Firm: Workers Hog Downtown Parking Portland Consultant Says Cda Parking Problem Would Vanish If Employees Would Park Elsewhere

Parking in downtown Coeur d’Alene wouldn’t be a problem if employees would just leave their cars someplace else, a consultant told city leaders in a letter.

Wayne Stewart, with the Portland consulting firm of Walker-Macy, defended recommendations to Coeur d’Alene city leaders to change downtown parking.

“It is less than fair for merchants to claim at a public hearing that they need more customer parking - when employees are the ones who monopolize prime parking stalls located on public land,” Stewart wrote.

The Coeur d’Alene City Council and the Coeur d’Alene Urban Renewal Agency met for a workshop Tuesday to discuss the Walker-Macy master plan for city-owned areas near McEuen Field, City Park and along Northwest Boulevard. Stewart’s letter was presented at the workshop.

Part of that plan includes converting parking lots at the Third Street boat dock into a green, open-space plaza.

That parking would then be moved behind City Hall and along Front Avenue.

Some residents and business leaders offered suggestions at a Jan. 10 public hearing to leave existing parking near the boat dock and simply move the plaza farther into McEuen Field.

“We totally disagree with these comments,” Stewart said in the letter. “In our professional opinion, the location of the civic plaza is one of the two keys to success.

“If the City of Coeur d’Alene does not have the will to place the plaza where it can be successful, we recommend that it not be constructed.”

Changes proposed by Walker-Macy also included moving parking at Independence Point to along Northwest Boulevard.

While in town recently, Stewart said some 40 percent of parking stalls were empty along Sherman Avenue, but “choice” parking spaces were full in a lot between Third and Fourth streets.

“Parking is extremely important to merchants, who are almost always of the opinion that more parking is needed,” Stewart said in his letter.

In response to requests to keep the boat launches, Stewart agreed that the existing ramps should remain until a year-round alternative is found.

Mayor Steve Judy and several members of the urban renewal agency stressed that the master plan is simply a guide.

The City Council will host a 6 p.m. public hearing on March 21. It could approve the plan, but that doesn’t guarantee anything in the plan will be completed.

Hearings would be held before any part of the plan would be started, agency member Al Hassell said.

“This is like a map,” he said of the plan. “You can add further guidelines with what the community wants.”

Stewart, in the letter, agreed that the master plan is made up of detailed ideas that the city and urban renewal agency can follow.

“We wholeheartedly agree that selected modifications and clarifications are both desirable and appropriate,” Stewart said. “We also feel that the plan provides a strong conceptual framework upon which the city can build in future years.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: NEXT STEP

The City Council will host a 6 p.m. public hearing March 21.