11-05-2007 CC MIN - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Minutes November 5, 2007 Page 6 Councilmember Farber stated the whole downtown. He commented that they are spending too much time on how to control the businesses and their parking and until there is a • permanent solution the council needs to start with something. Mayor Klinzing commented that the business owners have brought concerns to the council about people parking without a time limit. Councilxnember Farber stated they've heard from employers telling employees to play the three hour game and the two hour game allowing employees to move their cars so they can stay closer to the back door. Mayor Klinzing asked Chief Beahen to comment on the current motion on the floor. Chief Beahen agreed with the mayor, stating with this motion, there may be some concerns from the downtown businesses, but that Councilmember Farber's idea may have some merit. He has received phone calls from businesses downtown and that every time we make changes, we upset 35% of the business owners. He stated it might be alright to try a proposal to meet everyone's needs. Mayor Klinzing asked if we have anything in the ordinance about length of time and what are the consequences for parking over that limit. Chief Beahen stated it is 24 hours. The CSO's regularly monitor the downtown area and chalk the tires on vehicles, and patrol the lots; if a vehicle is still there in 24 hours, they issue a citation. Councilmember Gumphrey stated he will oppose the motion because of concerns with the i number of businesses in the area that will have employees from other businesses parking in front of their businesses. Coundlmember Morin also stated he will oppose the motion, and feels he keeps hearing in the past year that the reason the council is going to do something is because they're tired of dealing with it. He feels the answer is to work until they find something that's acceptable, but he doesn't feel the answer is to throw up their arms and give up. He believes it's too soon with the number of new businesses in the downtown area to throw out everything and say there are no restrictions. He believes the issue is enforcement and education. Councilmember Farber stated he isn't fed up and did think it through, and he wasn't going to give up. He would like to revisit this after the end of the winter traffic season, stating it needs to be made easier. He thinks this would be a good way to start and it's becoming really complicated to know where to park and this would make it easier. Mayor Klinzing would like to support the motion but thinks the time limit restrictions should still remain in place, afraid that without restrictions they're opening themselves up for uses other than what they want due to the limited amount to parking available. Councilmember Zerwas stated with all the layers and rules this will make people stop and think about parking downtown and see how easy it is to park at Wal-mart. He commented about signs posted at each downtown lot being full of restrictions, rules, and requirements. Mayor Klinzing stated she is in favor of simplifying but there needs to be some limits in • place.