Parking
Parking for businesses is a problem in Seminole Heights. In order for us to attract more businesses,we need to come up with parking solutions.
I have been told that part of the problem is that the Code involved is based on suburban needs, not urban needs.
Some of the solutions I have heard thrown around was to create parking lots throughout the area. Some of these could be done I guess, by the city. Some by the business owners. Some of it could be done if businesses cooperated and shared their parking. For example, before Metropolitan Center moved in, the previous business in that location fenced in the parking and shut out anyone else from using it. That is their right as they own it. I also don't know if this arose from some dispute by someone abusing parking there. However that is a short sided view to the long term benefit of the overall business district. Across the street, the bar has plenty of parking but they too have shut it off.
An example of an area that could really benefit from a cooperative arrangement if the strip on Florida from Osborne to Nickos'. If the fence could be taken down at Francis House, the empty lot fixed up and th fence business bought out, there would be plenty of parking for everyone. If the alley would cleaned up , better lit and made more attactive, people would feel more comfortable to come to all of the places.
We also need to make the streets more attractive to walk down if you park a bit of a distance from the businessses.
4 comments:
Parking lots shared by businesses that have different hours (offices days/restaurants evenings etc.) is a good idea. However, the neighborhood as planned originally is a suburban neighborhood and without improved public transportation, I don't think we will be able to convince the city to allow fewer parking spaces for businesses when most people drive in, out and through the neighborhood for services.
During stint on the Land Use committee and on the board of directors for OSHNA, I had the privilege of listening to city employees discuss some of these issues. Based on those discussions, I think the city would support a commercial overlay that would take our lot sizes and other urban realities into consideration. Or, quite simply, they would support some parking concessions.
However, the process of comming up with this overlay ran into a huge brick wall, namely some business owners. The Buisiness Aliance was friendly, then obstructionist, then confrontational for more than 3 years of efforts. Even after OSHNA scrapped the whole idea and let the city take it over, nothing of any real substance has come out of it. There are many reaons for this, but in my not-so-humble opinion, the primary reason is that most of the businesses in our area located in Seminole Heights because it was cheap, had a very generous commercial zoning (CI), and has convenient access to the freeway and surrounding commerical districts (downtown, Dale Mabry, University, etc). Most of these businesses never focused on local customers and don't really consider the residents as anything other than a nuisance. (and that only recently as the neighbors have shown little interest in code violations and crime in the past.)
Since the city currently considers the bus system as the only acceptable form of public transporation, and the Nebraska line is quite popular already, I doubt this is part of their concern.
Lot sharing is a great idea, but it still runs afoul of zoning. The city will require X amount of parking based on current land use. The only way you can point to another private lot as fulfilling that use is if you have a long-term (50 years?) contract for parking there. The contracted spaces reduce the other business' alotment and thus possible future land use for the length of the contract. (If business A is a deli and needs 5 spaces but has 25, they can contract 20 of them to the restaraunt next door. However, if business A wants to change into a restaraunt themselves, they'll need some of those 20 spaces back, thus limiting their use of the property.)
An easy enough solution to some of the parking problems would be that the city purchase commercial lots strategically spaced through out the business district. The city could turn these lots into parking lots to serve the commercial enterprises in our neighborhood. It worked well in the community that we lived in during my two year sojourn back to Pennsylvania. Interestingly, I don't know of any such examples in Tampa outside of downtown and Ybor.
So here is how it could work.
1. City buys the lot and converts it to parking lot.
2. Retail shops and eateries looking to relocate to Seminole Heights would be given the option of providing their own parking or paying into a designated fund.
3. If they opt to pay into the fund, parking and storm water retention would be waived.
So why would this make sense?
Example:
If Cappy's were to be required to have 70 parking spaces for about 18 hours of the day they would be completely empty. For the other 6 hours they would rarely, if ever be fully utilized. However, those 70 spaces would prevent percolation of storm water year round.
Now imagine three other nearby businesses needing 70 spaces to satisfy zoning. 280 parking spaces when all 4 business might be adequately served by half that number 95% of the time.
This proposal would be able to largely pay for itself from the fees into the fund from businesses wanting to move to the area, reduced storm water and flooding, a stronger tax base, and meters if necessary.
Furthermore, it would encourage greater pedestrian traffic in the commercial areas. It would help Seminole Heights, it would help West Tampa, some parts of South Tampa.
I personally haven't found a negative to the idea. (But I sure I will soon read a lot of them)
At last night's OSHNA Board meeting, Cappy's was specifically discussed. I asked the question regarding the length of the lease and it is currently 30 years with a proposal in the works (but not voted on) to reduce that to 10 years. So if you need parking spaces, you must get a formal lease from the property owner for 30 years. This means the parking lot owner and any future owners are restricted by that lease for its lifetime.
On Cappy's specifically, the city has changed its parking formula to go by square footage rather than number of tables as before. According to this formula, Cappy's needs roughly 70 parking spaces. Yes, that's right, 70. If they razed the building and installed parking on the empty lot, they wouldn't be able to get 70 spaces on there. At this point in time, Cappy's has room for exactly one legal parking space.
If this issue cannot be resolved, and I believe every effort is being made to resolve it by the South Seminole Heights board (Cappy's is in their area), by OSHNA, and by the city, Cappy's will be required to close in November.
While I have always advocated for Rick's idea above, I'm starting to think that it simply won't be enough. We don't need a Wallmart's worth of parking up and down Nebraska and Florida and we don't really have the land to do it regardless. Nor do I think the city will pony up anywhere near enough cash, if any at all, to buy and maintain these lots. (Especially given the pressure to reduce taxes.) What we need is a change in how parking regulations affect urban commercial districts.
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