It is hereby determined and declared:

(1) The free circulation of traffic of all kinds through our cities is necessary to the health, safety and general welfare of the public, whether residing in, traveling to or through the cities of this state;

(2) The most efficient use of the street and highway system requires availability of strategically located parking for vehicles in localities where large numbers of persons congregate;

(3) An expanding suburban population has increased demands for further concentration of uses in central metropolitan areas, necessitating an increasing investment in streets and highways;

(4) On-street parking is now inadequate, and becomes increasingly an inefficient and uneconomical method for temporary storage of vehicles in commercial, industrial and high-density residential areas, causing such immediate adverse consequences as the following, among others:

(a) Serious traffic congestion from on-street parking, which interferes with use of streets for travel, disrupts public surface transportation at peak hours, impedes rapid and effective fighting of fires and disposition of police forces, slows emergency vehicles, and inflicts hardship upon persons with disabilities and others dependent upon private vehicles for transportation;

(b) On-street parking absorbs right-of-way useful and usable for travel;

(c) On-street parking reduces the space available for truck and passenger loading for the abutting properties, hinders ready access, and impedes cleaning of streets;

(d) Inability to temporarily store automobiles has discouraged the public from travel to and within our cities, from congregating at public events, and from using public facilities;

(5) Insufficient off-street parking has had long-range results, as the following, among others:

(a) Metropolitan street and highway systems have lost efficiency and the free circulation of traffic and persons has been impaired;

(b) The growth and development of metropolitan areas has been retarded;

(c) Business, industry, and housing has become unnecessarily and uneconomically dispersed;

(d) Limited and valuable land area is under used.

All of which cause loss of payrolls, business and productivity, and property values, with resulting impairment of the public health, safety and welfare, the utility of our streets and highways, and tax revenues;

(6) Establishment of public off-street parking facilities will promote the public health, safety, convenience, and welfare, by:

(a) Expediting the movement of the public, and of goods in metropolitan areas, alleviating traffic congestion, and preserving the large investment in streets and highways;

(b) Permitting a greater use of public facilities, congregation of the public, and more intensive development of private property within the community;

(7) Establishment of public off-street parking is a necessary ancillary to and extension of an efficient street and highway system in metropolitan areas, as much so as a station or terminal is to a railroad or urban transit line;

(8) Public off-street parking facilities, open to the public and owned by a city or town, are and remain a public use and a public function, irrespective of whether:

(a) Parking fees are charged to users;

(b) The management or operation of one or more parking facilities is conducted by a public agency, or under contract or lease by private enterprise; or

(c) A portion of the facilities is used for commercial, store or automobile accessory purposes;

(9) Public parking facilities under the control of a parking commission are appropriately treated differently from other parking facilities of a city.

Severability—1969 ex.s. c 204: "If any provision of this act, or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act, or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected." [ 1969 ex.s. c 204 s 15.]