Downtown Parking Task Force: Making a List and Checking it Twice

By Teresa Rochester

Minimize traffic.

Make parking structures safe and easily accessible.

Increase the vitality of downtown businesses.

Those were just three of the suggestions that filled six and a half large sheets during a brainstorming session at the Downtown Parking Task Force's second meeting last Thursday night at the Ken Edwards Center.

The list of ideas pitched by task force members and the public on how to improve the downtown parking crunch ran the gamut from launching a shuttle system to increasing the solar collection capacity by placing panels on the roofs of parking structures.

"I was very pleased," said task force member and Planning Commissioner Darrell Clarke. "I think we're going to get to a good place."

The meeting was facilitated by architect Stephanos Polyzoides, who was hired by the City to serve as a consultant to the task force.

The co-founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism, Polyzoides is a well-known architect and advisor on urban planning. He last worked for the City as a consultant for the 415 PCH project, the former Marion Davies estate, which the City plans to turn into a public beach club.

Suzanne Frick, head of the City's Planning Division, said Polyzoides was hired to do the job because he brings a "big picture" perspective to urban design issues such as the downtown's parking problem. Frick said traffic engineers would be brought in a later date.

Polyzoides advanced the idea that more parking wasn't exactly the best idea. Instead, efficient and strategically placed parking would lead to more people going to more businesses downtown, he told the task force.

Among the ideas bandied about by the Task Force during its brainstorming session were the following:

· Assure there is sufficient street capacity to accommodate parking.

· Make sure that the data presented to the task force accurately reflects the existing parking situation.

· Minimize curb cuts.

· Locate parking structures on sites that encourage walking.

· Minimize driving from structure to structure.

· Balance parking with the number of traffic lanes.

· Maintain the structures.

·Synchronize traffic

The task force will use the information to categorize and prioritize its plan of attack at its next meeting. The group is expected to take at least six months before making its recommendations.

For Kathleen Rawson, executive director of the Bayside District, which oversees downtown, Thursday night's session was a small, but good, start in addressing a problem that has gone on for years.

"We're just delighted this effort is being made by the City now to finally address this nightmare," she said.