PiPress: Loss of on-street parking due to LRT to affect business owners
LRT and parking: a view from the street
By William Baker, Peter Vang and Gregory Hynan
Article Last Updated: 08/06/2008 06:51:18 PM CDT
The Central Corridor light rail project is intended to address regional transportation needs, but it is also important to understand its impact on the streets and sidewalks of the community through which it runs. With more design details now being filled in, it is clear that we need to do a better job balancing regional goals with the critical needs of businesses that are operating along University Avenue.
Just weeks before the City of St. Paul give Municipal Consent to the LRT project, it was announced that most on-street parking would be eliminated — a significant reversal from earlier projections. This is a critical issue to the businesses and communities along University Avenue, who are now looking at not only dealing with the short-term disruptions caused by the construction of the line, but the permanent loss of street parking.
The elimination of street parking hurts small businesses disproportionately because they typically don't have off-street parking and are completely reliant on the few spots in front of their stores. Some have suggested shared off-street parking, but this is not a complete solution, nor is it cheap. Off-street parking requires almost twice as much land as on-street, when you factor in need for driveways, lanes and ramps. It takes approximately one acre to accommodate 125 parked cars, and we are slated to lose about 1,000 street parking spots. With land selling for more than $1 million per acre, the replacement costs for land alone could run in excess of $10 million. Who will pay for this? There is also the cost of constructing the parking lots and the challenge of creating management and maintenance agreements. It must be clearly understood that off-street parking lots, while helpful, are not a complete remedy. Studies show there is a measurable decline in retail traffic because customers are less willing to use off-street parking ramps.
Loss of street parking also detracts from the walkability of the corridor, which is important to businesses as well as a safety issue. Pedestrians do not feel as comfortable without a buffer of parked cars. Picture a mother with a stroller several feet from a bus or truck going 30 mph. A recent study by the University of Connecticut showed that " ... centers with on-street parking and other compatible characteristics such as generous sidewalks, mixed land uses and higher densities recorded more than five times the number of pedestrians walking in these areas compared with the control sites, which lack these traits."
Our first preference is to keep as much street parking as possible. We need better information on who is driving on University Avenue. Local traffic patronizing businesses on the corridor should be given priority, and perhaps other traffic could be diverted to the freeway frontage roads. This eventually may allow the conversion of a driving lane to street parking. Another option to explore is allowing street parking to continue except during the afternoon commute. We also should explore the possibility of designating some of the intersecting streets for timed commercial parking.
We understand that all major infrastructure projects require sacrifice and disruption — and we are not arguing against the light rail project. However, we are asking that the needs of the businesses on the ground be considered and balanced against regional needs. For starters, we are asking for more timely information, for a clear understanding of who is responsible for solving these problems, what the timeline is and what financial resources are available for solutions.
William Baker is the co-chair of the Minnesota Hmong Chamber of Commerce. Peter Vang is chair of the Hmong Business Association, and Gregory Hynan is active in the University Avenue Business Association.
parking
Why would ALL the lost parking need to be replaced? Maybe some. But isn't the idea of any street car project to get people out of cars and into streetcars?
I'm not familiar with this exact corridor, but if it used to have street parking on both sides of the street and now it will have it just on one side I think you may need to just calm down. If they are taking away street parking from both sides of the street that's a more legitimate gripe.
parking
Talk to any business owner, and they will tell you immediately that parking is where their bread is buttered.
These days, of course, that's true. As everyone drives, without parking it's very hard to get customers into your store.
The problem with setting up a new infrastructure (and getting people out of their cars) is that there are so many inducements to keep the status quo. It's very difficult to imagine an alternative, and if you're a business owner facing a risky economy and slim margins, you're not likely to want to take risks. It's kind of like the idea of "path dependence" where, because of systematic processes and social behaviors, you're stuck with the system you've got. It's very hard to get society onto another, more sustainable, path.
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