Businesses, employees work through downtown parking

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Downtown employees are always on the lookout for free parking during the workday, but as the area is redeveloped, spaces are getting harder to find.|ret||ret||tab|

According to the Itsalldowntown.com Web site, there are about 230 downtown businesses. There is no precise figure available listing the total number of downtown employees.|ret||ret||tab|

As of May 20, there were about 2,400 spaces in 31 public and private lots and garages, with 343 on-street parking stalls available in the immediate downtown area, according to a parking inventory provided by Barb Baker, Downtown Springfield Community Improvement District manager.|ret||ret||tab|

The opening of the Jordan Valley Car Park, scheduled for Sept. 20, will create 977 additional parking spaces in the downtown area. |ret||ret||tab|

"I realize parking is a real concern for merchants and we have to deal with that. We have to take a look at it and see how to more efficiently utilize what we have," said Vern Morgan, Springfield's center city coordinator.|ret||ret||tab|

Trying to get employees to park farther away so there is more room for customers is one development needed in downtown, said Bill Compere, executive director for Urban Districts Alliance. |ret||ret||tab|

"Long term we will be looking at parking facilities, deck kind of things maybe an inexpensive shuttle service. That's a potential (UDA is) going to be looking into," Compere said.|ret||ret||tab|

Using a streetcar to transport employees from parking lots or garages is a possibility, said Carol Cruise, director of transportation for City Utilities of Springfield. However, whether transportation would be provided would depend on downtown tenants needs.|ret||ret||tab|

"We try to respond to demands when there are demands in Springfield. I think to an extent that if we get some participation from others, we're willing to try services like that," said Cruise.|ret||ret||tab|

Having a shuttle from a parking garage is a supportable idea, said Richard Hughen, graduate architect for Great Adventure Architects, located at 301 E. Walnut. Hughen said there are not any options for him when it comes to parking for free near his office.|ret||ret||tab|

"I am disabled. If I can't park my car within say 100 yards of the front door, it's not of any use to me," Hughen said. |ret||ret||tab|

He added that parking on the street is common for employees in the area, but it comes with a risk.|ret||ret||tab|

"(Paid parking) a block away would be $20 a month, and a parking ticket is $20, so as long as you can keep your average down to less than one parking ticket a month, you've made up the difference," Hughen said.|ret||ret||tab|

Bob Horton, owner of Har-Bell Athletic and chairman of the parking committee for the Community Improvement District, said parking is more about education and communication. |ret||ret||tab|

"For an employer it's more of an education and finding the best place for everyone involved to park," Horton said. "If someone decides not to park in front of their businesses and comes in and parks in front of mine, it helps their business but hurts mine."|ret||ret||tab|

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Availability of parking |ret||ret||tab|

Compere said the Community Improvement District has worked to provide more free parking to employees. |ret||ret||tab|

Free parking lots located on the corner of Campbell Avenue and College Street, and on-street parking spaces on Elm Street are now available with no time limits. Several other lots provide free parking but have three-hour time limitations.|ret||ret||tab|

Monthly leasing will be available in the Jordan Valley Car Park for $50. Jason Haynes, parking manager and project engineer for the city of Springfield, said Hammons Tower will receive 160 daily parking spaces through an agreement with John Q. Hammons. |ret||ret||tab|

Springfield's Convention & Visitors Bureau has leased 13 spaces, and the remaining spaces are still available for daily or special events.|ret||ret||tab|

Haynes said negotiations are still under way with a consultant for a parking study which is expected to begin in October and conclude in early spring. |ret||ret||tab|

Providing for businesses and entities like Southwest Missouri State University will all be part of the study. |ret||ret||tab|

"One the things we're having them look at is how we can best utilize the parking we have. So that will be looking at more shuttling and those type of things," Hayter said. "We are going to try to market it as best as we can and try to increase the usage by talking to the different entities in the local area."|ret||ret||tab|

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Paid lots|ret||ret||tab|

Shirato Parking Systems, owned by Jim Shirato, offers three paid parking facilities downtown at 217 E. Walnut, 310 E. Walnut and 300 South Street. Gianina Shirato said there are approximately 100 spaces between the three lots and more than half of them are filled on a regular basis buy employees. |ret||ret||tab|

Warren Davis Properties' Park Central Parking Garage has approximately 353 spaces. Contract parking is available for $30 a month for Warren Davis tenants and $35 for nontenants. Secured parking in the lower level is also available for $50 a month.|ret||ret||tab|

Ron Shepherd, property manager with Davis Properties, said there is plenty of space available for employees to rent, but another parking garage could be beneficial. |ret||ret||tab|

Paid parking also is available through Downtown Springfield Properties Inc. owned by Brett and Bart Loethen. The Jordan Valley parking garage was purchased from Warren Davis in August 2002. The garage provides parking for tenants in the Woodruff and McDaniel buildings. Parking is also available south of the McDaniel building. There are more than 400 spaces in there.|ret||ret||tab|

One of the largest employers in the downtown area is the state with 412 employees. |ret||ret||tab|

To accommodate parking needs the state has a lease agreement with Bent Agee, owner of four downtown lots on Olive and Water Streets. Agee said he first purchased the lots in 1974 and has been leasing spaces since. Agee would not disclose the details of the lease agreement he has with the state.|ret||ret||tab|

State employees do not pay for outdoor parking spaces but can lease a covered space for $30 in a facility owned by Agee. The covered lot has 60 spaces which are monitored but are rarely vacant, Agee said. |ret||ret||tab|

Sigrid Johnson, facility manager for Springfield's state offices, said the state does not monitor cars park in the lots for the appropriate parking pass sticker; however, if the lot becomes too full for employees the lot is checked and unknown cars are towed.|ret||ret||tab|

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Ticketing|ret||ret||tab|

As public parking spaces are filled, employees sometimes use short-term lots which can result in tickets.|ret||ret||tab|

Matt Brown, public information officer with the Springfield Police Department, said requests to monitor parking are not unusual.|ret||ret||tab|

"There used to be an issue that we had downtown where customers who were trying to park downtown were calling and saying we can't find a parking space. So we started to enforce some of the parking enforcement laws downtown. |ret||ret||tab|

"A lot of the (parking problems) went away for a while, and now we are starting to see a trend starting to occur again," Brown said.|ret||ret||tab|

From January to June, 2,263 parking tickets were issued. |ret||ret||tab|

Brown said the department does not list tickets by area but the downtown area does account for a large percentage of the parking tickets.|ret||ret||tab|

He added that people using short-term parking often get ticketed after losing track of time.|ret||ret||tab|

"We try to provide them ample time to do whatever it is that they need to do within a two-hour time frame, but if (officers) see a car sitting there for an extended period of time, then it's possible that it could get ticketed," Brown said.|ret||ret||tab|

Three different divisions of the police department write tickets in the downtown area, Traffic Service officers, Uniform Operations Division and Community Oriented Policing officers.|ret||ret||tab|

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