BULLETIN: SDOT says no paid parking for The Junction

SDOT has published the “draft findings” of the Junction Parking Review – one and a half years in the making (here’s our coverage archive) – on its new “blog.” Quote: “SDOT doesn’t think paid parking is the right approach for The Junction at this time.” More as we continue reading this. Excerpt:

The parking study examined how full the parking spaces were and how many people were staying longer than the allowed two hours. In the Junction’s commercial area, about 56 percent to 71 percent of parking spaces are generally full. When 75 percent or more of the spots in an area are full it gets hard to find a parking space. That’s our threshold for making significant changes to existing parking regulations, like the use of paid parking. Compliance with the two-hour time limit signs was also high, meaning that the signs are working well to create customer turnover and paid parking isn’t needed at this time.

ADDED 1:12 PM: Here’s the full document with the “preliminary findings” including the full chart of what was discovered during the study. It’s been 17 months since SDOT first announced it would study parking in The Junction (here’s our first report from February 2008) – other West Seattle neighborhoods are to be studied in the future, including Admiral, Alki and Morgan Junction. Today’s announcement doesn’t necessarily mean “no change” in The Junction – other possible “parking management” options have been discussed along the way – any such proposals will be in the final report later this year.

ADDED 3:12 PM: Official reaction from West Seattle Junction Association executive director Susan Melrose: “Junction merchants will be thrilled with the results. We’re pleased to see that the city process worked here in The Junction … also it’s nice to know that the West Seattle community is using Junction parking in the way that we want it used – come in, shop for a couple hours, and move on … I think it represents a good relationship with the West Seattle community and Junction merchants, and it works both ways and that’s what we want in our little neighborhood of downtown West Seattle.” We also have a followup out to SDOT, asking if there’s been any change in the timetables for reviewing parking in the other neighborhoods, and will let you know what we hear back.

24 Replies to "BULLETIN: SDOT says no paid parking for The Junction"

  • ann July 23, 2009 (1:07 pm)

    Yay! Good news.

  • Dreamland July 23, 2009 (1:12 pm)

    Whew!

  • alki_2008 July 23, 2009 (1:15 pm)

    Excellent! Good job on this one SDOT! :)

  • Admiral Janeway July 23, 2009 (1:22 pm)

    Good news. If the city wants money, they can enforce the 2 hour parking limit.

  • swimcat July 23, 2009 (1:57 pm)

    Woohoo!! This is awesome to hear.

  • old timer July 23, 2009 (2:06 pm)

    Hooray!

  • Paul in Gatewood July 23, 2009 (2:07 pm)

    That’s great news! We live a couple of miles south of the Junction and it’s nice to be able to park, shop and support the businesses that make it such a great place.

  • marty July 23, 2009 (2:11 pm)

    Great! I must admit that I am surprised…

  • margaritaville July 23, 2009 (2:23 pm)

    Surprised and very pleased!

  • JBL July 23, 2009 (2:27 pm)

    Thank goodness!

  • MrJT July 23, 2009 (2:33 pm)

    Never thought they could get the reveue stream to justify the cost of paystations…

  • d July 23, 2009 (3:00 pm)

    Yay!

  • beachdrivegirl July 23, 2009 (3:25 pm)

    Great news!!!

  • katemca July 23, 2009 (4:06 pm)

    SWEET! Good choice SDOT!

  • iggy July 23, 2009 (4:21 pm)

    WOW ! Amazing to get some good news from the City once in a while. This is fantastic. Yesterday, for example, I needed to make a quick trip to pay my electric bill and to stop and pick something up at Super Supplements and Safeway. Also stopped in at the Antique Mall and West Seattle Art. Frankly, if I had had to pay for parking, I would have gone to Deldridge to pay my electric bill and then shopped at Westwood Village and simply bypassed the Antique Mall and West Seattle Art. The Junction merchants must be sooooooooo relieved.

  • SomeGuy July 23, 2009 (4:47 pm)

    I’m skeptical. Didn’t Fremont hear the same thing and then end up with meters anyway?

  • WSB July 23, 2009 (4:52 pm)

    If you look at the history of the Fremont study, it was identified as full even along the way, exceeding the 75% that is not exceeded here.
    http://www.seattle.gov/Transportation/parking/cp_fremont.htm
    .
    This obviously doesn’t mean they’re ruling them out in perpetuity. But for this version of the study, no. And given the fact they’re pushing the Alki/Admiral studies out further into the future (see the followup we just published), I would wager any future revisitation would be several years down the line … at which time Junction development (once things are back on the upswing) may lead to different conditions anyway.

  • Happy Shopper July 23, 2009 (10:35 pm)

    Hooray for the folks at SDOT who did the research and to the city for putting small biz first and revenue second. Well done all!

  • AW July 24, 2009 (4:45 pm)

    i think this is great, since i work in the junction, even though i dont drive to work. but, i am pretty sure that it’ll come down to paid parking sooner or later. all they need is 3 more percent and they have grounds to start making money for a parking spot.

  • Uh-oh July 24, 2009 (9:50 pm)

    Seems folks outside of WS think this is due to our most famous resident … the mayor.

  • KBear July 24, 2009 (10:15 pm)

    Actually, our most famous resident is now the marmot. And he is absolutely against paid parking in the Junction.

  • MAS July 25, 2009 (10:36 pm)

    …so parking in the area will continue to be scarce enough to drive business elsewhere.

  • BH July 26, 2009 (10:38 am)

    MAS wrote “…so parking in the area will continue to be scarce enough to drive business elsewhere.”

    ???

    What? I can always find a parking place in the Junction, a few times a week. If it was paid, I would go less often. Paid parking kills business.

  • MAS July 26, 2009 (3:24 pm)

    “Paid parking kills business” – Do you have a study to cite here, or are you just basing this on your own preferences? I’m genuinely interested, as the lack of parking in the Junction is what keeps me away, and paying a couple bucks to park wouldn’t deter me in the least.

    If it was paid, I would go more often.

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