Project called the ‘next step’ for downtown; parking questions
raised
Morgan Hill – The number of parking spaces on Third Street could be cut in half, leaving customers who want access to some downtown businesses without a place to leave their cars now that the Morgan Hill City Council has approved conceptual designs for a pedestrian promenade and authorized staff to submit an application for capital funding.
About 30 parking spaces would be lost if sidewalks on Third Street are widened, making diagonal street-side parking impossible. The remaining 30 spots would be for parallel parking only.
But a parking crunch would be years off. If the federally funded grant to make-over Third Street is approved after it’s submitted this week, funds would not become available until the 2008-09 fiscal year. In any case, the city says future parking studies will lead to solutions down the road.
In addition to wide sidewalks, the Third Street Promenade would be colorfully paved, featuring decorative street furniture, pedestrian street lights and new landscaping.
While appreciating the beautification efforts, Michael Castelan, owner of Poppy’s Fish, Poultry & More, said the city is “putting the cart before the horse” by not allocating more parking in building amenities to draw folks downtown.
“I think the project is a wonderful concept, as long as the city addresses its (future) parking problems,” he said.
Third Street currently functions as an arena for overflow parking downtown. The street is typically filled with parked autos during the day, even when his business is empty during off hours.
Down the street, at the United Academy of Martial Arts, owner Mike Clampitt fears the promenade project could force him to relocate his business after 14 years at the corner of Depot and Third streets. Clampitt said the parents of his 350 students – many of whom are under the age of 12 – often leave their cars parked outside while their children participate in martial arts workshops. Without the parking, he said, many could be lured away to one of five other martial arts studios in the Morgan Hill area. The bottom line, he said, is businesses need guaranteed parking to survive.
“Safeway doesn’t build a store first and then decide to build a parking lot,” Clampitt said.
Morgan Hill city officials have recognized the need to pursue solutions to future parking issues, said Garret Toy, director of Business Assistance and Housing Services. Redevelopment Agency dollars could be spent on parking studies in the next couple of years, he said, but definite strategies on adding parking are not yet mapped out.
The Morgan Hill Downtown Association backs the Third Street Promenade, but its president, Gary Walton, urged city council members on June 7 to make parking solutions a priority as the project develops.
The genesis of the Third Street project lies in a push by city officials and community leaders to beautify downtown and make it a more vital shopping district. Just 2 percent of the city’s sales tax revenue is currently generated downtown.
The Third Street Promenade is one of many urban improvement projects identified in the Morgan Hill Downtown Plan, a 2003 report on economic revitalization. Other projects have included building a new Caltrain station at Third and Depot streets and the ongoing effort to refashion Depot Street in the mode of a pedestrian-friendly corridor between Main and Fifth streets.
The Morgan Hill Redevelopment Agency considers Third Street a blighted area. Cracked sidewalks and weeds line the street. Development of a large empty lot at Third and Depot streets is still in the planning stages.
“Right now, if you look at Third Street, it’s not a very inviting place,” said Joyce Maskell, manager of the Morgan Hill Business Assistance and Housing Department. “It doesn’t look like a place you’d want to hang out.”
Maskell said the Third Street Promenade is the “next step” in the city’s downtown revitalization plan.
The city’s grant application is due June 23. The $1.9 million would come from the federally funded Transportation for Livable Communities program, administered in the Bay Area by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. The city will know by October if funding has been approved.
Tony Burchyns covers Morgan Hill for The Times. Reach him at (408) 779-4106 ext. 201 or tb*******@*************es.com.
