EDMONDS, Wash. — Businesses in Edmonds say there are already too many people and not enough parking spaces as the city is redeveloping a downtown park without including additional parking.
Edmonds native Mike McMurray has big plans for a 70-year-old building and the property that surrounds it.
"A courtyard of about 3,500 square feet for the public to enjoy,” said McMurray.
Plans include a pizzeria, maybe some sushi, and a music stage.
It sounds good, if his potential customers are lucky enough to find a place to park.
The already tight parking situation is happening as Edmonds is revitalizing its 8-acre Civic Park.
"It's very defeating that we didn't decide to put a parking lot down the street -- I'll be honest,” said McMurray.
Many of the city's business owners, whose customers and even employees rely almost exclusively on street parking, share McMurray's sentiment.
Edmonds Public Works Director Phil Williams says the park design was selected after years of public scrutiny, and although it doesn't include parking, he recognizes that as the city continues to see unprecedented growth, Edmonds is in a parking crunch.
So the city will complete a parking study, the first in more than a decade.
"They'll work with the city to analyze the number of spaces we've got to work with,” said Wiliams.
Williams says he doesn't foresee a parking garage in the near future, but he's confident downtown Edmonds will be able to accommodate the traffic that comes along with new business like McMurray's, and McMurray hopes he's right.
"We're doing all these great things in Edmonds. I think we can definitely put parking as kind of a priority,” said McMurray.
At Tuesday's council meeting, business owners asked the city council to reopen the Civic Park plan to discuss adding parking, but the council voted against it.
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