WL considers changes for parking space requirements
Journal & Courier - Lafayette, Ind.
Date: / May 7, 2010West Lafayette city officials are considering new parking requirements that would treat the Village area and other near-campus neighborhoods more like a downtown.
While parking spaces would be required for each bedroom in a residential development, the plans being discussed would relax the standards for spots needed at business locations spanning from Grant Street to the Levee and Wabash Landing area.
An ordinance committee of Tippecanoe County's Area Plan Commission first discussed the proposal this week.
The current parking requirements in the Village and near campus are "excessive for that area because it's not a vehicle-driven part of the city," said Dave Buck, West Lafayette's city engineer.
"It's unrealistic to have a downtown area that has those square-foot real estate costs and then ask them to devote it to huge surface parking area."
The new proposal, based on a West Lafayette parking study first conducted in 1993 and updated in 2004, would create three separate regions near Purdue University, each with its own set of parking requirements.
In all three regions, residences would need to provide one parking space per bedroom.
But businesses closest to campus would no longer face parking requirements for customers. Farther from campus, businesses would have to provide parking for employees, but not customers.
Those businesses east of Salisbury Street would be required to provide one parking space for every 250 square feet of commercial space -- which is less than the current requirement of one parking space per 100 square feet.
"The main reason to do this is to really bring urban parking standards to an area that is becoming more urbanized," said Ryan O'Gara, assistant director of the Area Plan Commission. "The suburban standards don't fit and are having an impact on the area."
Bill Mullen, who lives in West Lafayette and teaches at Purdue, said there needs to be more parking -- not less -- on campus. He pointed to the traffic jam at noon in a Village area parking lot Thursday as an example of the current parking shortage.
"Parking is really at a premium in this lot and anywhere in the Chelsea (Road) area," Mullen said. "I'm wary of them relaxing those parking standards."
Buck said the majority of traffic along State Street during lunchtime is pedestrian, and getting students' cars parked by residential structures off-site should help alleviate the crunch in the business district.
Megan Mustaine is a Purdue senior who keeps a car on campus, as do most other students she knows. She said she'd also like to see more parking options, but conceded that the garages around Purdue have helped.
The city has been looking into making changes since the parking report was finished in 2004.
"This has been a long, ongoing saga. But this is a work in progress and we plan to refine it," Buck said. "Right now, parking is excessive after business hours, and it will continue to be if there isn't a change."
Buck said that by creating specific parking standards, city officials will have something to reference when making future alterations. Right now, he said, most businesses that come in have to get a parking variance built into a development plan, which takes tremendous time and resources from the engineer's office.
Parking has been a contentious issue over the years for near-campus businesses.
In 2001, business owner Chris Watson started fighting the city of West Lafayette after being denied a building permit to expand his bar, the Boiler Room, which was located at 306 W. State St.
Watson wanted to add indoor landing and outdoor deck space at the bar, but city officials required that he add one off-street parking space at his location -- which he had no land for. Watson later sued over the ruling by the Area Board of Zoning Appeals, but lost his court battle.
More recently, a split decision by the West Lafayette City Council in 2005 paved the way for Chipotle Mexican Grill to build a restaurant at the northwest corner of State and Chauncey streets with only eight parking spots. The plans were approved in spite of concerns raised by some residents and business owners over a lack of parking in the area.
Although Buck didn't work for the city when the Boiler Room project was being discussed, he said Thursday that the plans were probably more controversial a decade ago because "it was one of the first ones to come in."
Chandler Poole, the city's development director, said the parking standard changes being discussed are similar to those being made at other college campuses in the country.
About the proposal
Here's a closer look at the parking regions and changes being considered in West Lafayette.
Region 1: The core Village area close to Purdue would not require parking spaces in business and commercial zones. Residential structures would need to have one parking space per bedroom.
Region 2: The transitional areas that surround the village and run along Northwestern Avenue would require one parking space per employee (on the largest shift) for businesses. Residential structures would need to have one parking space per bedroom.
Region 3: The area stretching down to the Levee and Wabash Landing would require one parking space per 250 square feet for businesses, down from the current requirement of one space per 100 square feet. Residential structures would need to have one parking space per bedroom.
For more: To view a map of the area under discussion and more explanation about the changes being considered, go to jconline.com and click on the link to this story.
What's next?
Planning officials will continue finalizing the proposal and bring it before the public sometime this summer to seek feedback and consider changes.
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Abstract (Document Summary)
While parking spaces would be required for each bedroom in a residential development, the plans being discussed would relax the standards for spots needed at business locations spanning from Grant Street to the Levee and Wabash Landing area. In 2001, business owner Chris Watson started fighting the city of West Lafayette after being denied a building permit to expand his bar, the Boiler Room, which was located at 306 W. State St. Watson wanted to add indoor landing and outdoor deck space at the bar, but city officials required that he add one off-street parking space at his location -- which he had no land for.