FeedsNorthville officers ponder parking regulation changes
Staff Writer
Changes to the downtown parking ordinances suggested by the Northville Planning Commission prompted discussion at the city council meeting Monday night.
With the exclusion of office parking, which was returned to the Planning Commission for review, council members unanimously approved a motion to adopt standards closer to those set by the federal Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). This could spell shared parking for area business and lower parking space requirements overall.
Former Councilman Tom Swigart said he felt that a move toward more liberal parking requirements, although a lure for potential developers, might end up hurting local business in the long run.
“We are at 80 percent use right now, and that’s in a declining economy,” Swigart said. “In a better business climate we’d be at 100 percent load. I’ve read somewhere that the public starts to perceive lots as full at 85 percent.
“We want to be perceived as a welcoming community. I think we need to do a sanity check on any modification. I think increasing our parking load will be counterproductive to all interests,” he added.
Current ITE standards require that, for every 352 square feet of any retail business, there must be at least one parking space. Office buildings require one space per every 265 square feet., and restaurants require one space for every 180 square feet.
Current Northville ordinances require one space every 200 square feet for retail buildings, one space every 200-300 square feet for offices (differing by floor), and one space every 100 square feet in restaurant parking lots.
The newly adopted standards would be a compromise between the two, with one space required for every 250 square feet of retail space and one space every 150 square feet for restaurants. The new ordinances would also encourage collective lots and shared parking during peak hours between businesses.
“We require more parking then a strip mall,” Mayor Pro Tem Jim Allen said. “Plymouth only has one space per 500 square feet. I think we’re trying to be more realistic, and find a truer use of this building. There is a difference between actual need and ordinance need.”
Swigart said that he felt less accessible parking might be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“I don’t want to see parking decks down the road,” Swigart said. “I think they would be detrimental to our community, as would the overpopulation of our parking lots. I’m not hearing a lot about the long term and what we want this town to be. We’re talking about the leaves and the trees and forgetting about the forest.”
