UVA Professor Weighs in On Water Street Parking Garage Feud - NBC29 WVIR Charlottesville, VA News, Sports and Weather

A University of Virginia professor is weighing in on the feud between the city of Charlottesville and the Charlottesville Parking Center (CPC) over the Water Street Parking Garage. Professor Andrew Mondschein looked at all four scenarios that CPC had presented to the city earlier in August.

The city has been at odds with CPC over the Water Street Parking Garage and its rates.

The city and CPC share control of the Water Street Parking Garage, however CPC owns the land underneath. CPC President Mark Brown has been fighting with the city over spaces at the garage, going so far to taking the matter to court. Charlottesville officials have responded with beginning the process of using eminent domain to take full control of the parking garage, which the CPC currently manages.

Mondschein says regardless of whether the city or CPC manages the parking garage, it's critical to accommodate as many people as possible while also making sure parking doesn’t become overcrowded.

On August 8, CPC General Manager Dave Norris sent a letter to Charlottesville City Manager Maurice Jones and Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville Chairman George Benford. The letter proposed four scenarios in its quest to revolve the downtown parking debate.

A six page study released Wednesday, August 31, breaks down the pros and cons to each of those four propositions.

“It's another piece of information that will hopefully inform a decision that the city makes," Norris said.

Mondschein is an assistant professor in the Urban and Environmental Planning Department at UVA. He has been consulting with CPC for about two years.

The professor says he relied heavily on the August 8 letter, as well the city's 2015 parking study by Nelson\Nygaard.

"The most important point I made is that, fundamentally, whether the city runs the parking, or - let’s say - a public operator runs parking, or a private operator like CPC runs parking, the best way you can operate parking is in order to accommodate as many people as possible, bringing as many people as possible downtown and that means you have as many people paying for using parking,” Mondschein said.

Mondschein's research concludes that the best options are either: the city sells the Water Street Parking Garage to CPC and the city builds an additional Market Street Parking Garage or the city sells Water Street Parking Garage to CPC and CPC builds an additional Market Street Parking Garage.

“The fact that his analysis is sort of leaning in one direction will be insightful and informative as we work with the city to find resolutions,” said Norris.

In an email to NBC29, the city writes “The city of Charlottesville has received this and staff will certainly review it."

CPC has asked that the city respond to the study by next week.