Parking study to begin soon

Storm and sanitary sewer separation work could affect festivals next year.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A Michigan firm will begin an eight-week study this month of parking in the city's downtown.
The study, to be performed by Walker Parking Consultants of Ann Arbor, Mich., is being paid for by the Warren Redevelopment and Planning Corp., said Anthony Iannucci Jr., WRAP director. The analysis will cost just under $25,000 and is being done as part of the development of a master plan for downtown's revitalization.
WRAP is an economic development consultant to the city.
"We're saying to them, 'We want you to take a look and prepare a parking scheme that will be appropriate for our developed downtown," Iannucci explained. "We're suggesting that we're going to have more use of the downtown. We've got the amphitheater now."
The study will cover on-street parking, off-street surface parking in private and city-owned lots and parking in the city-owned, 400-space parking deck on Franklin Street, Iannucci said.
Some downtown merchants have called for parallel parking to be replaced by diagonal parking on some streets because they believe that it would be more convenient and that it would create more parking spaces.
Others believe diagonal parking would make downtown more pedestrian-friendly because it might cause traffic to slow down by narrowing streets to just one traveling lane in each direction, he added.
Concerns
Iannucci, however, noted that all of the streets around Courthouse Square have different widths, and the analysis needs to determine what remaining lane widths will be after diagonal parking would take effect.
Some recent studies show that diagonal parking can be hazardous if adjacent large parked vehicles, such as sport utility vehicles, block the view of motorists backing out of diagonal parking spaces. "You have to have the appropriate kind of buffer zone so that people can back out and still have a view of the traffic lane," to see if any traffic is approaching, he said.
"You're not backing out in a parking lot, for example, at the mall, where people may be driving 5 mph. You're backing out into a traffic lane, where, who knows? In our downtown, they might be going 35 or 40 mph. You better make sure there's no car coming," he noted.
Aspects of the study would include what angle is best for any diagonal spaces to be created and how much of a buffer zone should be established between the parking spaces and the traffic lane, he said.
Sewer project
On another matter, Iannucci said, depending on the project schedule, storm and sanitary sewer separation work along West Market Street could require adjustments in festivals held annually at Courthouse Square. The major festivals use Market Street along Courthouse Square for their concession booths.
The events could be moved in full or in part to the amphitheater and promenade in Perkins Park, where utility hookups are available, he said. The two major annual downtown festivals are the African-American Festival in June and the Italian-American Festival in August.
Council appropriated $4.4 million last month for the sewer project, for which the city has been approved for an Ohio Water Development Authority loan.