The Kirkland City Council has backed out of a plan to charge all-day for parking at two city-owned lots, directing the Parking Advisory Board to evaluate current evening fees and explore ways to limit downtown business employees from parking in the lots.
The council at its meeting Tuesday voted unanimously to continue pay parking from 5-9 p.m. in the two lots at $1 per hour.
An advisory board proposal for all-day fees at the downtown lots -- one at and the other at Lake Street and Central Way -- met a hostile reception from the public at at March 20 council meeting.
The all-day plan had been designed to help relieve the tight parking situation downtown, which has been an issue for decades and gets especially bad on weekends and in summer. It was also designed to raise money to acquire more parking space and to maintain and improve the public parking garage underneath the. The plan would have expanded the fee period to 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. One of the major issues is that employees of downtown stores use the free daytime parking, leaving too few spaces available for the public, even though space is reserved for the employees in the library garage.
To review a PDF file (6mg) of a detailed city staff memo on the various options presented to the council, click here. You can also watch the council session by going to www.kirklandwa.gov, and searching “Watch Council Meetings,” then selecting the April 17 meeting video.
