Study looks at downtown parking

The concept that Whitefish could use a few more parking spaces isn’t a particularly new one, but the city is having professionals take fresh look at the issue.

Kimley-Horn and Associates, hired by the city, recently visited Whitefish to kick off a parking structure feasibility study.

There are four public parking lots downtown: The two-hour lot across from the middle school, a two-hour lot at Third Street and Central Avenue, a two-hour lot on Baker Avenue behind City Hall, and an unlimited parking lot at Third and Spokane.

The study intends to examine four sites for creating or adding parking. The four include the existing BNSF parking lot north of the O’Shaughnessy Center, the existing City Hall building, the existing surface lot on the corner of Second Street and Spokane Avenue, and the open lot at the southwest corner of Third Street and Central Avenue.

The firm expects to evaluate the sites and create a conceptual design for the preferred sites. A final recommendation should be made by the end of the year. The parking study is one component of the an update to the city’s master plan, which sets goals for future downtown growth and improvements.

Those who work, own businesses or interact with tourists say that parking in Whitefish needs to be addressed.

Carolyn Pitman, executive director at Whitefish Theatre Company at the O’Shaughnessy Center, said more parking is needed.

“We need retail parking close to downtown and in the evenings for restaurants, bars and with the significant increase in entertainment,” she said. “Parking in the evenings is rather frustrating. A lot of people don’t know where to park.”

Pitman said she often gets questions about long-term parking beyond the 2-hour limit on many spaces.

“People are trying to shop and eat and they ask where they can park for longer,” she said. “That’s happened quite a bit this summer.”

One of the proposed sites is to add a parking deck to the BNSF Railway area adjacent to the O’Shaughnessy. BNSF reclaimed the parking area there earlier this year, but has agreed to the concept of the city leasing the air space there to add a parking deck.

“I don’t think the additional parking has to be right next door,” Pitman said. “People will walk three or four blocks for parking for entertainment.”

Jan Metzmaker with the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau said finding parking can be a challenge for some visitors.

“I know it’s difficult during the summer and with the Farmers Market and events happening,” she said. “I hope we can have some place to put visitors.”

As for a location, Metzmaker said, where additional parking is will impact use.

“It needs to be centrally located or people just don’t use it,” she said. “It’s a waste of money if they don’t use it.”

The parking professionals with Kimley-Horn agree. Ideally, they say, a parking lot needs to be located within an 1/8 mile of the town’s center, Central Avenue in this case, to get folks to use the parking.

They also note that a parking garage doesn’t have to look like a paring garage. The firm cites examples of underground parking structures that have parks on the ground level or are incorporated in with buildings. Parking, if done in a user-friendly way, can encourage folks to travel to certain areas of a city and have a positive economic impact, they note.

For Marcus Duffey, general manager of the Great Northern Brewery, the current parking situation isn’t user-friendly for his business.

He said the brewery struggles with finding parking for its delivery vehicles and more long-term parking is needed.  

“We’ve made it a priority for our employees to walk or ride bikes, but that isn’t always possible,” he said. “We have to worry about moving every two hours.”

Duffey said he doesn’t want Whitefish to become overloaded with parking lots, but adding spaces “needs to be a priority.”

“There needs to be a balance to how much we have, but businesses downtown need a reasonable amount of parking for employees,” he said.

Kimley-Horn expects to take the preliminary list of four sites down to two, which will then be taken through the conceptual design phase. The team plans to provide cost estimates as part of its evaluation.

Based upon a Missoula project, the firm estimates that the cost per parking space for parking structure range from $15,000 to $35,000 per space. At the low end is an average stand-along garage and at the high end is the cost for an underground, or below another building, parking garage.

In 2008, city council decided against a parking garage at Second Street and Spokane. Cost estimates for that structure were as high as $6.6 million for 318 spaces with three levels and store fronts on Second.