Parking garage is tabled again

Alternative appeals to councilors but plan requires school approval

By RICHARD HANNERS / Whitefish Pilot

The Whitefish City Council held off a third time from voting on construction of a parking structure at Second Street and Spokane Avenue.

An alternative that could cost one-tenth as much and provide 100 more parking spaces appealed to councilors, but an agreement with the Whitefish School District for a land swap must still be negotiated to finalize that new plan.

Fourteen people spoke at the Monday meeting in favor of going ahead with the downtown parking garage, including passionate pleas by downtown business owners Marilyn Nelson, her husband and her brother-in-law.

Portland-based planning consultant George Crandall explained to the council the different types of parking. Retail parking must be centrally located, easy to find, near the front door, easy to use and in adequate supply, he said.

"Almost all downtowns have surplus parking," he said, citing the city's recent parking study, "but nearly all lack retail parking."

Crandall said the 175,000 square feet of existing downtown retail needs 630 retail parking spaces but has only 430. A parking garage will promote economic development, he said, and not take up land that could be used for new retail businesses, which will generate more resort tax and tax-increment financing (TIF) revenue for the city.

Councilor Nick Palmer said he supports addressing the downtown parking problem, but it's not "acute" now and numerous people have criticized its aesthetics. Some have said it could create a "canyon" effect on Spokane Avenue, he said.

The parking garage is not cost-effective, Palmer said. For one thing, the 177 net new spaces won't cost taxpayers $5.1 million, because that doesn't include broker and attorney fees and interest accrued over the life of the bond. A true cost is $9.2 million, he said.

Palmer proposed a four-prong alternative that would provide 269 new parking spaces for $850,000:

? Pave the lot at Second and Spokane — 53 new spaces.

? Change 2-hour parking on Central Avenue north of Railway Street to all-day for downtown employees — 43 new spaces.

? Sharply increase the parking fine for Central Avenue between Railway and Third streets to deter parking by downtown employees, which he said could account for about half the spaces.

? Build two lots east of the library and north of Whitefish Middle School for the public, school staff and downtown employees — 173 new spaces.

"That's 100 more spaces at one-tenth the cost," Palmer said, all within walking distance of Central Avenue and out of sight.

"There'd be no sea of parking that would blight the landscape," he said.

Palmer also said his solution could be implemented quickly with no bonding necessary. That meant parking needed while Central Avenue is being reconstructed, and TIF money available for a new city hall, "which is so badly needed," he said.

City manager Gary Marks said he worked for several weeks with school superintendent Jerry House on the parking lot proposal north of the middle school. It involved a land swap that would put the school's playgrounds further away.

Earlier Monday, however, House told Marks he couldn't approve the deal. House told the council he talked the idea over with school principals, two school board members and bus system operator Dale Duff and discovered the land swap would affect the middle school's emergency plan for evacuating students.

Crandall sharply criticized the city's "mythological parking solution," saying the $9.2 million figure was "cooking the numbers." It was a "myth" that the new parking lot would "suck" all the downtown employees there, it was not retail parking, and the school district had not approved the plan, he said. The high parking fine would also "sour" people on parking downtown, he said.

Mayor Mike Jenson and councilors Turner Askew and Palmer all responded to Crandall, saying the city was not "cooking the numbers."

"We're paying the bills and you're talking to people who will benefit," Askew said, adding it was a "little like Santa Claus."

Public works director John Wilson raised a key point before the council voted — the decision to act on the parking garage is way past its spring deadline, so there was no rush.

The council voted 5-1 to table the decision, with councilor John Muhlfeld opposed. The council directed Marks to continue talks with the school district.