A parking answer to county's prayers

COEUR d'ALENE — Kootenai County commissioners earmarked $1.323 million in the proposed fiscal 2017 budget to address parking woes on the county's downtown campus. The suggested solution: Share parking with the city to save money but meet multiple needs.

The future parking lot on city-owned property would include 146 spaces for cars and seven spots for RVs along with traffic signals at Garden Avenue and Northwest Boulevard across from the county’s campus. The traffic signals would allow pedestrians to safely cross the busy stretch.

"This means that we don't need to build a parking garage," Commissioner Dan Green said Tuesday. "Working with the city, we'd add the parking that we need."

The parking lot would be built next year just north of the 119-lot parking project that is nearing completion next to Memorial Field.

City and county supporters of the future lot said it will allow the city to use it for holidays and weekends and the county during weekday business hours — the busiest times for both entities.

Between both lots, county employees and customers doing business downtown would have access to 205 parking spots.

Green and fellow Commissioner David Stewart voted in support of funding the shared parking proposal, while Commissioner Marc Eberlein voted against the funding plan.

The Coeur d'Alene City Council is expected to consider the shared parking lot project within the next month along with a proposed memorandum of understanding between the county and city for the site. Under the proposed MOU, the city would maintain the parking lot, oversee construction and receive any revenue generated from the site.

Bill Greenwood, the city's parks and recreation director, said the MOU can't be considered until a new lease with the Bureau of Land Management is approved.

"A little of this encroaches onto BLM property," Greenwood said.

The future parking lot can be accessed from Northwest Boulevard. Access to the existing parking lot at Memorial Field is from the former Mullan Avenue, which is now called Fort Ground Drive.

Greenwood said 60 spaces in the existing parking lot will be reserved for visitors of City Park, the carousel and other downtown attractions, but details on the other spots will need to be fine-tuned. There will be a fee for the 60 spots though, he said.

Greenwood said if approved, the future parking lot would be constructed next spring or summer and take about two months to complete. The signals would be constructed at the same time.

He said the speed limit in the area may be changed from 35 mph to 25 mph to further "calm" traffic as it approaches downtown and more pedestrians.

The city and county earlier talked about a pedestrian overpass or underpass at Northwest Boulevard to connect the county's campus with the parking lot but scrapped that idea due to cost.

The county's cost for the shared parking project would not raise taxes as it would be funded from the county's $37 million fund balance. The jail expansion and Post Falls DMV project at the former Oddfellows hall are among the other projects that will be funded with the fund balance.

A public hearing on the county's fiscal 2017 budget will be Aug. 31.