Council tackles parking issues
Complaints about downtown parking are
nothing new in Whitefish, but with the streetscaping project going
into high gear next year and then concluding soon after, more and
new parking solutions are presenting themselves. The situation
became more acute after overtime parking fines increased from $5 to
$20.
Extending the time limit from two hours
to three, use of “pay-and-display” parking meters, bringing back
lease parking and creating new parking lots were some of the topics
discussed by the Whitefish City Council during a Jan. 3 work
session.
Councilor Turner Askew, who has long
been a proponent for longer parking limits, pointed out that a
person can’t use a hair salon or a restaurant and then do some
shopping in less than two hours.
Several councilors and downtown
merchants at the meeting agreed with increasing the time limit, but
Rick Nelson noted that Nelson’s Ace Hardware benefits more from
people coming and going. The idea grew more complicated, however,
as discussion turned to establishing different time limits in
different downtown areas and in city-owned parking lots versus on
the street.
Consensus was reached among councilors
and citizens at the work session that the employee-parking
situation must be addressed, a problem city manager Chuck Stearns
said was common in other resort towns.
Free all-day parking currently exists
all the way around Depot Park that employees could use, mayor Mike
Jenson said, which would leave Central Avenue and side streets
available for paying customers. He noted that for years a former
downtown real estate firm shuffled vehicles around on-street spaces
for more than two dozen employees.
Councilor Chris Hyatt, who ran a ski
shop on Central Avenue, said his employees were willing to risk a
$5 parking ticket when shuffling their car around downtown, but not
a $20 ticket.
Leased parking at the city’s Third
Street lot was originally established in part to address the
employee-parking issue, but no leased parking currently exists. The
multi-year streetscaping project has dramatically changed the
downtown parking scene, with temporary gravel parking lots
established at Baker and Second and at Spokane and Third.
Removal of the former fire hall on
Baker Avenue could create more spaces, Stearns told the council. He
said he hoped to slow down demolition so overhead doors, beams and
other parts could be recycled, but speeding up the project could
provide much needed parking before the next streetscaping phase on
Central Avenue starts this spring.
Pay-and-display parking meters would
enable visitors to buy as much time as they want. The meters accept
credit cards and print out a ticket that can be hung on the
rear-view mirror. Stearns said the city would only need to buy a
few of the inexpensive devices, which could be used for parking
lots or on-street parking.
Jenson said he’d like to see revenue
from pay-and-display meters go to paying back businesses that
helped the city acquire the Third Street parking lot. Councilor
Phil Mitchell, however, said he’d like to see the money go first to
parking lot maintenance. Heart of Whitefish member Chris Schustrom
said the devices would be a “disincentive” to tourists who might
shop downtown.
Mitchell also said he was generally
opposed to re-establishing leased spaces, but he was willing to
wait until the Heart of Whitefish merchants association had polled
downtown store owners about what they’d like done about
parking.
Councilor John Muhlfeld pointed out
that catalyst projects detailed in the downtown master plan
included several parking structures. Jenson, however, noted that
while some people thought the city had “dropped the ball” for not
building a parking structure at Spokane and Second, “others were
glad we didn’t.”
With millions going into the city’s
tax-increment financing (TIF) fund, a parking structure could still
be built there, Schustrom said. Stearns disagreed — the TIF program
will expire in 2020, which makes bonding more difficult, he
said.
Heart of Whitefish member Ian Collins
surprised some by questioning whether the current City Hall site
would make a good site for a combined parking structure and retail
building, as proposed in the downtown master plan. The busy
intersection makes the site pedestrian-unfriendly, he said.
Instead, a new two-story City Hall could be built on six lots at
the site, he said.
“Discussion about a new City Hall
location will be coming back,” Stearns reassured everyone.