New Downtown Warsaw Business Encounters Parking Issues
April 13, 2017 at 9:43 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Based on the business’s concerns, the Warsaw Traffic Safety Commission Wednesday approved a favorable recommendation to city council to change the two-hour parking to unlimited parking on the north side of West Market Street between South Lake Street and the north/south alley west of 120 S. Lake St.; and along the west side of South Lake Street between West Market Street and the east/west alley north of 120 S. Lake St.
Parking on the east side of South Lake Street between West Market Street and the east/west alley would change from unlimited to two-hour parking.
The ordinance seeking those changes will go before city council at 7 p.m. May 1.
Traffic Commission Administrator Capt. Kip Shuter said Forte Residential Inc. – the business that moved into the former 1st Source Bank building at 120 S. Lake St. from Syracuse – contacted him two months ago inquiring about the angled parking along West Market and west side of South Lake Street that currently is two-hour parking.
Forte Residential, which is in its 25th year, moved into the South Lake Street office on March 22. The company’s first 25 years was spent in a small building in Syracuse that it had outgrown, said Lisa Glon, Forte human resource manager.
The company is a home health care business that serves disabled people, she said.
“Our company will have about 20 employees daily when we’re at full capacity. We’re still doing some remodeling so all the office space isn’t complete, but when they are in about a month or so, we’ll be up to 20,” said Glon. “We rent the upstairs space to a separate company, and they have about 15 cars daily, so that’s 35. And then, at least four times a month, we have training sessions, staff meetings and so on, so we have even more cars on those days. We also have a lot of outside auditors that come in and look at what we’re doing, so there are a lot of times in the month when we need more than 35 basic cars.”
She said the spaces behind the building on the north and west sides provide Forte with about 18 parking spaces. “So the on-street parking, right now that’s two hours, if we could have that all day, that would be super helpful,” she said. Before going to the Traffic Commission meeting Wednesday, she said there was one car parked on the south side of the business and four on the west side.
“We don’t see those spaces being full during the day, and the four cars that were parked on the west, I believe, were all driven by contractors working on the remodeling in the basement. So, we feel like it wouldn’t be a burden or imposition to the nearby businesses if we could use those spaces for our employees and outside guests,” Glon said.
City Planner Jeremy Skinner asked her, “You realize that if they’re unlimited that they’d be available to anybody?” She replied they understood that.
In the future, Glon said Forte anticipates needing more parking spaces as its number of clients over the last three years has increased from 250 to over 500.
“So we’re growing rapidly, and the reason we bought the building is that the upstairs is currently rented, but that lease holder wants to move out, they’re growing too, and that gives us a place to grow. We see parking as an ongoing issue for us,” Glon said.
Mayor Joe Thallemer said the city tries to balance the needs of its downtown businesses and residents with two-hour spaces and unlimited parking spaces, but situations like Forte’s arise.
Glon said Forte wants to be good neighbors and doesn’t want to take away parking spaces from its neighbors. She clarified that the only parking spaces Forte was interested in changing are the ones directly beside its building.
Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins said it was kind of amazing how much space the city has freed up for unlimited parking.
Having done numerous traffic studies over the last several years, Skinner said, “I can guarantee you that at any time downtown, there’s a good 75 to 80 spaces open. Now, the issue is, and I’ve talked about this, is that either a.) people’s inability to want to walk or b.) if you have a parallel parking space in between two cars, a lot of people will see that as a filled space because they’re not going to try to park between two cars.”
Shuter asked Glon if Forte will progress to the point where it will have foot traffic. She said it could down the road as it’s exploring adding a service that would cause its clients to come to the building for services.
Dobbins made the motion to make the south 200 block of West Market Street and the section on the west side of Lake Street to the alley unlimited parking, and making the east side of Lake Street two-hour parking. The recommendation to the city council was unanimously approved.
Based on the business’s concerns, the Warsaw Traffic Safety Commission Wednesday approved a favorable recommendation to city council to change the two-hour parking to unlimited parking on the north side of West Market Street between South Lake Street and the north/south alley west of 120 S. Lake St.; and along the west side of South Lake Street between West Market Street and the east/west alley north of 120 S. Lake St.
Parking on the east side of South Lake Street between West Market Street and the east/west alley would change from unlimited to two-hour parking.
The ordinance seeking those changes will go before city council at 7 p.m. May 1.
Traffic Commission Administrator Capt. Kip Shuter said Forte Residential Inc. – the business that moved into the former 1st Source Bank building at 120 S. Lake St. from Syracuse – contacted him two months ago inquiring about the angled parking along West Market and west side of South Lake Street that currently is two-hour parking.
Forte Residential, which is in its 25th year, moved into the South Lake Street office on March 22. The company’s first 25 years was spent in a small building in Syracuse that it had outgrown, said Lisa Glon, Forte human resource manager.
The company is a home health care business that serves disabled people, she said.
“Our company will have about 20 employees daily when we’re at full capacity. We’re still doing some remodeling so all the office space isn’t complete, but when they are in about a month or so, we’ll be up to 20,” said Glon. “We rent the upstairs space to a separate company, and they have about 15 cars daily, so that’s 35. And then, at least four times a month, we have training sessions, staff meetings and so on, so we have even more cars on those days. We also have a lot of outside auditors that come in and look at what we’re doing, so there are a lot of times in the month when we need more than 35 basic cars.”
She said the spaces behind the building on the north and west sides provide Forte with about 18 parking spaces. “So the on-street parking, right now that’s two hours, if we could have that all day, that would be super helpful,” she said. Before going to the Traffic Commission meeting Wednesday, she said there was one car parked on the south side of the business and four on the west side.
“We don’t see those spaces being full during the day, and the four cars that were parked on the west, I believe, were all driven by contractors working on the remodeling in the basement. So, we feel like it wouldn’t be a burden or imposition to the nearby businesses if we could use those spaces for our employees and outside guests,” Glon said.
City Planner Jeremy Skinner asked her, “You realize that if they’re unlimited that they’d be available to anybody?” She replied they understood that.
In the future, Glon said Forte anticipates needing more parking spaces as its number of clients over the last three years has increased from 250 to over 500.
“So we’re growing rapidly, and the reason we bought the building is that the upstairs is currently rented, but that lease holder wants to move out, they’re growing too, and that gives us a place to grow. We see parking as an ongoing issue for us,” Glon said.
Mayor Joe Thallemer said the city tries to balance the needs of its downtown businesses and residents with two-hour spaces and unlimited parking spaces, but situations like Forte’s arise.
Glon said Forte wants to be good neighbors and doesn’t want to take away parking spaces from its neighbors. She clarified that the only parking spaces Forte was interested in changing are the ones directly beside its building.
Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins said it was kind of amazing how much space the city has freed up for unlimited parking.
Having done numerous traffic studies over the last several years, Skinner said, “I can guarantee you that at any time downtown, there’s a good 75 to 80 spaces open. Now, the issue is, and I’ve talked about this, is that either a.) people’s inability to want to walk or b.) if you have a parallel parking space in between two cars, a lot of people will see that as a filled space because they’re not going to try to park between two cars.”
Shuter asked Glon if Forte will progress to the point where it will have foot traffic. She said it could down the road as it’s exploring adding a service that would cause its clients to come to the building for services.
Dobbins made the motion to make the south 200 block of West Market Street and the section on the west side of Lake Street to the alley unlimited parking, and making the east side of Lake Street two-hour parking. The recommendation to the city council was unanimously approved.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092