Committee looks at downtown parking
Zach White
Mayor Tim Solomon proposed changes to downtown parking, including shrinking the downtown parking district and adding 15-minute parking spaces.
A draft of the changes submitted to the Havre City Council Ordinance Committee by Solomon, after meetings with business owners and law enforcement, only changes the streets that define the two-hour parking area downtown.
The two-hour parking limit is currently enforced from Main Street to 4th Street and from 5th Avenue to 1st Avenue.
The new ordinance would shrink that down to the area between 1st and 3rd streets and between the centers of 2nd and 4th avenues.
Another change suggested, which is not in the draft distributed at the meeting, would be to create, in addition to the two-hour zone, certain spaces downtown that have a 15-minute parking limit.
Debbie Vandeberg, executive director of the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce, has been a large part of the discussions between City Hall and downtown that led to these changes.
She explained some of the reasoning for the changes to the committee.
“Employees shouldn’t be parking in the two-hour parking district. It’s against the ordinance now, ” Vandeberg said. “That’s why we shrunk the parking district. ”
She explained that there are several areas just outside of the two-hour zone that should work for downtown employees.
These include parking on the old boundaries, on 1st and 5th avenues, or even on the west side of 2nd Avenue, by the U. S. Post Office, or on the east side of 4th Avenue, or numerous lots downtown.
“A little exercise and you can get to work in five minutes, ” Vandeberg said.
The committee, having just seen the proposed changes, decided to take some time to look at them and discuss the issue more at another meeting on Wednesday, March 2, at 5:45 p. m.
Mayor Tim Solomon proposed changes to downtown parking, including shrinking the downtown parking district and adding 15-minute parking spaces.
A draft of the changes submitted to the Havre City Council Ordinance Committee by Solomon, after meetings with business owners and law enforcement, only changes the streets that define the two-hour parking area downtown.
The two-hour parking limit is currently enforced from Main Street to 4th Street and from 5th Avenue to 1st Avenue.
The new ordinance would shrink that down to the area between 1st and 3rd streets and between the centers of 2nd and 4th avenues.
Another change suggested, which is not in the draft distributed at the meeting, would be to create, in addition to the two-hour zone, certain spaces downtown that have a 15-minute parking limit.
Debbie Vandeberg, executive director of the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce, has been a large part of the discussions between City Hall and downtown that led to these changes.
She explained some of the reasoning for the changes to the committee.
“Employees shouldn’t be parking in the two-hour parking district. It’s against the ordinance now, ” Vandeberg said. “That’s why we shrunk the parking district. ”
She explained that there are several areas just outside of the two-hour zone that should work for downtown employees.
These include parking on the old boundaries, on 1st and 5th avenues, or even on the west side of 2nd Avenue, by the U. S. Post Office, or on the east side of 4th Avenue, or numerous lots downtown.
“A little exercise and you can get to work in five minutes, ” Vandeberg said.
The committee, having just seen the proposed changes, decided to take some time to look at them and discuss the issue more at another meeting on Wednesday, March 2, at 5:45 p.m.
