In an ever-evolving downtown, Port Huron parking requests are a multi-faceted task

When Steve Fernandez and Michele Jones closed their Fort Gratiot grocery store this spring and consolidated with Country Style Market in downtown Port Huron, a frequent question in response was about customer parking.

It had already been present of mind — parking a long-returned to subject for Port Huron’s central business district — as Fernandez gauged feedback on social media and said they and a few business owners turned to city leaders about resurfacing frustrations.

Was there enough parking in the right places, and who were those spaces for?

“That there was plenty of parking, but it was being consumed by employees and businesses owners (on) the downtown corridor,” Fernandez said last week. “… Even though I’m here at the heart of (downtown) at this intersection, I was lobbying the mayor and (City Manager) James (Freed) to do the same identical parking layout that they did (outside of) Casey’s where one side of the street is all diagonal and no parking on the other side.

Although that later layout idea didn’t manifest outside Country Style Market at Grand River and Huron avenues, the city did install 30-minute parking on Grand River within the last couple of weeks.

It was the sort of parking idea that they said would help foster the stop-and-go, close access they were looking for to accommodate customers driving downtown. Since then, Fernandez and Jones said things have largely been going well.

Freed said they get requests from the downtown business community every couple of years, adding via email last Monday that several had requested 30-minute parking within the market’s block.

Small adjustments such as that are administrative orders that he can authorize under city statute, and he said, “We saw no adverse reason to not allow it. After consultation with the DDA and the business community, I signed the parking order. We try very hard to be accommodating.”

However, as new developments and businesses come online, such as in one corner of downtown near Quay Street and the Wrigley Center, theirs isn’t the only parking shift emerging.

And how successful any solutions are and where else attention is needed depends on who you ask.

Enforcing parking rules downtown is tough. Here's why.

Another example in the past, Freed said, was the five-minute loading zones added through downtown to accommodate takeout orders and loft residents carrying up groceries.

Still, parking concerns may vary in different sections of downtown.

Along Water Street just east of Military, where it’s a one-way road, business owners said there was another more recent signage adjustment.

“So, I have one 15-minute parking sign next to my shop thanks to the city approving that,” said Shannon Raynard, co-owner of Moe’s Corner Deli. But so far, she said drivers weren’t honoring courtesies of the space, as well as nearby three-hour parking.

Up Main Street, Elite Feet owner Greg Whitican shared similar concerns — that what they hoped would be customer parking out front was being taken up by other businesses’ employees' parking “six to 10 hours a day” in three-hour spots.

“Whether it’s someone who wants to come and buy a pair of shoes from us or go in the grocery store and grab something really quick, or any of these small businesses,” he said. “You’ve got to set a precedent, and you have to enforce rules.”

Raynard agreed. She was complimentary of city officials like Downtown Development Authority Director Natacha Hayden for working well as a liaison to businesses but also questioned the value of being downtown if existing and new parking measures couldn’t be enforced.

“Because we’re all losing money down here. I can’t unload and load supplies and catering. I have to block a fire hydrant,” she said of the short-term parking space. “And then, we’re parking somewhere else way far away. But if I’ve got tons of sandwiches or something, or it’s raining, I can’t get to my vehicle. I can’t even use the signage here because it’s full of people. So, it’s a big frustration.”

But former means of parking enforcement — namely, chalking tires — are no longer allowed under federal court rulings.

“Which pretty much eliminated our ability to enforce three-hour parking,” Freed said in a follow-up statement. “We are working on a solution to address this, but most likely, any solution would require metered parking or gated lots. We are taking this very slowly as to find a path that won’t hurt businesses.”

Outside a few areas, is there no 'true parking problem'?

Despite existing concerns in individual areas, multiple people said they didn’t think there was a larger parking problem downtown.

Nathaniel Bottenfield, co-owner of the Exquisite Corpse Coffee House, which has entrances on Military and Water streets, said they do see a lot of loft residents appear to park “where customers normally would.”

But his bigger concern was the lack of non-car infrastructure downtown for biking.

“I have always found that if you walk if you’re willing to walk at least two blocks,” Bottenfield said, “you’re going to find parking as a customer.”

Freed added, “Currently, I honestly don’t believe there’s a true parking problem, but rather a perception. Folks who visit and frequent downtown the most are the fewest to complain.”

The city may investigate the use of a county parking lot.

Over the last several years, as the city has reconstructed Michigan and Fort streets, dozens of parking spaces have been added.

Currently, many of those spaces, as well as those in the East Quay lot may be occupied by contractors or residents living in the newly finished Wrigley Center lofts. Much of that, however, was expected to free up as the development wraps up in the coming weeks and the attached parking garage for loft dwellers was completed.

That project has been ongoing with the block redevelopment and recently opened Bootleggers Axe Co. across Quay Street.

And with a potential coming surge of new visitors, business and city officials may be looking for another parking solution.

Freed said they are looking at the lot across from the Port Huron Yacht Club that’s owned by St. Clair County, and that they hope to work out a deal to use the lot if the city stripes and reseals it.

“I do think when you have the Wrigley or Boat Week, we do need some additional parking, and that lot’s kind of sitting there unused,” he said. “So, that’s what the DDA’s going to tackle probably in the next month.”

Wrigley Developer Larry Jones echoed the concerns of other business owners in general — and what he hoped would be a larger parking plan.

But he also said he thought parking wouldn’t prove too big an issue once everything opened.

“What we have here is so cool and park and they’ll walk here,” Jones said. “As you have a problem, then you ask for things. So, I look at it like diagonal parking on Fort Street.”

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: In an ever-evolving downtown, Port Huron parking requests are a multi-faceted task