FeedsParking committee suggests rule change
Staff Writer
If it’s up to members of the Northville Planning Commission, downtown drivers will soon find a lot more efficiency in the available parking places.
Monday night, Northville City Council members unanimously approved the first reading of a plan designed by the planning commissioners, which could increase downtown parking efficiency by 20 percent, through the use of combined lots and mixed-use parking.
Planning Consultant Don Wortman, who presented the to the council, said that the downtown area currently has one of the most restrictive parking ordinances in the area, and much higher then standards set by the federal Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE).
Through a collaborative effort by business owners, and parking ordinances that would encourage collective lots and shared parking during peak business hours, Wortman said that the city could achieve a closer adherence to federal parking standards and a more effective downtown area.
“Multi-destination use patterns in a downtown area are different then suburban parking patterns,” Wortman said. “When you go downtown, you might go to lunch, then cut your hair. You might do three different trips without moving your car.
“Typical suburban standards are when you drive to the grocery store and then get in your car and drive somewhere else,” he added. “I think these new regulations will aid downtown vitality, strengthen the tax base and help the business climate. Ideally if two property owners share a parking lot you will increase parking efficiency by 20-30 percent.”
Current ITE standards require one parking space for every 352 square feet of any retail business. Office buildings require one space for every 265 square feet and restaurants require one space for every 180 square feet.
Under current ordinances, Northville requires one space every 200 square feet for retail buildings, one space every 200-300 square feet for offices (differing by floor), and one space for every 100 square feet in restaurant parking lots.
The City of Plymouth requires an average of one space for every 500 square feet in their downtown area.
Planning commissioners suggested that those standards be lowered to one space for every 250 square feet of retail space, changing office parking to a single standard, and requiring one space every 150 square feet for restaurants.
Although supported unanimously, Councilman Doug Bingham was concerned about the public perception of the plan, and asked if Wortman was suggesting that the downtown area had more parking than necessary.
“I’d say, in some ways, yes,” Wortman said. “But I’d address it more from a current standards perspective and making sure our standards are up to date.”
Council member Nancy Darga said that she liked the idea of mixed-use parking, but wondered why the planning commission hadn’t suggested ITE standards across the board.
“We certainly want to encourage maximizing parking spaces among businesses,” Darga said. “I appreciate all the work that was done on this, and I think I could even align myself with something closer to the national standards. I’d like to see something a little bit more based on ITE standards in order to make our city more attractive to current and future investors.”
Wortman said that a more exacting plan was possible, but felt that the city should probably take a more conservative approach when combating the perceived parking problem.
“The only thing the planning commission was worried about was did we want to make that big of a jump?” Wortman said. “Should we walk before we run? This is a 20 percent reduction. We’re more concerned about finding that fine balance. We feel that a conservative approach would be best.”
