Item 84-133 Parking Lot Changes South of ExcellsiorDate. May 8, 1984
To: Mayor & Council
From: William P. Craig, City Manager
Subject: Parking Lots South of Excelsior Avenue
The city staff members responsible for building, marking, and
enforcing the downtown city parking lots have met and considered
the possibilities for improving parking management south of
Excelsior Avenue.
The following measures are recommended for Council adoption:
1) Remove time limits on Saturday in lots 100,
200, 300, and 400 (all are south of Excelsior Avenue).
2) Change the time limit in Lot 300 to 3 hours
(lot 300 is the site of the former post office).
3) Lease the alley south of the Minimall, Donovans,
and the fabric store to them for $1 /year, on the
condition that they stripe it at a 900 angle to the
buildings. They may then post it any way they wish.
The reasons for the above recommendations are based on the
problems which have been experienced. It is fairly obvious that
office workers are posing the largest problem, moving their
vehicles every two hours in the customer lots. They are not
present on Saturdays, so space is available for long -term
customers. Hopefully, merchants can advertise the no -limit
parking for Saturday customers and direct people there.
Making some spaces in,each lot long -term has certain drawbacks.
First is the problem of adequate marking to avoid confusion.
Second, allowing free space for 4 or more hours is the same as
unlimited use, since employees will stay the morning, drive out
for lunch, and stay the afternoon. The demand for such free
parking will rise, as the demand for monthly paid parking drops.
Eventually the lots could be principally dedicated to all -day
parking, to the detriment of retail businesses. Unlimited space
of any kind will be a magnet to bus riders, who now park near
the downtown to catch the ride to work (downtown has more
frequent service than the park -ride lot). Consequently, it is
recommended that an entire lot be posted for a 3 hour limit,
preferably the former post office site. We may be aware that 3
hours is not very enforceable, but it does allow some relief for
those who simply cannot do their business in two hours.
Several times, we have tried to work out a better scheme of
parking behind Donovans and the buildings on either side. They
have a small portion of land north of the alley (distinguishable
only by paint stripes), and previously insisted on various
customized parking (for owners, tenants, loading stalls, etc.)
which have not been feasible for us to patrol or enforce.
Finally it dawned on us that the problem should be theirs (since
they double park in the existing alley now) , and that it should
be leased to them as we lease the alley to Rudy Luther. Since
the lot is 'to be sealcoated this year anyway, the existing lines
will be covered, and either we or they can paint lines at a 900
angle and let them do what they want with it. We could also
remove the curb cut and gain a curb parking space.
Please let me know if you would like to discuss any of these
ideas in greater detail.
Respectfully submitted,
William P. Craig
City Manager
b
bo e
� C M
Z •
� w 7
A
M