The combined parking demand (existing and future) is expected to be no more than 58 vehicles, which results in utilization of a little more than half the proposed parking supply. Any demand peaks that were not captured in this study (ie. seasonality, large sales, etc) can be addressed with the remaining un-utilized parking supply.

It should be noted that this study assessed parking demand for the businesses proposed for the site. Other land uses permitted under the C7 Zone (restaurants, offices, shopping centres) generate parking demand at significantly higher rates than furniture stores. The proposed parking supply may not be appropriate for other land uses permitted under the C7 Zone.

6.1 Recommendations

1. Based on the land uses proposed, it is recommended that the proposed parking supply will meet peak parking demand without spillover;
2. It is recommended that the Town consider reviewing the minimum parking requirement for furniture store land uses to ensure using two designations (sales, warehouse) is appropriate and, if so, ensure that the Sales designation reflects a realistic parking demand.

APPENDIX A

Summary of Observations at Furniture Store Sites

Parking Demand Observations at Similar Furniture Store Sites

Six Mile Furniture Parking Study