From an aerial view, parking spaces in Mercer Island’s Town Center seem to be plentiful. But on the ground, there is a “perceived lack of parking.”
Residents say there are not enough spots on the street, at the Islander or at the Park and Ride, and that there will be no parking for the planned Mercer Island Center for the Arts (MICA).
The city has recognized the need for parking, especially for commuters and Town Center shoppers. Walk-off spaces were built in developments like Island Square and the Mercer. But some Islanders find garage parking inconvenient and difficult.
The city calls it a “perceived” lack of parking: it’s there, just not visible.
In 2014, the City Council saw an opportunity to address some, if not all, of the Island’s parking issues: the Hines property.
Through development agreements, the City Council had granted variances for 140 parking spots in new mixed-use buildings. It was then asked to contribute $10-12 million to build 200 commuter spaces in the Hines project.
According to records and emails obtained from a public disclosure request, the city started parking negotiations with Hines in December. Around that time, a proposal to build a commuter lot by the Community Center on “Kite Hill” met widespread public opposition.
The city paid consultant Ben Pariser $10,000 for a commuter parking study, which was presented at the Council planning session on Jan. 29. Hines was included as one of the potential sites, and the $6.3 million “Kite Hill” option was also included as a benchmark.Pariser, also on the Board of Directors for MICA, said that either Hines or the Freshy’s site would be the best option.
Unsure if promises for parking and another amenities, like an upscale grocer, would be fulfilled, the city put the Hines project into its moratorium on new downtown development.
Hines appeared to lose interest in the Town Center property, leaving the city with more questions than answers about parking.
Different ways to stripe the roads to re-allocate street parking have been discussed in the Town Center Stakeholder and Liaison groups. Their work was on hiatus this summer, but those topics should resurface as meetings resume.
One of the ideas, according to the interim report released Aug. 31, is to mandate five-story buildings to include a walk-off requirement for non-residential parking spaces, additional public parking and underground parking.
Go to www.mercergov.org to read the Town Center interim report.
Town Center ‘walk-off’ parking
The Planning Commission will discuss a parking code amendment at its meeting at 7 p.m. Sept. 2. It would exempt smaller developments (two stories or less and no greater than 10 percent of the total square footage of all existing structures on the parcel) from walk-off parking requirements.
