Short North parking might get squeezed further
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Think parking's a pain when you visit the Short North? Try living there.
Despite that, the leader of one residents group is suggesting something he acknowledges is unlikely to go over well with his neighbors.
Italian Village Society President Larry Totzke said people who live there and in nearby Victorian Village should consider easing parking restrictions on nonresidents, at least temporarily.
Plans by the Pizzuti Cos. to build a hotel and office building in the heart of the Short North would add 500 parking spaces in a new garage. But 125 spaces in two surface lots would be lost during construction. Totzke is asking Italian Village and Victorian Village leaders to help out businesses during the interim.
Seven of the 32 zones where 6,000 residents have parking permits are in that area between 5th Avenue and I-670.
Most of Italian Village bans parking by nonresidents 24 hours a day.
"We don't want to mess up their opportunity for visitors coming into the Short North," Totzke said of the bars, restaurants and art galleries that line High Street north of Downtown.
"I hope that the various civic and business associations representing their constituents will be willing to discuss that possibility (of easing parking restrictions), but I want all of the issues to be on the table for discussion."
That, Totzke said, would include residents' concerns that conversion of a former Wonder bakery into art studios and retail space will send more visitors into Italian Village.
City officials said that if invited, they will work with the neighborhoods to review parking rules.
Diesha Condon, director of the Short North Business Association, said Totzke's offer is welcomed, even though she insists parking is plentiful.
"It's a win-win," she said of any agreement. "It helps developers not upset their neighbors. It helps the residents make sure they have parking during their hours (at night)."
Totzke said he knows it won't be an easy sell for residents.
The city's Transportation and Pedestrian Commission endorsed a request only last week to add another block of resident-only parking on Kerr Street in Italian Village.
"We've become the de facto spillover lot," said Craig Deep, who lives on a 250-foot stretch of that street that is not restricted.
Public Service Director Mark Kelsey will make the final decision on the request.
German Village, Victorian Village and Italian Village, most of which were developed without driveways and garages in the pre-automobile era, have the most restricted parking in the city.
"There just isn't enough parking in some of these neighborhoods," said Randy Bowman, an administrator with the city's mobility options division.
Bowman's division received 18 requests during the past four years to add or extend residential-parking zones in Columbus.
Within the zones, residents pay $25 for a permit that gives them full-time parking privileges. Nonresidents are banned completely, banned at night or on weekends, or limited to two hours.
Public Service spokesman Rick Tilton said 17 requests have been approved. The other was withdrawn.
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