Paid parking in downtown Gig Harbor? City looks at ways to better use 538 spots
A new parking study shows that Gig Harbor has plenty of spots downtown — it’s just a matter of making them available.
The study, prepared by consulting firm Fehr & Peers, looked at parking availability downtown and in the Finholm district. Drawing on parking surveys last August and historical data, the study concluded that drivers filled up much of the city’s street parking at peak times but tended to underutilize off-street lots.
The report recommended ways to improve the system, from sharing off-street parking with churches to instituting time limits and paid parking to limit demand.
The Gig Harbor City Council will discuss the report at their study session Thursday. City spokesperson Lori Maricle declined to comment until after the study session, once the council has reviewed the report.
Gig Harbor Waterfront Alliance Executive Director Clare Dunis wrote in an email Friday that while the Alliance is taking care not to get ahead of the council’s discussion, the organization sees the study “as a professional validation of the ‘boots on the ground’ insights we’ve gathered over the years.”
“We fully support the City’s efforts to find balanced solutions that serve everyone — from the business owners and their employees to the residents and tourists who make our waterfront so special,” she wrote.
Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Miriam Battson also responded to the study’s results in a brief email. “We hope community members will take note of Figure 15 in the study, which illustrates overall peak parking occupancy on Thursdays at 1 p.m. and highlights opportunities for additional parking throughout downtown,” she wrote. “For many visitors, these locations can also provide an opportunity to enjoy the beauty and walkability of downtown Gig Harbor while heading to meetings, shopping, or dining.”
The study cost the city around $70,000, according to Gig Harbor Community Development Director Eric Baker.
Available parking by the waterfront
The downtown and Finholm districts make up the city’s historic waterfront area, featuring a mix of restaurants, boutiques and other small businesses along Harborview Drive and nearby streets. It’s also home to the Gig Harbor Waterfront Farmer’s Market, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year and runs Thursdays in the spring and summer.
The study divided the downtown district into five “study areas”:
- Downtown: starting around the southeast end of the waterfront to Dorotich Street
- Judson: an area around Judson Street, including the Peninsula Shopping Center
- Millville: including part of Harborview Drive and Stinson Avenue around Ancich Waterfront Park
- Museum: around the Harbor History Museum, bordering the Finholm and Millville areas
- Churches: covering parking lots for four churches around the Downtown area
The study defined the Finholm district as an area centered around Anthony’s restaurant on North Harborview Drive, extending inland to Franklin Avenue.
There are 538 spaces total across all six areas, including both street parking and off-street lots, according to the report.
Volunteers and the professional survey firm IDAX surveyed parking in these areas from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 21 and Saturday, Aug. 23, the report said. They found that the downtown study area had the highest percentage of street parking spots filled at 1 p.m. on Thursday and Saturday, at 88% and 89% respectively. Millville and Finholm saw the next highest demand, filling up 80% and 68% at that time on Thursday.
Overall, the team identified that parking demand peaked at 1 p.m. on Thursday, when 68% of all parking spots were filled — well below the 85% threshold considered optimal, according to the study. Maps included in the report indicate “that parking supply far exceeds parking demand when considering both on- and off-street parking even on the busiest days for the waterfront area,” the study said.
The report identified that off-street parking lots tended to have plenty of vacancies.
“Off-street parking, consisting of public lots, church parking, and parking attached to private businesses, was heavily underused, with 59% of the 2,840 spaces empty during peak hours on Thursday,” the report said.
It also found that nearly 3/4 of the vehicles parked on Thursday and Saturday remained for less than two hours.
Study recommends city improve access to available space
Still, the results validate concerns that residents and visitors have about a perceived lack of parking, according to the study. While the simple response might be adding more parking, “such a step would lead to more driving, cost a lot of money to buy land and build parking, and worsen the overall experience of exploring the commercial area of a city,” the report said.
Instead, the study offered several recommendations the city could explore to improve parking access.
Some suggested enhancing available spots by instituting:
- Shared parking between businesses, such as by allowing visitors to share lots with employees
- Shared parking with churches, which tend to fill up mostly on weekends
- On-street time limits, freeing up spots more quickly in busy areas
- On-street parking permits, to protect spots for residents of nearby streets and business employees
Other options could reduce demand for parking by encouraging alternatives to driving:
- Paid parking, to encourage parking in less busy areas and generate funds the city could reinvest into transportation improvements through a “parking benefit district”
- Adding bike racks on sidewalks and in parking lots
- Launching a public e-bike sharing system, starting with a pilot
- Increasing the Pierce Transit Route 100 bus service that carries visitors along Harborview Drive
Finally, the city could create a smoother parking experience and support waterfront businesses by:
- Adding signage to help visitors better find parking throughout the area
- Maintaining existing physical and online parking maps, including details such as time limits, price, bike rack and transit locations
- Introducing a website and app to collect parking fees, grant time extensions and provide permits
- Adding a parking management system and personnel to oversee enforcement and finances
- Adding ADA parking and making it more evenly distributed on North Harborview Drive
- Ensuring each block area has at least one spot for delivery trucks, which struggle to find loading zones by businesses
These recommendations have varying costs and timelines for completion, the study said. City staff landed on seven options to explore further: shared parking between businesses, shared parking with churches, on-street time limits, paid parking, on-street parking permits, ADA parking spaces and wayfinding improvements.
