Angle parking on DDA agenda

ESCANABA - Extending angle parking east and west beyond the five blocks of angle parking now downtown, are recommendations that will be considered by the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) at its regular meeting Wednesday.

The city switched five blocks of Ludington Street from parallel parking to angle parking in the central retail district (from 9th to 14th streets) last year. The switch was made to increase parking spaces, slow down traffic, and focus attention on the central retail district.

The approved switch to angle parking stipulated that public opinion be sought after the next striping. Line painting took place in August. Since then, a survey has been conducted and public opinion has been gathered on angle parking.

According to the DDA's agenda for Wednesday's meeting, three recommendations which the board will consider will be:

l to extend angle parking west from 14th Street to Stephenson Avenue.

l to extend angle parking east from 9th Street to 2nd Street.

l to consider providing reserved parallel parking spots on all side streets in the central retail district for easier drop-off areas for the handicapped, delivery trucks, and vehicles with trailers.

The above recommendations were put forth by former DDA Director Roger Good, who resigned effective Saturday.

"Although I am recommending that we extend angle parking both ways down Ludington Street, I would suggest we delay making any changes until a firm streetscape design is agreed upon," Good stated in his recommendation to the board.

DDA Chair Brian Moravec said Monday, when contacted by the Daily Press, the board will consider these recommendations but is "comfortable with keeping things the way they are."

He sees the angle parking/parallel parking issue as split 50/50 in the community and no recommendation to extend angle parking will be made at this time.

Moravec added a recommendation will be considered to keep things the same but change a few things in regards to improving signage and increasing law enforcement of traffic rules.

"I don't know why Roger worded it that way for the extension," Moravec said. "There's no recommendation to change angle parking until the development plan is in place."

A PowerPoint presentation on the results of the angle parking survey, will be presented at Wednesday's meeting which begins at 7:30 a.m. at the civic center.

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Jenny Lancour, (906) 786-2021, ext. 143, jlancour@dailypress.net