National Parking Association Announces 2016 Innovation Award Winners

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Parking Association (NPA) announced the winners of its 2016 Innovation Awards at the Annual Awards Luncheon on Tuesday, September 20. The NPA Awards Luncheon occurred during the organization's 65^th Annual Convention & Expo in Atlanta.

"The NPA Innovation Awards recognize companies and individuals who demonstrate the highest professionalism and parking best practices while using leadership and state-of-the-art technology to improve safety, sustainability and bottom line results," said NPA president Christine Banning, CAE.

 The 2016 NPA Innovation Award winners are:

• NPA Innovator of the Year: Reginald Randolph, general manager, Houston First Corporation (Houston)

Reginald Randolph oversees Houston's Theater District Parking Garage, serving more than 2 million customers each year. Having worked with Houston First Corporation for 25 years, Randolph manages the 3,400-space garage that serves nine performing arts venues, as well as office workers.

In order to best serve customers, Reginald Randolph led a fully integrated, organization-wide technology upgrade to enhance the parker experience and increase operation efficiency. He also instituted a parking access revenue control system upgrade to a cloud-based structure, which has improved ingress times and streamlined operations.

He spearheaded the installation of the INDECT parking guidance system. Additionally, his idea to install 95 two-way cameras in the garage allows customers to interface with parking staff at the touch of a button. A customizable matrix signage and wayfinding system further supports parking guidance, and a barcode system simplifies parking validation for customers and employees alike.

• Innovative Organization of the Year: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo.

Colorado State University is experiencing rapid growth in its student and faculty population. With the increased number of people visiting the campus each day, more buildings have been constructed, creating less available parking. 

To address this issue, the university, including Doug Mayhew, CPP, CAPP, associate director, parking and transportation services, sought sustainable solutions to decrease congestion and increase efficiency for 1,750 daily parkers.

In 2010, the university opened its first parking structure. The 878-space Lake Street Parking Garage was designated LEED® Gold. In 2013, Colorado State's parking and transportation service changed its business model from a displayed permit and meter payment model to a virtual model. The university integrated license plate recognition technology, online permit purchasing and pay-by-plate multi-space pay stations.

Under the "Reinventing the Wheel" campaign, the university partnered with ZipCar, and emphasized alternative transportation to reduce traffic congestion. The university also installed INDECT's parking guidance system to increase parking efficiency and further reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

In 2016, the university incorporated a mobile payment app to its meter program, and opened the new South College Garage with a parking guidance system.

• Innovative Facility of the Year: City of West Hollywood Automated Garage

The city of West Hollywood, Calif. has built the first fully automated, municipally run parking structure on the West Coast. The new, 200-space automated parking structure replaced a 68-space surface parking lot adjacent to West Hollywood City Hall. The automated garage incorporated a SKIDATA parking access revenue control system.

The West Hollywood automated garage has enhanced parking for city visitors and staff as it provides a valet-like experience without the costs and risks of valet parking. Through the use of a computerized parking storage and retrieval system, the automated garage has provided a dense configuration of parking spaces on a smaller footprint than a traditional parking structure.

The compact nature of the project afforded the city the ability to create a 4,000 square foot community plaza between city hall and the garage.

The parking structure includes a rooftop photovoltaic system that powers the garage. Other sustainable features include the use of composite wood panels that were made from recycle plastic grocery bags and milk jugs. Additionally, emissions are reduced due to the lack of drivers searching for an available space.

• Innovative Sustainability Project of the Year: Pomona College Parking Structure by Watry Design, Claremont, Calif.

Pomona College determined that it could reclaim four acres of open space and pedestrian walkways by moving to structured parking. Watry Design created a parking structure into the sloping campus and integrated a new campus entrance road.

The 608-stall parking structure, led by Watry Design's Francisco Navarro, senior project manager and associate director, BIM, provides sustainable parking for more than 1,600 campus users and a rooftop lacrosse field, which reduces the heat island effect. Energy-efficient lighting, a solar canopy and a fully automated lighting system offset energy use by the garage.

Bioswales filter storm water and an open design allows for natural ventilation. The facility employs electric vehicle charging stations, preferred parking for carpool and energy-efficient vehicles and covered bike parking.

Pedestrians access the field using walkways and have a direct connection from campus. A bus stop is within 100 yards of the facility.

Through this project, the college reclaimed four acres of open space, decreased energy usage by 20 percent and saved 50,000 gallons of water per week.

About NPA: The National Parking Association, established in 1951, is the voice of the $28 billion parking & industry composed of private parking owners and public parking operators that together employ more than 143,000 people. NPA is the premier association for parking owners & leaders—providing research, advocacy, and education and credentialing. Visit NPA at WeAreParking.org.

Contact:
Christina Garneski, CAE
202.296.4336
[email protected]

SOURCE National Parking Association

Related Links

http://www.npapark.org