If you’re concerned about the prospect of pay-station parking in The Junction, you missed a chance tonight to talk with the people running the review that will determine whether it happens or not. Junction Neighborhood Organization president Erica Karlovits got the reps from SDOT’s Community Parking Program — which recently decreed pay stations for Fremont, despite community opposition — to come to tonight’s JuNO meeting, and that constituted part of the review’s “kickoff.” Read on for more on what else is next, and when:
It’s been almost a year since we went to SDOT headquarters downtown for a briefing announcing the plan to review Junction-area parking; here’s what we wrote last February — when the city expected the review to start as soon as midsummer. Now, it’s running about a half-year later than that, and as a result, SDOT’s Mary Catherine Snyder said there’s a possibility the West Seattle neighborhoods slated for future years may be delayed too – a decision on that won’t come till later this year.
So back to The Junction. One of the next steps following tonight’s JuNO meeting is a postcard mailing that’ll land in your mailbox if you’re within the current version of the study area, Dakota to Brandon, 47th to 39th, plus the Triangle area.
Then – program managers will be looking for people interested in taking “walking tours” of the area, to look at and discuss unique characters of the local parking situation, particularly if there are, as Taylor put it, “areas that might need a focus on specific parking management tools.” They’ll also be looking for people willing to be part of a committee that’ll meet monthly during the review.
As you might imagine, given the wide-ranging borders of the study area, the review isn’t just about commercial-area parking; neighborhoods will be examined too, including an evaluation of whether RPZs (residential parking zones) are needed anywhere, to potentially crack down on non-residents’ “park and hide” practices, driving to The Junction to catch buses downtown, and leaving their cars on neighborhood streets all day. (Seattle already has 27 RPZ’s, it was noted tonight; in West Seattle, there are restrictions on many streets near the Fauntleroy ferry dock.)
If RPZs do go into effect as part of this, obtaining a permit will be easier than it is now — SDOT says they’ll be selling RPZ permits online as of sometime next year; right now it’s all done by mail, telephone, even in-person at city offices downtown.
Here’s the official city webpage for the project; it includes the e-mail address you can use to send questions or concerns — JunctionParking@seattle.gov — or to express interest in the upcoming walking tours and committee formation.
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