BY PHIL CUSTODIO
Clarkston News Editor
City Council’s 4-3 rejection of paid parking off Depot Road last week derailed pursuit of a long-term agreement with owners of three private parking lots across the street from Depot Park.
“If we can’t move forward, we’re going to have to start all over, folks,” said Mayor Eric Haven, who voted for it at the July 8 meeting. “A lot of people think it’s a pretty good deal – it would make a ton of revenue, a win win.”
“Why have all these committee hearings if these four people are just going to say we’re not going to do this,” asked Ed Adler, an owner of the three parking lots, after the meeting. “If they were surgeons 100 years ago, they would be part of the group not washing their hands.”
Council member David Marsh, who voted “no,” said paid parking goes against the city’s village character.
“I live here. I pay taxes here. I’m never paying for parking,” said Marsh, also referring to the paid city parking lot at Main and Washington. “I probably wouldn’t have moved into the village with paid parking.”
Council members Al Avery, Sharron Catallo, and Jason Kneisc also voted against the proposal to convert the city lot next to Depot Park to paid parking. Haven and council members Scott Reynolds, and Sue Wylie voted “yes.”
City Manager Jonathan Smith said revenue from a pay-to-park Depot Road lot could total $415,000 over five years, which is needed for road and infrastructure work.
City Council rejected all but two recommendations of the Parking Management Committee.
They turned down three proposals for the east side of the city, as well as a proposal to eliminate the city’s never-enforced parking deferment ordinance.
A proposal for resident-only parking on E. Washington Street east of Buffalo Street was defeated 6-1. Wylie voted “yes.”
The proposal was made for safety, said Reynolds, a member of the parking committee and E. Washington Street resident. The street deadends east of Buffalo, and drivers looking for a parking spot sometimes have trouble turning around, he said.
Eliminating parking from Buffalo between Church and Waldon was defeated 4-3. Haven, Catallo, Kneisc, and Marsh voted against it. Avery, Reynolds, and Wylie voted “yes.”
“Having the parking there, it has slowed that traffic – to me it’s much safer having it this way,” said Catallo, a Church Street resident.
Reynolds said the road does not meet minimum width requirements when cars park on it. Wylie asked city attorney Tom Ryan if the city could face a lawsuit if an accident occurs there due to the lack of width.
“Possibly,” Ryan said.
Marsh said he spoke to Buffalo residents and they were split evenly on the proposal.
Reynolds said the committee spoke to residents and wanted to pull the recommendation to add parking on the south side of Church between Buffalo and the bridge.
City Council voted 6-1 to pull the measure, to the applause of some of the residents in attendance. Catallo voted “no.”
“I think the influx of parking has really affected the quality of life for homeowners there,” Wylie said.
Catallo said neighborhood parking can be inconvenient but it’s “not horrible.”
“I live downtown. That’s where I wanted to be. What comes with it is a certain amount of parking,” she said.
The proposed long-term agreement with the Mills Mall would have provided paid parking in the municipal lot to match the private lots’ pay-to-park policy. In return, Mills owners would provide free parking during city free-parking events, maintain the same pay-to-park hours as the city, align its pay-to-park mobile app and payment system with the city’s, plow and maintain the lots, and grant the city first right of refusal should the lots come up for sale.
Bob Roth, also an owner of the private parking lots who attended the meeting, said they supported pursuit of the agreement in principle.
“If you’re not going to charge for parking then don’t charge for parking. If you’re going to charge for parking, let’s get that out of the way and then we can determine whether or not there’s somewhere we can go forward,” Roth said.
City Council voted unanimously to add a handicap parking space on Washington Street near Main Street and install two way-finding signs to direct drivers to the Depot Road parking lots. The committee also recommended negotiating with the property owner of 5 S. Main Street, home of The Clarkston News, to add a handicap parking space in its private parking lot. A discussion with the building owner put that idea off the table, Smith said.
“It would have been a bonus, (but) we can’t force it,” Reynolds said.
City Council discussed but voted not to recuse Catallo, Haven, and Reynolds, who all own property in the east part of the city, from voting on parking changes in those areas.
“We live in a really small community so you’re going to have things crossing over,” said Catallo, who along with Haven and Reynolds did not volunteer to recuse themselves from the parking votes.
Catallo was also considered for recusal from the paid-parking proposal due to her son Curt Catallo, who owns three downtown restaurants. That vote was defeated 5-1. Sharron Catallo did not participate in this vote.
“Let’s be honest – the parking situation was not created because of the optical business (in a building owned by Haven) or Scott’s family living on Washington,” said Wylie, who voted in favor of recusing Catallo from the paid-parking vote. “It was created by a booming restaurant business bringing people in and parking all over town. That’s the business most affected by paid parking.”