It could relieve the loss of spaces expected to come with utility work in Winslow.
Parking is a touchy subject.
Proof of that can be found – along with the occasional expletive – at any jammed lot in Winslow.
Take the Pavilion, for example.
“I, for one, cuss every time I drive into that parking lot,” said City Councilman Nezam Tooloee. “We don’t need another one of those.”
But planners say the city does need additional parking, especially during the coming construction along Winslow Way. A solution may be on the horizon, according to information presented to the City Council Wednesday.
The city is in early discussions with several downtown property owners – fronted by Kelly Samson – about the possibility of buying land for a temporary lot that could hold an estimated 350 parking spaces.
The parcel is just north of Winslow Way and the mobile home park, and could be used by downtown employees and construction workers during the Streetscape project – scheduled to break ground in 2009 – which will replace under-street utilities downtown.
Three options have been presented to the city for consideration. In the first scenario, the city would lease the land for $420,000 per year through 2010, or about $100 per parking space each month. Property owners would pay to build the lot according to city standards.
The second option would involve a less expensive lease, but the city would pay for construction of the lot.
Under option three, which was generally favored by councilors, the city would purchase the land and build the lot. Then, after a still-undetermined period of time, the current property owners could re-purchase the land for the original purchase price, plus 5 percent.
Several questions about the plan remain unanswered, including financing details, but councilors asked staff to pursue the idea further.
Revenue from the lot could help pay for a new downtown parking garage, the feasibility of which is now being studied.
The city already has a fee-in-lieu program, which allows businesses to meet parking requirements by paying money toward off-site parking.
As of now, money can be collected by the city, but there’s nowhere to park the cars.
Talk has increased of late about charging for parking downtown. Many other cities do it, and those studying the parking garage have suggested the city consider the practice as a way to generate revenue.
Planners say charging $1 per hour for parking downtown would generate some $258,000 per year, or about a third of the revenue needed to fund the garage.
Doing the same for the garage – in combination with pay parking on the street – would bring in about $293,000 per year.
To avoid more immediate parking problems, the city likely will delay parking regulations set to take hold Nov. 1. Councilors this week directed staff to come back with an ordinance that would delay the changes.
Passed last fall, the code change reduced commercial parking requirements in portions of downtown from four to two spaces per 1,000 square feet of building space.
Other changes included in the ordinance were the fee-in-lieu program and the award of parking credits for smaller parcels, with the amount of the credit given determined by the amount of public street frontage.
The parking changes are needed to free up redevelopment of properties downtown. According to planners, some remodels have been hindered by parking requirements that are impossible to meet.
After passing the ordinance, councilors deferred the changes for a year in hopes that the overall parking plan for Winslow – which has been ongoing – would be further along by the time the changes took effect.
Several councilors agreed that hadn’t happened yet; they suggested delaying the changes by six months or a year.
“There’s no downside to (waiting),” Tooloee said. “I don’t see people lining up to redevelop these properties.”
Others were ready to move forward.
“I think we’ve made enough progress,” said Councilman Jim Llewellyn. “Lately I’ve been viewing us as council as part of the problem, not part of the solution, on a lot of things we do.”
*************************************************************************************
What parking ticket?
Planners on Wednesday briefed the City Council on the state of parking downtown.
Among the findings: despite adding parking enforcement staff, the number of parking tickets issued by police dropped by nearly 60 percent over the past two years.
The city issued 3,888 parking tickets between January and July 2005.
During the same period this year, the city issued 1,642 tickets.
Police say the decrease is due to public outreach that has led to greater compliance with parking laws.
Currently, two-hour parking limits are enforced downtown between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., though Chief Matt Haney has proposed extending the limit to 24 hours a day.
