SPOKANE, Wash. – The City of Spokane has 3,600 street meter parking stalls. Now, city officials are looking into ways to create more turnover for those spots and is conducting a study to find the best way to go about it.
The study will look at various issues including parking prices, growth trends, employee parking options, parking rules and technology.
“This parking study is going to be forward thinking,” Heather Troutman, the director of neighborhood services and code enforcement said. “It’s going to be looking at growth trends and advising us on the latest and greatest in technology.”
Troutman said a survey will be posted online on April 30 and is open until May 25. Residents’ feedback is expected to give the city a better idea of who is using parking downtown and what changes will best serve them.
“Are they employees, employers? Are they students coming into our community? Visitors?” asked Troutman. “[The study] will help us understand more about what we may need to do in providing a better parking environment.”
In addition to the survey, the City of Spokane plans to host a series of events the week of May 21 to collect more information from people who park downtown frequently.
Troutman added the University District is one of the fastest growing areas of Spokane, which is why they are also studying parking available there as they plan for the future of the district.
“How do we provide parking that is going to provide local development occurring and keeping that university feel and population that’s already there?” Troutman explained.
It has been seven years since the City of Spokane conducted its last downtown parking study. Officials said they felt now was a good time to do another, since times and technology have changed a lot since then.
Final plans and recommendations are expected to be presented by February 2019.