Upper Queen Anne has, for now been granted a reprieve from the city which until last night had been expected to install pay-and-display parking meters along the commercial center of Queen Anne Avenue North.
But last night during the Queen Anne Community Council monthly meeting held Wednesday evening at McClure Middle School's library, Allison Schwartz of the Seattle Department of Transportation surprised QACC board members and visitors by announcing that her department would not pursue paid meters but a more aligned system of one- and two-hour parking signs.
"There is a huge amount of unrestricted parking here and time limits would serve the need," Schwartz said. She added that people were also complying with the existing timed parking spaces and that contributed to the decision to not install pay meters.
For weeks now, Queen Anne residents and business owners had been worried about the addition of pay meters, much of that concern was based the precedent that its neighbor to the north, Fremont, seemed to have set. Schwartz's announcement utterly surprised Ellen Monrad, chairperson of the QACC.
"I assumed they were going to announce that there was going to be paid parking on Queen Anne," she said. "It was a total surprise." She said SDOT's recommendation followed the QACC's written recommendation, in which it was suggested that installing meters would hurt business and the feel of the neighborhood. QACC vice-chairperson Craig Hanway, who penned the recommendation, was also surprised by SDOT's decision.
"I think it was the right direction," he said. "It's a recognition that Queen Anne is a different commercial area than Fremont or Ballard. Maybe they didn't think the meters would pay for themselves."
The meters are made by Parkeon, a company based in France. Each meter costs the City of Seattle as much as $11,000, according to Mary Catherine Snyder a senior transportation planner for SDOT.
Monrad said SDOT will now go door to door and get recommendations from business owners and community members on what kind of limited parking signage should be added to the Queen Anne Avenue North and some side streets. The QACC discussed it last night and came to a consensus that uniform two-hour parking limit signs, with some exceptions, would be best. Jill Arnow, executive director of the Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce, said more 30-minute parking spaces would likely be better for businesses. SDOT's Schwartz said she would carefully assess the neighborhood's needs.
Fremont, which has never had paid parking meters, only time-limit signs, was being reviewed by SDOT for new signage and the possible addition of meters as well as residential parking zones. Businesses in that community, such as the PCC Natural Market along the 600 block of North 34th Street, were set against it. Manager Ray Glandon said the plan to put meters in front of the store would negatively affect his business. He and store representative Diana Crane told SDOT that if meters were installed, the store's parking garage, which offers shoppers free parking for 90 minutes, would likely become a paid lot.
Jessica Vets, the executive director of the Fremont Chamber of Commerce also weighed in against the idea of pay meters during SDOT public meetings and commerce meetings. SDOT heard the business community there, and said it would reduce the scope of the plan. Today, the SDOT unveiled its final parking plan which will include adding 13 to 20 pay meters in the heart of the neighborhood's business district, but which excludes the front of PCC Natural Market.
The paid meters will be located on Evanston Avenue North from North 34th Street to North 36th Street; North 36th Street from Evanston Avenue North to Fremont Avenue North; Fremont Avenue North from North 34th Street to North 36th Street; North 35th Street from Evanston Avenue North to Fremont Avenue North and then half a block further east and only on the south side of North 35th Street; Fremont Place north from North 36th Street to Fremont Avenue North.
The parking rate for each meter will be $1.50 per hour and will be in effect from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday. In the 2009 adopted budget, the City Council increased the hourly paid rates to $2.50 per hour. Fremont rates will remain at $1.50 per hour.
Though SDOT reduced the number of streets it had originally slated for meters, Vets of the chamber is not pleased.
"We're still fighting it and until they actually put it in, we're still going to fight it," she said. "We really feel that the plan is revenue based, not based on helping parking needs." Had the city just admitted from the onset that adding meters was about creating revenue, Vets would have been behind the idea, she said. But she feels the city was trying to sneak the plan through. And that the media knew about the final plan before she did, "that to me is really bad. That's a city that's working against its citizens," she said.
SDOT began assessing Fremont parking in early 2008 and found that among the 700 spaces in the business district, there was 75-percent utilization during a typical weekday. In some cases it was higher, and that drew concern from SDOT.
"These were data-driven decisions," said Snyder of SDOT.
The SDOT plan will also introduce residential parking zones to the east and south sides of several outlying residential streets. There will also be 40 new time-limit signs added to the greater business district of Fremont.
"We listened to the community and we think the final plan is the best way to go," Snyder said.[[In-content Ad]]
