City Council awarded a contract to assess parking equipment, the early stages of what’s expected to be a broader survey of parking downtown.
The governing body adopted a resolution (AR-40-19) at its Jan. 7 regular meeting to award a $10,000 service agreement to TimHaahs & Associates for “Phase One Parking Equipment Assessment Services.”
The Blue Bell, Pa.-based firm, which has three additional offices, including New Brunswick, previously has done work in Rahway. Haahs & Associates won a Smart Growth Award in 2008 from New Jersey Future for its concept design of Rahway Town Center. The project had approves from City Council and the Redevelopment Agency but never got off the ground once the Great Recession destroyed the housing market. The plan included a mixed-use development at City Hall Plaza, including a hotel, residential units and a parking deck.
Among the dozen or so duties outlined in his proposal to the city last summer, acting City Administrator Robert Landolfi will “assist in an analysis of parking within the city including exploring opportunities for additional revenue, capital investment, organizational structure and fee schedule.”
In a brief interview following the Jan. 9 Redevelopment Agency meeting, Mayor Ray Giacobbe, Jr., said parking downtown is a “huge concern” and one of the first priorities of his term. This first parking assessment contract specifically will assess parking equipment.
Giacobbbe was elected to a full four-year term in November after being appointed interim mayor in January 2018. The Parking Authority was dissolved last year and instead a Parking Utility was created within the city administration, under the control of City Council.
A parking assessment in 2009 by the Parking Authority forecast downtown parking needs over 10 years. That report took into account 455 future or planned residential units, with 252 parking spaces and although it cited a few developments that didn’t pan out, the total number of units constructed downtown have almost matched that figure within the past several years.
