Palmer planners pick four downtown goals from a parking study instead of adopting it

Palmer's Planning and Zoning Commission has picked four goals from a consultant's downtown parking and pedestrian study to recommend to the City Council, rather than adopting the report as written.

On Aug. 20, commissioners settled on safer walking and biking downtown, accessible parking year-round, an event parking program and a downtown speed limit of 15 to 20 mph, according to the meeting's draft minutes. The commission plans to send its priorities to the council, which decides any parking changes, in a resolution. Choosing specific actions was put off in September until more members were present, and the item was back on the Oct. 15 agenda.

The study is by consulting firm RESPEC. "This report is very frankly, not helpful at all," one commissioner said at the commission's July 16 meeting. Vice Chair Combs said a one-page Palmer Chamber survey handed out that night was "much more valuable than what we made." The commission voted unanimously to have each member review the study and the survey and bring back priorities.

Three downtown business owners, Michelle Kincaid of the Valley Hotel, Lorie Koppenberg of Vagabond Blues and Purple Moose Espresso and Sherman Leifer of the Palmer Bar & Grill, spoke against paid parking or shared public and private parking. Kincaid urged caution, pointing to Sandpoint, Idaho, one of the towns the study cites. Another speaker said one Sandpoint shop's sales fell 75% after the town began charging $4 an hour after two free hours. Leifer said parking gets busy mainly during big events. "We've got a pretty good system going on in Palmer," he said.

Mayor Jim Cooper urged commissioners not to discard the study, backing its ideas for pedestrian beacons, sidewalks, crosswalks and lighting. "We don't have a parking problem, we have a walking problem," Cooper said. He also said he is not in favor of paid parking.

Nathaniel Ouzts, the city's community development director, said the report was never meant to be adopted "as one giant biblical document," but to give commissioners ideas to choose from. "We don't have a parking problem, we have an event parking problem," he said.

At a Sept. 17 commission meeting on a downtown barbecue restaurant's parking variance, Cooper said the City Council had tried and failed to eliminate parking requirements citywide because businesses need them.