Pacific aldermen say there will be no assigned parking spaces on St. Louis Street. They say any motorist hoping to park in front of a residence or business and finding all the spaces filled will just have to drive on and look for the next empty space.
They say it is the only reasonable and fair thing to do.
At their Tuesday September 7 board meeting, Pacific aldermen declined to act on requests for parking spaces assigned to residents on St. Louis Street.
The discussion about assigned parking spaces in front of a specific building was triggered by a request for a use permit to open the Royal Theater building, 301 West St. Louis as a public events venue. Residents nearby wanted no parking for venue patrons on North Third Street. And residents of a home on St. Louis Street, near the theater, wanted two parking spaces in front of her home assigned to her building. She wanted no business patrons to park there.
The city operations committee, which is chaired by Aldermen Jerry Eversmeyer, was asked to visit businesses and property owners on St. Louis Street and evaluate parking needs and rules for the street, which encompases the city’s oldest business district.
Most of the two and three-story buildings between Columbus and Third Street were built before automobiles. Most of the surviving structures have first floor storefronts that were built to be occupied with family businesses, with residential quarters on upper floors. A handful of residential structures also face St. Louis Street.
Speaking September 7, Eversmeyar said any attempt to reserve certain parking spaces for certain residents would be a return to a contentious time a decade ago when business owners battled each other over whose customers could park in front of their buildings.
“This request for special parking spaces goes back quite a way,” Eversmeyer said. “Ten years ago in a three-block area on St. Loius Street there were four or five special parking regulations. Just about every business had a different regulation in front of their establishment”
The city eventually wiped the parking regulations clean and declared open parking on St. Louis Street.
“At the time it caused a better fight for some,” Eversmeyer said. “There was one business owner and one alderman who had been lifelong friends and to this day, don’t speak to one another. It was just crazy. I don’t want to go back to that.”
Alderman Andy Nemeth said the combination of businesses and residences vying for parking spaces poses a dilemma for everybody, including city offials.
“It’s hard for homeowner downtown, who have no garage,” nemeth said. “It’s also difficult fur businesses who want to operate good businesses. But if we (aldermen) try to assign parking we’ll start going down a contentious passage.”
Mayor Herb Adams said if no one made a motion for any change in parking regulations that open parking rule would stay in effect.
Alderman Gregg Rahn said open parking on St. Louis Street should remain in effect.
“We had a similar conversatioin with Trudy Nickelson’s venue (Designs of Ambience, 415 West St. Louis Street). It’s a public street and there should be public parking,” Rahn said. “In the city of St. Louis if people come home from work they have to go find a place to park. And I don’t think we’re really at full capacity parking on St. Louis Street ever.”
Adams said the open parking will stay in effect.
“I don’t see how you could designate parking in a public parking area,” Adams said. “You can restrict parking. You can say there is two-hour parking, or parking between certain hours, but I don’t you can legally say certain people can’t park there. St. Louis Steet is public parking. It’s first come, first serve.”
I have nothing against Brown Jerry’s, how many parking spaces were taken for the patio?
But it is ok for a restaurant to expand their operation out into the street taking away many parking spaces…
Get a life people. Common sense is to get the next spot. I lived in the city of Chicago, IL for years and you was glad your parking spot was within 6 blocks of your home or business. Stop complaining. Move out of town or in a subdivision if you want parking at you front door. This is just a small inconvenience. If Pacific’s old section of town was in better shape I would have moved there with my business years ago. No change as of yet. Do I see. Come on Pacific can do better.
as far as the residents west of the Royal property, the city should clean up and pave the alley that runs between 4th and 5th street, then those residents could make their own driveways and parking like most other people do. what’s with the no parking on third street ? doesn’t make any sense, but what in the present city government does?
I never have any problem parking downtown in Pacific. Sometimes I have to walk a bit but that is normal in small towns.
But I continually shake my head when I see what was allowed to be built right in the middle of the street for Brown Jerry’s. I also cannot believe the rest of his business that is out on the public street around the corner. The smoker, the oil catcher and more. I drive through there a lot and have never seen anything like it anywhere else. He uses up a LOT of parking spaces on both streets. And it obviously was allowed by the town council. Just makes me shake my head.
I’d like to set the record straight, third street residents did not complain about parking. I’m not sure who said that we did but it’s not true. The city worked on the street all summer and we found alternate parking so it is not an issue for us
The conditional Use Permit (CUP) for the Royal Theater public venue that aldermen approved August 17 included a clause that says, “No customer parking shall be allowed on Third Street or Union, north of the building at 301 West St. Louis Street.”
City Administrator Steve Roth said he wrote the CUP using the same conditions that the planning and zoning commission recommended to the board of aldermen for the Dew Bolt Inn application in December, 2018. As you recall, in public hearings for that applications, Third Street residents protested loudly.
If Third Street residents have made alternative parking arrangements, maybe they could make officials aware of that and the no parking restriction on Third and Union streets could be revoked.
typical government work, take the easy way out and copy someone’s else’s work. evidently reviewing the needs of the residents is not in the City’s Master Plan as evidenced by several recent decisions. as for as Brown-Jerry’s goes , sales tax dollars speak volumes , but have a business plan that only brings people to town occasionally not so much.
planning and zoning are clueless as to the needs and wants of local shops and their customers.