The Puyallup City Council has signed off on major parking changes that will affect people who live, work, shop and catch the Sounder train in and around downtown.
In a 5-1 vote Tuesday night, council members approved a downtown parking management plan that adds and adjusts on-street time limits, makes changes to city-owned lots and establishes a residential parking permit program.
The idea is to free up more spaces downtown for the public, merchants and their employees, more effectively manage on-street parking and shift Sounder commuters to a satellite parking lot at the Puyallup Fair & Events Center.
Mayor Kathy Turner said she has concerns about the plan but feels action is needed because the city next month will end its lease with Sound Transit for a 118-stall parking lot near the downtown train station, which will displace commuters who park there.
Today, Sound Transit uses the city-owned lot as overflow parking for commuters.
“I’m voting for it because I think we have an Oct. 1 date that we need to deal with,” Turner said, adding that the council should revisit the plan in a few months.
Councilman Rick Hansen, who voted no, said: “I’d like to see us move just a little bit slower instead of doing all of this at one time.”
The plan includes:
• Converting 72 stalls in city lots downtown to designated business permit parking, bringing the total to 110.
• Opening the 118-stall lot at Second Street Southeast and East Main, known as the Cornforth Campbell lot, to the public 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. People with business parking permits can park there before 8:30 a.m. This lot is currently leased by Sound Transit.
• Adjusting, and in some cases adding, time limits on streets in and around downtown. The limits range from 15 minutes in some areas in the business core to four hours in some residential neighborhoods that abut downtown. There’s also an eight-hour zone around Puyallup High School. The time limits won’t be in effect nights or weekends.
• Starting a permit program for the four-hour zones so people living there don’t have to follow the time limits.
City staffers have worked on the plan for months, holding open houses for the public and study sessions for the council. They plan to return to the council soon with new proposed code language that deals with chain parking, a practice in which people move their cars from one short-term spot to another.
City officials said they’ll soon send parking permit information to homes in the four-hour zones. The permits are free. A city spokeswoman said she didn’t know how many homes will be affected.
New signs for the affected streets and parking lots also are being made.
Sara Schilling: 253-552-7058 sara.schilling@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/street
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