resident-only parking zones<\/a> to curb overflow parking near busy commercial streets won\u2019t be moving forward. <\/p>\nThe decision comes after local business owners expressed concern that parking restrictions would push customers away and stifle their revenue. <\/p>\n
In areas outside of downtown that lack large parking lots or garages, retailers often share small lots with nearby tenants. Sometimes there are not enough spaces for their employees and customers, particularly during peak hours. So, businesses often rely on surrounding residential streets for curbside parking.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can\u2019t fill our classes, we can\u2019t do business,\u201d said Katelyn Grady, a teacher at the Body Electric Yoga Company on Seventh Street North, told the City Council on Thursday. \u201cWe can\u2019t materialize any other options for parking because we\u2019re not a traditionally commercial corridor.\u201d<\/p>\n
St. Petersburg City Council members discussed the economic impact on small businesses while also noting that residents knowingly bought homes in neighborhoods where overflow parking has been a challenge for years.<\/p>\n
District 4 City Council member Lisset Hanewicz, who supported the change, said this was not about pitting local businesses or neighbors against each other. Rather it was about the city \u201cbeing responsible in tackling these issues.\u201d <\/p>\n
She noted that other growing cities institute similar parking restrictions and that protections had been put in place to lessen the harm to businesses.<\/p>\n
For a neighborhood to be eligible, for example, at least two-thirds of the households would\u2019ve had to sign a petition in support. A city-conducted study also had to show that 75% of the available spots were occupied and at least a third of those were taken by people who don\u2019t live in the surrounding area<\/p>\n
Zones within one-block of a \u201cfuture major street,\u201d including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Fourth streets North, would also be off-limits for resident-only parking spots. Those protections, Hanewicz said, were generous enough. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a good faith effort in dealing with an issue that\u2019s been brought to me in various forms to have a solution without people being here with pitchforks,\u201d Hanewicz said. <\/p>\n
Other council members expressed understanding for business owners\u2019 concerns. <\/p>\n
District 3 Council Member Mike Harting said the city would\u2019ve been picking \u201cwinners and losers.\u201d He said some business models were built on customers relying on street parking. Taking that away, he said, means businesses would \u201cdrown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wildflower Ice Cream owner Steve McGarry was relieved the measure was not put in place. He said the timing is \u201cjust off,\u201d pointing to the rising costs of living. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a bad time basically for a lot of businesses \u2026 rising rents, insurance, health care, all that good stuff,\u201d McGarry said. <\/p>\n
Chris Steinocher, president and CEO of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce, said he expects the issue will come back in the future. <\/p>\n
\u201cVibrant cities like ours, you\u2019re always going to have discussions about parking, not enough of it or too much of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Petersburg City Council member Lisset Hanewicz said a measure expanding resident-only parking zones in the city was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[131758,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-317020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-parking-city-council-restrictions","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}