After an hour-long discussion Grand Marais city council passed a first reading to establish a city calendar parking ordinance.
At the council’s July 31 meeting, council reviewed a draft of a calendar parking ordinance presented several months ago. Three changes were proposed from that draft: Calendar parking will go into effect from November 15 to April 15, a month shorter than first considered and the time was changed from 7 p.m. to midnight to 5 p.m. to midnight to move vehicles to the proper side of the street. A provision was also put in the draft to allow the city to change the calendar if there is a snow event before or after November 15 or April 15 to accommodate snowplows.
After a snowfall snowplowing starts at 4 a.m. in the city.
Council also discussed leniency during the first year of the ordinance, but in the future, vehicles could be towed or ticketed, but just how that will or will not happen is still under discussion.
A second reading of the ordinance will be held at the council’s next meeting and they are hoping members of the public who have suggestions will come to the meeting to share them.
Council also reviewed nine suggestions from the Grand Marais Business Coalition parking committee which has been brainstorming for ideas that will help relieve downtown parking problems.
Jim Boyd, Chamber of Commerce director, appeared before council and said the suggestions for parking could be put in place during the “high season” from June 1 to Nov. 1. . Establish 15-minute parking on select blocks in the downtown area. The committee suggests the spots be visible by painting the curbing green, which is the accepted color for marking short-term parking. . Install middle of the street “state law stop for pedestrians within the crosswalk” signs along Wisconsin from Highway 61 to Broadway and First Street. . The committee supports “calendar parking” and urges the city to review its policies regarding keeping sidewalks clear of snow and ice. They urged council to direct city staff to be aggressive in keeping the city’s sidewalks clear of snow and ice and to also set up a public education effort to help business owners understand their responsibilities. . While recognizing the city can’t guarantee the city property on the site of the old Tomteboda Motel will be available next summer, the committee will proceed with developing plans to operate a satellite parking lot on the Tomteboda property from June 1 through October 31 of 2020 and 2021. . With that, the committee will proceed to develop a circulator shuttle that runs June 1 to Nov. 1 and runs from downtown to the school parking lot (during the summer), and then to the courthouse upper parking lot, the old swimming pool parking lot (in the Rec Park) and the Tomteboda parking before returning downtown. . The committee will approach the park board with a request that the old swimming pool area be posted for general parking. It is expected North House, Dockside and Harbor House will be the major users of the lot, both for employees and guests. . Make bike lanes along Broadway safer by converting the diagonal parking on the west side of Broadway to back-in diagonal parking, as MnDOT personnel suggested. . An effort is under way to move the pick-up point for the Grand Portage shuttle from the city parking lot to the upper parking lot at the courthouse. If that does not work, it will be suggested that perhaps the parking lot at the Gunflint Ranger Station might work. It was stressed with Grand Portage that this is for the summer season only and is part of a larger effort to make as many parking spots available as possible for people patronizing downtown businesses. . Once again the committee will ask city council to consider making the line of parking spots on the west side of the city lot, against the fence along Broadway, be posted as reserved for downtown workers. This would help a great deal in getting downtown workers to stop parking in front of businesses where they work.
Grand Marais Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux said the suggestions weren’t ordinances, but best practices.
More discussion will take place on these suggestions between the parking committee and the council. City administrator Mike Roth said that if some of the parking ordinances weren’t going to be enforced, they should be taken off the books. Jim said his group hoped signing parking areas would do the trick, and enforcement wasn’t part of the parking committee’s goal.
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