“The ferry parking problem is much like the affordable-housing problem on Bainbridge Island – the free market isn’t producing what the community says it wants.But the two issues move in opposite directions. While the marketplace produces too little affordable housing, planners fear that, left to its own devices, the market would produce too much ferry parking. If we allowed unlimited parking, it’s so lucrative that there would be no incentive to develop the land, said Kathy Cook of the city planning department.Then too, more parking means more traffic to and from the terminal, perhaps another negative from the island’s point of view.If we had more parking, it would encourage more people to use the Bainbridge terminal, as opposed to Bremerton or Kingston, Cook said. To prevent ferry parking from taking over Winslow, the city by ordinance limits the number of parking spaces in the ferry terminal district east of Highway 305 to 1,121 spots.While no one knows what the ultimate demand might be, it’s clear to planners that the limits haven’t yet been reached.When commercial operators raised their rates last spring, the lots closest to the terminal still filled up every day, just about as fast as before.To some, the demand for terminal parking – and the willingness to pay for it – can help the city solve its downtown parking problem by providing a revenue source for a downtown parking garage.The parking tax might be a source of revenue to help build that garage, said architect Bill Isley, who is consulting with the Kitsap County Consolidated Housing Authority on the concept of building a parking structure on city-owned property between the farmers’ market plaza and Winslow Way.The city now imposes a 12 percent gross-proceeds tax on commercial parking operators. The tax was raised a year or so ago from 9 percent, as the city tried to offset funding losses caused by I-695.But even that 12 percent could be increased, city finance Director Ralph Eells said. The city council has authorized a tax of up to 30 percent – technically, it already imposes that much, but collects 12 percent and forgives the balance – and it could bump up that limit by majority vote.The state Legislature has not imposed limits on the ability of a city to tax parking, probably to let cities encourage mass transit, Eells said.The revenue potential is significant. In the year 2000, the 12 percent tax produced roughly $250,000 for the city’s general fund, Eells said. Bond paybackThat amount of additional revenue, which could be produced if the parking tax were doubled and usage did not change, could repay bonds in the neighborhood of $2.5 million, Eells said, a significant part of the estimated $5.5 million cost of a Winslow parking structure.For those unwilling to pay a higher parking charge, Kitsap Transit offers the alternative of riding the bus to the boat.We try to peg our fares at half of the daily parking rate, said Dick Hayes, Kitsap Transit executive director. On Bainbridge Island, Kitsap Transit is way ahead of its goal. After voters approved a transit-tax hike last May, Kitsap Transit cut its fares in half Aug. 1 to $1 each way, meaning a round-trip bus ride now costs a maximum of $2, compared to $7.25 to $8 for parking in commercial lots, and $7.25 at the city lot.Encouraging mass transit remains the city’s principal strategy for reducing the parking crunch, Mayor Dwight Sutton said.We can’t build our way out of this problem, he said. People have to educate themselves to alternatives, like parking in remote park-and-ride lots. They have to educate themselves not to expect to find parking places, and solve their own problem by not driving to the terminal. Ultimately, the city wants the present ferry parking areas to be redeveloped. The Winslow Master Plan, part of the comprehensive plan, calls for structured parking below ground, with residential and commercial development in the overlying air space.The city is trying to make that happen through incentives. A 1999 ordinance permits parking-lot owners to build two spaces for each existing space provided those spaces are in a parking structure, and that half are reserved for so-called non-commuter parking, that is, parking after 9 a.m.While no one has yet taken advantage of that incentive, the new owners of the Winslow Landing property on the north side of Winslow Way are giving the question strong consideration in the mixed-use project they are planning for the area.It’s a great incentive to development, and it’s also the right thing to do at that location, said John Hempelmann, spokesperson for Washington Development.While parking is a profitable use for land near the ferry terminal, that’s not what the city wants.We don’t want to become the parking lot for the whole Kitsap Peninsula, said City Councilman Norm Wooldridge. But that’s what could happen if the economy is left to take its course. “