Thursday, March 28, 2024

City, hospital to try employee parking plan

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Finding a solution for the employee parking was one of the big issues identified in the recent parking study. It was stated that a solution to the employee parking issue must be solved first, because the majority of downtown parking spots are occupied by downtown employees.
At the June 12 city council study session, a pilot employee parking program with Cascade Medical was discussed. City Administrator Joel Walinski said they don’t want to make any changes to the parking plan that are significant until the parking study is completed.
However, the city’s Economic Development Committee has talked about taking some easy steps.
“We’ve had a conversation in the past at the council level about some type of employee parking. One of the questions we’ve always heard back from employers, they wouldn’t be interested as long as there was a cost attached to it,” Walinski said. “Since that time, we’ve had some conversations with the hospital. The hospital is interested in a parking plan.”
Walinski said the city would reserve parking spots in the P2 (near Festhalle) and P4 (next to city hall) lots.
“P4 has approximately 40-plus spaces, so 20 would be reserved. We could possibly use P2 at 30-40 spaces with the idea they would be fully reserved. One of the things we heard in the parking study, as long as employees know they have a reserved spot, they don’t mind walking the extra distance as long as they know their space is reserved,” Walinski said. “The space would be reserved Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. No overnight parking. I think hospital itself is interested in 15-20 spaces.”
The city may not want overnight parking, but Mayor Cheri Kelley Farivar asked about the overnight shift at the hospital. Walinski said in their talks, the hospital is okay with 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Farivar said this is a pilot program they would like to try.
“I work on Eighth street a couple days a week. Commercial Street is always booked solid. I assume it is the hospital,” Councilman Jason Lundgren said .
The P2 lot would not be available during October due to Oktoberfest.
30 minute spots
“The council had a pretty lengthy discussion in the past on whether this should be 30-45 minutes. They settled on the 30 minutes. The problem with 15 minutes...somebody runs in and gets behind a big line. That’s not enough time,” Walinski said.
The 30-minute parking places were in response to locals who wanted to go to the drug store or pick up a sandwich, Farivar said. Walinski said if the council wants to add more 30-minute spots, where should they be placed?
“I brought this up to Joel recently because of my experience. I run downtown for errands almost everyday. The 30-minutes spots are rarely open. I asked him about 15 minutes, because if we push it shorter, it increases our turnover,” Councilwoman Mia Bretz said. “I don’t know if it needs to be shorter or more patrolled or more spots. I just know it’s not working.”
Rather than changing the 30-minute spots that are already working, Farivar asked if Bretz would like to add some 15-minute spots or change them all out. Bretz said she did not have a preference. She just wanted it to work.
“I think we need more on Commercial Street. However, I don’t want to do that until we see how the employee parking pilot program works. If this works to clear out Commercial Street to some degree, then maybe we don’t need it,” Farivar said. “I would like to see one or more between 9th and 10th. I’m talking about the Brewery area. Same thing on Commercial Street, from 8th to 9th.”
Farivar said she wanted the city to go at this slowly. She said Pacific Patrol does focus on the 30-minute spots when they are working. When Pacific Patrol is not working, people park in the spots longer than 30-minutes, City Public Works Director Herb Amick said.
The parking study said people park in the 30-minute spots all day long, Bretz said.
“What this is going to do..I think when we get to the parking strategies, probably one of the things they will recommend is a higher level of enforcement. Our enforcement right now is to get 80 percent compliance, whatever that is,” Walinski said. “As we move forward and there is more timed parking, we’re going to have ramp up the enforcement.”
If there is enforcement, maybe there is no need for more 30-minutes spots, Bretz said.
“I think the 30 minute spots would go right to the main complaint of most of the residents. I want to go downtown but there is nowhere to park. Can’t we just double our 30 minute parking?
It’s just a gesture,” Councilman Jason Lundgren said. “I do think that hospital thing is a great idea. We’re making good progress.”
Councilman Clint Strand asked if the hospital was footing the bill for the parking. Walinski said he never really asked that question, feeling the city should not be involved with that.
“No, but I do think that is going to be a major factor in buy-in, literally and figuratively,” Strand said. “If we are going keep unlimited parking downtown, and see how this plays out...I’m an employee and it’s costs $30 a month for parking, maybe there are people who don’t want to take advantage and still park on Commercial Street.”
When the city does this with the hospital, there will be only one check, Farivar said. The city won’t be collecting from each employee. How the hospital works it out internally, the city doesn’t know, Farivar said.
A meeting was held June 20 between city officials and the creators of the parking study. There will be a public meeting sometime in July in which some strategies will be revealed, Walinski said.
“In the meantime, if the hospital takes advantage of this, then we can say at that public meeting, we listened to you and here’s one strategy already implemented and here’s how it is working,” Farivar said.
Bike racks
“The other one we heard at the meeting was bike parking. We have a couple of those out there. Two by the brewery and one by the hospital that actually gets used by the hospital,” Walinski said. “In the past, when we’ve had this conversation, where we’ve put these, they have not affected automobile parking. We’ve put them by the corners where there is extra space. We’re out of those spaces. That means if you add these, you’re going to have to take away a parking spot. That is not a plus or minus. I just wanted to make you aware of that.”
The bike rack by the brewery takes up two parking spots, Farivar pointed out.
“The corner of Eigth and Commercial would be a great spot, where the little water fountain is located. I think we should have a couple bike stalls there. That would be a strategic area,” Lundgren said.
The Friends of the Library use that space once a year for their used book sale, Amick said. There is a motorcycle spot there, but Walinski said he would not want to take that away since there are so few motorcycle spots downtown.
There are some bike racks on Front Street which are never utilized, Amick said.
“If we throw a couple more bike racks out there, it would be a great gesture, low hanging fruit,” Lundgren said.
Parking Enforcement
“One of the other things we’ve been talking about both with Cascade Medical and Link Transit..they would like to see the city do some enforcement on their sites. Cascade Medical has some reserved parking,” Walinski said. “I talked to Diane (Blake, CM CEO) and said, if you have a system in place that is easily enforceable, that possibly the city could have Pacific Patrol have that as part of their routine. The same thing with Link Transit in terms of looking at enforcement there at the new park and ride.”
Councilwoman Sharon Waters asked about the rules for the Link parking lot.
“The main thing we are concerned with is overnight parking. The existing one allows for overnight parking but the new one will not allow overnight parking. What we want to do in prohibit overnight parking,” Walinski said. “What we would do in that case is use our security patrols in the downtown when they make their rounds through the residential neighborhoods and parks, we’ll have them swing through the Link parking lot at 1 or 2 a.m. and tag vehicles. The parking lot will close at midnight.”
Lundgren asked if the Link will keep the overnight parking in their existing park and ride. Walinski said he needs to ask them about that. The allowance of overnight parking might have something to do with the Forest Service, the previous owner of the land.
“The land was donated to us. The agreement was with the Forest Service. The city would take donation of the property from the Forest Service and then the city would allow Link to operate a park and ride. The city provides the maintenance,” Farivar said.
Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.

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