March 4, 2004

Council considers changes to some downtown parking

Village Council on Monday took the first step to change some time limits for parking areas in downtown, a move the plan’s architect, Council president Tony Arnett, said would cause more turnover of traffic.

Council also indicated that it would consider expanding the parking lot in Kieth’s Alley into the Beatty Hughes Park to add more parking to downtown.

In addition, Village Manager Rob Hillard said that the Village Mayor’s Court in April would increase to $20 from $5 the fine the Village levies for parking violation. The increased fine is not part of the ordinance before Council.

At its March 1 meeting, Council unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance amending several Village parking regulations. A second reading and public hearing will take place at Council’s April 5 meeting. Council could have held the public hearing at its next meeting, March 15, but, based on a suggestion from Council member George Pitstick, decided to wait a month to give downtown merchants more time to review the proposed changes.

The changes in the ordinance include:

• The time limit of the Corry Street municipal parking lot would decrease to two hours from 24, Monday through Saturday and excluding holidays.

• The two parking spots on Xenia Avenue in front of US Bank would change to 30 minutes from 15.

• The four spots on Glen Street next to Town Drug would change to 30 minutes from two hours. The remaining four on-street spaces on Glen would remain two hours.

• The three spaces in front of the post office on Corry Street would change to 30 minutes from 15.

• The proposal would limit to 12 hours parking on Elm Street, between Phillips and South Walnut; on South Walnut, in front of Mills Lawn School and behind the First Presbyterian Church; and on Xenia Avenue, between Dayton and Cemetery Streets.

Council did agree to scale back parts of the ordinance. For instance, Arnett removed from the proposal a section that would have changed to 30 minutes from two hours the time limit of on-street spaces on Xenia Avenue in front of Town Drug, Sunrise Cafe and Hasser’s Barber Shop. All downtown on-street parking spots, except the two in front of US Bank, will remain two-hour spaces.

The above parking limits would be enforced 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. After the meeting, Police Chief Carl Bush said that the time limits would continue be in effect seven days a week, though the ordinance says that the limits would be enforced on Short Street and in the Corry Street lot Monday through Saturday. Bush indicated that those two references would be amended.

The proposed ordinance would also officially allow angled parking on East North College Street, near the Antioch campus. Angled parking has been practiced on that street for a few years. The ordinance would also open up more parking on Livermore Street for the campus.

Arnett, who during his time on Council has presented proposals to amend parking time limits downtown, said that the proposed ordinance would free up more parking spaces downtown more often. He said that his past surveys of local residents “makes clear” that villagers think “our current short-term parking is not adequate.”

People intending to stay in town longer, to shop or use the bikepath, Arnett said, would have to park on the periphery of the Central Business District, including in the Bryan Community Center lot and around Mills Lawn. He said that the key to the proposal is to post adequate signage directing people to the appropriate parking spots.

The proposed changes for downtown were met coolly by some. Jonathan Brown, who owns the Sunrise Cafe, said that he and other downtown shopkeepers feel it would be “detrimental to downtown business” to decrease parking time limits, including on Glen and Short Streets. A two-hour limit, Brown said, would make Yellow Springers and out-of-towners “feel welcome” and would encourage them to shop in town. “We would do better with longer time limits,” Brown said.

Ellen Hoover said that when she served on the Village Planning Commission the board “seriously looked at” adding bicycle racks downtown. She encouraged Council to provide a public bike rack.

The talk about downtown parking led some Council members to say that they support expanding the parking lot in Kieth’s Alley into Beatty Hughes Park. “I think we should pave over the park,” Hardman said.

Arnett said that the Village should add the project to the Village’s capital improvement plan, which contains identified projects the Village hopes to accomplish over the next 10 years. Placing the paving project in the capital plan could be considered the first step toward implementation.

Bob Baldwin, who owns a number of downtown properties, said that Beatty Hughes Park is large enough to accommodate a parking lot, while still keeping some of the park in place. He suggested that the business community pay for half of the paving project. Pitstick called Baldwin’s suggestion a “productive comment.”

—Robert Mihalek