MONROE — The City Council wants to take a new comprehensive look on downtown parking.
The decision was prompted by a building owner’s request to have time-limited parking along half of a dead-end block on North Blakeley Street.
The council declined the request to modify just this block, but called for having a broader evaluation of downtown’s parking needs.
A lack of parking seems to be an issue for other businesses in town, Councilwoman Tami Kinney noted during the April 19 council meeting.
North Blakeley dead-ends to a dirt road running alongside the railroad tracks; the block is a mix of family homes and low-rise buildings with shops on the bottom and apartments up top.
The Campbell family of Snohomish recently constructed a new two-story mixed-use building at 209 N. Blakeley St. The building has dedicated parking for its residents behind the building, city engineer Scott Peterson said. Building co-owner Danielle Campbell requested the time limits as “we’re having a tough time getting the commercial units leased out due to parking,” she told the City Council in February.
In a city survey, a couple of residents said a time limit would inflame an already crimped parking situation. Hill Street nearby has time limits.
“There simply is no way for a time limit to be feasible on (Blakeley),” one survey respondent wrote. “It would cause a lot of unneeded headaches and frustration for business owners and residents.”
