Proposed study will address Palmer parking woes as social media posts stoke tensions

PALMER — A proposed Palmer parking study expected to be approved by the City Council will examine possible changes to regulations in the downtown business area, an issue thrust back into the spotlight this month after a social media post that has since been deleted garnered attention across the state.

The study will evaluate current parking needs and whether the city should update space requirements for new businesses. It will include a series of community listening sessions with business owners and residents, city officials said at a council meeting late last month. A request for proposals to hire a contractor for the study is expected to be approved by the council early next year.

The study is part of an ongoing debate over parking requirements for downtown businesses and whether the rules should be waived for new establishments.

The issue came to a head over the summer when visitors crowded parking lots during the Friday Fling street fair and evening live concerts at the Palmer Alehouse. A widely shared social media post last week reignited the discussion while creating confusion about the current rules and drawing criticism toward some business owners who regularly speak out about changes they say are needed.

The city Planning Commission recommended the study in September. It will be funded through city operating funds, officials said earlier this month.

Beloved for its walkability, downtown Palmer is home to dozens of restaurants and shops, some in buildings dating to the 1940s. Parking is available on streets, on private property and in a handful of public lots scattered throughout the area.

City officials and business owners told the City Council and Planning Commission during recent meetings that the city’s growth and changing needs have increased the need for updated parking rules.

Some business owners said visitors attending events at the Palmer Depot, seasonal street fairs or outdoor summer concerts gobble up parking spaces. Others told the council that they believe parking is plentiful and that complaints from longtime owners are designed to block potential competition.

Current business district zoning rules, first passed in 2005, automatically grant new businesses one off-street parking space for every 25 feet of storefront. Additional rules are linked to the type of business, with new restaurants requiring one parking space for every five seats and retail shops needing one space per 500 square feet of floor area.

New businesses using buildings for the same purpose as before the parking rules were created are exempt under a grandfather clause included in city code. Others must provide their own parking or receive a special waiver from the city, the law states.

But some business owners say the waiver program unfairly burdens existing shops and restaurants by leaving less parking for their customers. They argue that new businesses should be required to provide their own parking, either by purchasing additional lots or limiting seating capacity, rather than obtaining a waiver.

The issue newly became a flashpoint this month after Troy Vincent, an area resident and owner of the Bear Naked BBQ food truck, posted on his business Facebook page claims that local businesses coordinated with the city in June to block his request for a parking waiver. Vincent said he purchased and partially renovated 579 S. Alaska St. for a new BBQ restaurant but is unable to open because of parking requirements. The post has since been removed.

Vincent’s building, which still bears the name of its previous occupant, “Just Sew,” sits next to the Palmer Depot parking lot and has no on-site parking. Under current city regulations, it is allotted on-street spaces in front of and behind the building but must either continue to host a retail shop, cap its size at 20 seats or obtain a waiver.

A waiver application filed with the city in late May by Vincent’s business partner, Andrea Fulbright, said they envisioned seating for 130 people over the restaurant, a rooftop bar and a basement event space, a plan that requires more than 25 parking spaces under city rules. Vincent told the council during a June 25 meeting that he would be willing to cap seating at 50 instead, which would reduce his requirement to 10 parking spaces under current code.

The council voted 6-1 during that meeting to deny the waiver, citing a review of parking regulations and the waiver process ordered by the council during a long-scheduled joint meeting with the city’s Planning Commission held five days earlier on June 20.

Council member John Alcantra said it would be inappropriate to grant a waiver while the rules were under review. Council member Jim Cooper, who owned the Just Sew building until 2010, voted for the waiver and said he wanted to encourage new businesses downtown.

Vincent, however, incorrectly stated in his now-deleted post that local businesses specifically requested the June 20 meeting to block his application. He also misinterpreted Alcantra’s statement to mean that the waiver process itself was completely eliminated during that meeting, he said in an interview Wednesday. He said he did not know he misunderstood Alcantra’s statement until after he made his Facebook post.

About six citizens and business owners testified during the June 25 meeting in opposition to the waiver. Vincent said he was surprised by that reaction and believed getting a waiver would be simple because all previous such requests had been approved, he said in an interview. He said he also needs a liquor license to operate successfully but has not yet applied for one.

City officials said three waivers have been requested under the current rules, including Vincent’s. The previous waivers were granted to the Palmer Alehouse and an office building at Alaska Street and Evergreen Avenue.

They said Vincent was told before the hearing that approval of his waiver was not guaranteed. They said the city also is currently unable to issue new liquor licenses because of state law that caps such licenses based on population.

Vincent said he waited until this month to post about the June parking waiver denial because his building remains vacant, and he is losing money. He estimated that if he could open, his business could generate $2 million to $3 million annually and contribute about $200,000 in city tax revenue.

Vincent’s Facebook post sparked calls to boycott nearby businesses, including the coffee shop Vagabond Blues and the Valley Hotel, which are across the street and whose owners testified against the waiver. Vincent said in a new statement posted to social media Saturday that he deleted his original post because boycotting other businesses was not his intent.

Michelle Kincaid, who owns the Valley Hotel, said her continued objections to Vincent’s waiver are not personal but rather about the parking rules. She said granting waivers allows new businesses to use the parking needed by others.

“Truly for me, it’s all about parking — it’s only been about the parking situation,” she said in an interview Saturday. “You can’t give a waiver that basically means it would be OK to block somebody’s business.”

Kincaid owns both the Valley Hotel and the Koslosky Center, which houses several businesses, including Vagabond Blues. Customers use on-street parking or park in a large lot behind the buildings or a smaller lot in front of the hotel. She estimates that her properties need about 180 parking spaces and that she provides parking for about 183 vehicles.

Kincaid said she hopes the study will lead to stricter parking requirements for new businesses and update the rules to reflect what businesses actually need and use.

For example, she said, the current code allows businesses to include parking spaces in their off-street calculations that they cannot legally use, including zones in front of fire hydrants. The code also does not take into account the parking needs of business employees.

In the meantime, Vincent’s storefront continues to sit empty, he said. If he can’t solve the parking problem and get a liquor license, he’ll have to sell the building, he said.

“I’m jaded enough where I’m ready to sell the building, I’m ready to locate outside the city of Palmer,” he said. “Having a bunch of people downtown is a good thing for everybody, not just me, and they don’t see it that way.”

Republished with permission from the Mat-Su Sentinel, an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan online news source. Contact Amy Bushatz at abushatz@matsusentinel.com.