Palmer mulls public parking

December 13, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK/

Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Additional parking space may be coming to downtown Palmer. What form it might take remains to be seen.

The Palmer City Council, at a special meeting Tuesday, discussed a proposed parking ordinance designed to promote commercial growth while maintaining a pedestrian-friendly downtown business area.

Another component of the parking plan will be to offer adequate public parking - hopefully for free, according to Palmer City Planner Sara Jansen.

Paid parking might encourage visitors of the downtown area to find illegal free spots instead, Jansen said. Pay-to-park lots require employees and more potential headaches, Jansen said.

The plan offers a way for new developers to get around offering the required number of parking spaces, by paying a waiver fee that helps with the cost of constructing additional public parking lots, Jansen said.

Having parking lots available for people shopping or running errands will decrease traffic in traditional pedestrian areas and leave a compact downtown that walkers can easily navigate, she said.

Healy estimated it would cost owners of new businesses in the range of $3,000 per space to waive parking spots they can't provide within close proximity of their building - whether it's because they can't purchase the land necessary or it isn't available.

&#8220I've seen between $3,000 to $5,000 per space,” Jansen said.

Council member Tony Pippel said it seemed like a reasonable price to pay, considering someone constructs a building for a business that could last between 40 to 80 years.

The proposal outlines how many spaces will be required for each type of business.

For example, a laundromat would need one parking space for every 250 feet of gross floor space while a motel would need one parking space for each guest room and a hotel requires a parking space for every two-person room.

According to the ordinance under review, restaurants and drinking establishments would allow a parking spot for every four people based on maximum capacity.

Some entrepreneurs have already secured enough parking spaces or held off expansion in order to provide enough room for customers' vehicles, Pippel said.

Current business owners would be given grandfather rights.

Many of the businesses in downtown Palmer, like those located in the Koslosky Center, have appropriate community parking. New developers would adhere to the new ordinance - if and when it's adopted - and be given the option to pay waiver fees.

In addition to the fees-in-lieu program, which will cover the cost of creating parking spots, the city's general fund will help pay for the parking spaces open to the public.

The council will vote on the ordinance in the unfinished business segment of the Dec. 13 regular meeting.

Jansen said the city should create an inventory of possible public parking areas.

&#8220You might not need 'em today, but we might need 'em 20 years from now. And that's great public planning,” Pippel said.

Contact Dawn De Busk at 352-2252 or dawn.debusk@

frontiersman.com.