Since my first week with Puyallup Main Street, parking has been the leading topic of conversation. I was not surprised, though, as that pattern runs through almost every business district going through revitalization. So, I listened closely to those who gave their time and opinions freely. I learned that the Puyallup Main Street Association has acted as the sounding board for parking issues in Downtown Puyallup for a number of years. And I studied other business districts that have handled similar problems successfully.
The comments and complaints passed on to us by the good people of Downtown Puyallup follow these dominant themes:
1.“My customers have no place to park near my store!”
2.“I and/or my staff have no place to park all day long. Every three hours we must shoo out the customers, lock up the store for 10 to 15 minutes to go move a car to another location for 3 hours.”
3.“Sound Transit riders are getting a free ride.”
4.“Transit riders are now taking up on-street parking in nearby residential streets.”
The perception is that there is not sufficient off-street parking for business owners and staff to park legally. Turning a blind eye toward chain parking is only a partial measure, as store owners must still close their stores every three hours while they go find a new parking space. In the process, convenient parking for customers is taken up by chain parking business people.
Parking for transit riders is a totally separate, but distracting problem. A couple of letters to local newspaper editors indicate that some transit riders do not think that they are welcome in Downtown Puyallup. That is certainly not accurate. Nor is it accurate for Downtown business people to say that transit riders are getting a free ride, where parking is concerned. Transit riders actually pay, in the price of their Sounder ticket, for access to the Puyallup Sounder Station. Unfortunately, the fuel crisis and resulting demand for transit parking seems to have outstripped Sound Transits ability to provide sufficient parking. Or, some transit riders are not willing to use a shuttle bus.
Over the last four months we have compiled that input into a simple plan to fairly allot available resources to meet the needs of all who want to shop, dine, and work in Downtown or to access the Puyallup Transit Center. This plan has been presented to our membership, with voiced support. On June 6th we hosted a public meeting attended by about 40 people who also voiced support for the plan’s fairness and simplicity. On Thursday, June 12th , the Board of Directors of the Puyallup Main Street Association voted unanimously to present this plan the City Council for consideration and deliberation. It has since been submitted. PMSA is prepared to go a few steps further, such as to hold another public meeting to again present it for public review. PMSA is also prepared, if it is a desire of Council, to conduct a 6-week survey of downtown parking demands, space availability, peak periods, and unused resources.
Intents of the Plan:
The plan is based on the parking demand as told to PMSA by business people and residents of the area. This plan has four primary intents:
1.It is an interim plan. A long-term plan will demand major infrastructure updates. This plan can be implemented in a much shorter time with minimum expense.
2.This plan provides parking for the four publics: customers, business people, Sound Transit riders, and residents of the surrounding area.
3.This plan attempts to allot resources creatively and fairly, while making maximum use of resources in and around Downtown Puyallup.
4.And this plan makes enforcement relatively simple.
How Will This Plan Work?
The plan that follows is proposed as a means to meet the parking demands in Downtown Puyallup with current resources, without additions to the infrastructure or paving any new surface. Here is a brief summary:
1.Delineate a “Green Zone” that runs the full length of Meridian, north to south in the Central Business District and one block to the east and west of Meridian. Within that zone, all on-street parking is free for three hours. “Chain parking” will be banned and strictly enforced. Off-street lots will retain their current short-term or long-term designations. A few loading zones will also be designated. This provides abundant convenient parking for Downtown customers. Parking could be enforced much as it is now, by marking tires.
2.Outside the Green Zone, from west 5th Street to east 5th Street (Blue Zone) all on-street parking is also free for three hours. However, Downtown business owners can procure window stickers (at $8.00 each per year) for themselves and their employees that would allow them to park in the Blue Zone free, all day long. The Hill lot and Cornforth-Campbell lots currently designated as long-term parking for business people would remain so. This provides abundant parking for Downtown business people without the need to go move their cars every three hours. The Blue Zone would be enforced by parking patrol, by marking only the tires of parked cars that do not have the parking permit displayed in the window. Those businesses and agencies that have their own off-street staff parking (e.g., the Department of Social and Health Services) would not be eligible for staff parking permits. This would solve the problem of people not using their own parking resources and taking up on-street parking adjacent to their offices.
3.In the surrounding residential areas, long-term on-street parking is allowed for residents and guests of residents. Residents would be able to obtain a parking permit for each of their vehicles. Enforcement of residential area parking would be complaint driven, rather than patrolled. Any resident could report any long-term parking on the street on their block that creates a nuisance.
4.A concerted effort would be made to find unused space (e.g., under the 512 freeway, cinema lot on River Road, etc.) or space used only on weekends (e.g., church and school parking lots) for use as satellite lots by Sound Transit riders at a small monthly fee paid by Sound Transit. This provides abundant parking for transit riders and a bit of cash flow for cooperating partners. The community could explore partnerships with the malls and strip centers on South Hill that have vast parking resources used only during evenings and weekends of holiday shopping.
5.PMSA or the Chamber could administer the permit program for the cost of the $8 annual parking permit. A business owner need only provide a copy of their Puyallup Business License and the number of employees to receive the appropriate number of window stickers at $8 each. Residential permits would be issued to anyone showing a utility bill with an address matching the address on their driver’s license.
The $8 per sticker fee should render enough revenue to administer the program, including the printing of the stickers. The primary expense to the City to implement the program would be the cost of a few new signs and painting the curbs.
The 6-week parking study (conducted by PMSA volunteers) would look at parking from more than one point-of-view. First, a door-to-door survey of businesses would collect data on: the number of staff in each business; the days and hours of operation; the average number of visitors/clients/shoppers in a business day; and the peak hours of visitors/clients/shoppers. The total number of parking spaces in the green and blue zones would be counted. For a period of two weeks, twice daily counts of empty spaces would be recorded and documented photographically. Hard data on parking demand and available resources will allow tweaking to the above plan.
We are confident that this plan fairly allots the parking resources currently available. It gives everyone a place to park at current costs without undue burden on any segment. And it is relatively inexpensive to implement and easy to enforce. But PMSA is still open to suggestions, so please call Dave Eatwell at 840-2631 or send an email to director@puyallupmainstreet.com if you have suggestions or questions.
