Politics & Government

Board Ponders Options for Additional Downtown Wentzville Parking

Additional parking could be created along the railroad, or by purchasing property for parking lots.

During last week's Wentzville Board of Aldermen work session, the board discussed parking issues in the downtown Village Center area, with input from several downtown business owners.

Community Development Director Doug Forbeck presented an analysis of parking space in the downtown area with a map of both existing and potential parking. He said that the city has a long-standing lease with the Norfolk Railroad for the parking adjacent to the tracks in the downtown area.

Forbeck explained that the requirements for businesses to provide parking are different in the VC-1 Village Center zoning district, with businesses allowed to share existing parking.

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Currently, 329 on-street spaces and 193 off-street spaces are available for parking in the downtown area.

One option that can be considered, Forbeck said, is expanding the on-street parking next to the railroad tracks.

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Ward 1 Alderman Cheryl Kross brought up safety concerns with the parking situation on Linn Avenue.  She mentioned that some residents residents feel that they have to straddle the sidewalk when they park on the street. They don’t want to block foot traffic, but they are concerned about school buses, trash trucks and emergency vehicles being able to maneuver the street with cars parked on both sides.

"Do we want to look at changing some of the streets to one way?" Kross asked.

City Administrator Mike McDowell said that one-way streets are always a controversy and very difficult to manage.

"The logistics of managing one-way streets when there’s only one railroad crossing is very difficult," McDowell said. "And you’re not going to get another (crossing)."

Ward 2 Alderman Chris Gard said the city was going to have to be flexible with its downtown development plan. "The right restaurant . . . could dramatically alter Friday and Saturday night traffic," he said. 

Ray Warren, the owner of Olde Towne Pub, spoke about his parking issues, saying that some neighboring businesses had put up no parking signs. He said that he had considered buying an adjacent property in order to tear it down and make a parking lot.

Budget Towing's Rodney Sherman said that he hated to see buildings bulldozed for a parking lot, but that sometimes that has to be done.

Ward 3 Alderman Rick Stokes asked the board and the audience what they thought was an acceptable distance between a business and available parking. "Two blocks?" he asked.

Brian Nolan, a prospective Wentzvile business owner said, "Some won’t walk two steps."

"It’s not walking there, it’s walking back," Sherman said.

Forbeck said that the greatest opportunity at the moment is the railroad track corridor, but that if city funds were not available, staff would be wasting time to pursue it.

Stokes suggested that the city budget for the additional parking, but he asked for the full board to be present. Although a quorum was present, Aldermen Forrest Gossett and Sonya Shryock were not at the meeting.

"Let's get the full board out and we'll figure out a dollar amount," he said, adding that funding for additional parking should be a budget item for 2014.


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