Old Takoma parking — status & council discussion
The October 20 council meeting includes a worksession (council and staff) discussion of parking in Takoma Park neighborhoods adjacent to commercial areas. Old Takoma is high on the list, given commercial development on/near Carroll Avenue and also the planned Takoma Park Presbyterian Church community commercial kitchen.
(Click here for the meeting agenda, which includes presentation of Takoma Park and Montgomery County Voting Rights Task Force reports — I believe City Councilmember Tim Male, who co-chaired the county task force, will give the latter presentation — and discussion of establishing a Recognition Commission.)
The October 20 Parking Discussion
The parking discussion backgrounder is online. It includes a staff-prepared presentation that describes the city’s residential parking permit zones. Ward 1 has three zones, covering the Old Town-Carroll, PEN, and North Takoma areas. The presentation then provides stats on parking meters and discusses Old Takoma commercial-district parking.
An Update on Steps Taken to Date
I’ll summarize steps the city and community stakeholders have taken to address Old Takoma parking and traffic congestion concerns:
— In July, the council voted to hire a half-time parking-enforcement officer, reinstating a position that had been cut around five years ago. While parking-enforcement staff — formally, they’re “nuisance-abatement officers” — do cover the whole city and occasionally have non-parking duties, we should see enforcement improvements.
Councilmembers and the city administration are aware of concerns about enforcement errors and procedures perceived as harsh or unclear. I expect we will discuss enforcement on Monday evening. In any case, if you live in a permit zone and park your car on the street, please do apply for a permit, and use your guest permit only for guests’ vehicles.
— City staff met over the summer with Andy Shallal of Busboys & Poets, regarding patron parking. (Last I heard, opening could be as soon as December. See an August Gazette article.)
These are City Manager Brian Kenner’s summary notes:
- B&P assumes most of its employees don’t drive to work. Gives transit subsidy to employees to encourage them to take public transportation. Most of employees at other B&P are relatively local (live close to restaurant) and thus public transportation is convenient for them, he expects the same from this location.
- B&P believes some patrons will drive to restaurant but one of the reasons he liked this location was proximity to metro and other public transportation modes.
- City committed to getting him parking resources so he can inform his customers about parking options.
- City informed B&P of 500 commercial parking spaces available and he indicated interest wanting to work with commercial parking lot managers to make parking available.
— Those 500 commercial parking spaces: They were identified by Laura Barclay, executive director of the Old Takoma Business Association (OTBA). Laura contacted local property owners with spaces that could possibly be shared or leased or made publicly available, on a regular or occasional basis. Per the last page of the staff presentation for Monday evening’s council meeting, those spaces are:
- Willow Street, NW, behind CVS – 80 spaces
- Laurel and Aspen Streets, NW – 80 spaces
- SDA Church on Eastern Avenue, NW – 160 spaces
- Takoma Business Center on Carroll Ave – 200 spaces
— The Takoma Park Presbyterian Church has indicated that the church will arrange off-street parking, using Laura’s information, for larger events such as the June funeral that overloaded nearby streets and snarled traffic at certain points.
— City officials, Laura, Lorraine Pearsall from Historic Takoma, and the church have met about parking and traffic congestion near the church, and the church has discussed the matter with the Takoma Park Child Development Center (TPCDC). The city’s Safe Routes to School coordinator, Lucy Neher, is evaluating conditions, focusing on TPCDC drop-off and pick-up and on the school-bus stop in front of the church gym building on Tulip. Lucy did similar work around Takoma Park Elementary School, where parking and congestion issues were a similar concern. Lucy will prepare recommendations, and I expect we’ll be ready to meet again in within a month.
— Regarding the planned church-housed Takoma Park/Silver Spring Community Kitchen (TPSSCK), quoting a TPSSCK Quick Facts sheet, “In the Spring of 2013, the Kitchen Coalition committed that the TPSSCK would not add any additional street parking in the neighborhood; recently the Coalition committed to avoid adding curb cuts or removing trees. Eight parking spots will be rented in the Takoma Business Center (TBC) for kitchen users and the Kitchen Manager. This cost is reflected in the budget and has been approved by the Property Manager of Takoma Business Center. Users will use the parking pad for drop off and pick up but will not park on the street or on the parking pad.”
The Quick Facts sheet also states, “A traffic study will be done prior to construction to monitor all traffic to and from the Church throughout the day. This traffic survey will reveal what times of day operations will have the least impact on traffic conditions and neighbors.”
Possible Outcomes
Monday evening outcomes could include a decision to go beyond steps currently underway. We could decide, for example, to conduct a comprehensive parking and traffic study. Or we may decide that a study isn’t needed (yet) and that we should undertake smaller, immediate steps.
Your suggestions and comments are invited. Please write clerk@takomaparkmd.gov to get a message to the council and staff, or contact me at sethg@takomaparkmd.gov or 301-873-8225.
Finally, the council has commercial-vehicle parking in residential areas tentatively slated for November 3 worksession discussion.
Other Planned Council Discussions
Advance warning about several items of broad interest that are slated to come up at city council meetings in the coming weeks:
— On October 27, Pepco Vice President Jerry Pasternak will present and discuss Pepco tree policies, starting at 7 pm. I would anticipate his staying for public comment, which is scheduled for 7:30 pm.
— November 17 discussion of the city’s state legislative priorities for the 2015 legislative session, which will open in early January. Legislative requests could include a change to beer and wine sales licensing, which is captured in state law, even at a local level. Currently in Takoma Park, only a restaurant with a license for on-premise sales of beer and wine may apply for an off (take-away) sales licenses. This means that businesses such as the TPSS Co-op, which does not operate a restaurant or cafe, may not apply to sell beer and wine. I would like the co-op to be able to sell beer and wine and to allow Republic to sell beer brewed on-site, which the restaurant is exploring.
— Further council worksession discussions of Takoma Junction development proposals and options, on November 3 and November 24.
— A dog park update on November 24.