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.