5. HRSR 05-02-2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I{ing Avenue Parking Lot Task Force Minutes Apri15, 2005 Page 3 should be made available further away from the main areas downtown or on the fringe of downtown, similar to what is done in downtown Anoka. Mr. Holme asked how other communities enforced parking limits, and remarked that the City "couldn't have officers doing this all day long". Chief Beahen responded that there is a full-time parking enforcement person in Anoka and that perhaps if Elk River were to change its parking to two or three hour limits in downtown areas that perhaps a job share situation could be arranged for officers and/or public works personnel for enforcement. Chief Beahen indicated that the real problem was there was "no good employee parking in downtown". He mentioned the two or three parking spots for 20-minute only parking for picking up prescriptions along Jackson in front of Kemper Drug, and Mr. Holme responded that having shorter time zones in these areas would be "fine", but Mr. Anderson remarked that adding shorter time limits to these spots in front of the pharmacy would make backing up and watching traffic turn from Highway 10 onto. Jackson more "dangerous" as more vehicles would be backing up in the course of a day compared to_what is occuring now. Ms. Mehelich asked for Mr. Holme's clarification on whether the short-timed parking spots should be in the front of Kemper Drug or in the back of the store, in the lot. Mr. Holme responded that most of the customers stopping to pick up prescriptions are parking in the back of the store in the lot, and that the disabled parking spot already there was "used a lot". He also responded that the parking spaces in front of the store along the street were "packed most of the time". Mr. McCoy asked the Chief if parking restrictions would "go off at 5 or 6 pm at night"? He stated that most customers he had spoken with liked a one or two hour parking spot for his business. Mr. Anderson asked if two hour limits-were the norm? The Chief responded affirmatively, and added that longer limits were placed on the outskirts or further out of the downtown area in other communities. He also mentioned that other retail employers, like WalMart or Target, tell their employees where to park and its usually a long way from the front door in order to gi~-e customers parking.preference. Mr. Holme said that one of the apartment'dwellers o~-er the Travel stare had three "Junkers" he left in the parking lot without moving: The Cliief responded that he had looked into this issue previously and that the owner has a cotltract «~ith the tenants that allow for one car per resident at this site. Chief Beahen said the issue was "non enforcement" and that at least one of the vehicles had been'rowed last winter. He added that the upstairs usage of the buildings in this area have dwindled in recent years. Mr. McCoy stated that if the City were to tell people (employees) that they had to park in the King Avenue lot, it might be tough to get people to walk 1.5 blocks to work, and that as a business owner he was trying to find ways to work these issues out. Mr. Houlton asked Chief Beahen why there wasn't metered parking in downtown areas? Chief Beahen responded that he felt the best way to attack the parking issue was to first start with posted time zones, restricting longer parking to fringe areas, with enforcement. He said that the next step might be an inexpensive parking meter installed for on-street parking areas. Mr. Holme said his employees had a "fetish" for parking. The Chief responded that most businesses are this way but that in his view it made more sense to have customers park closer to the door of the business rather than employees, and he assumed that this is what most employers would want to do. Mr. McCoy stated that he has put in some extra parking behind his bar and that some employees park in this area, while others, including the pull tab people, park close in street stalls at night. He said that he has to constantly remind them to leave spots open for