While parking is the most often cited concern about Main Street, the parking study indicated that there are ample parking spaces.
While the parking spaces vary in terms of their immediate access to Main Street, the data points to an underlying problem, which could be poor parking space delineation and signage.
The Parking Study identified a total of 375 parking spaces in the Main Street Area. These can be broken into 3 groups: Immediate, Walkable and Event Overflow.
There are 158 parking spots designated as Immediate.
The Immediate Parking Spots are composed of 97 street spaces and 71 spaces that are in lots.
Because all 3 parking lots are located at the south end, businesses located in the north end will need to rely more heavily on spots designated as Walkable Parking Spots.
There are 157 parking spots that have been designated as Walkable.
The Walkable Parking Spaces include 127 spots at the Old Arena and on Western Avenue, as well as 12 spots on Doctor Kay Drive.
Because these spots are located at the north end of Main Street, they offset the lack of immediate parking lots in that area.
There are 60 spots that have been designated as Event Overflow.
The Event Overflow Spots are located further to the west off Western Avenue and do not factor into day-to-day parking utilzation.
The Parking Study indicated an average of 90 cars parked at any given time.
90 cars represents a utilization of 57% of the immediate spaces that are available.
90 cars represents a utilization of 29% of the immediate + walkable spaces that are available,
There are problems with how the current parking spaces are managed.
There is an opportunity to improve signage so that drivers can find the parking lots.
There is a opportunity to increase utilization through painting lines in parking lots.
There is an opportunity to paint lines on the street to designate parking spaces more clearly.