22 Temporary Parking Spaces Created Near Garden Room
Before the dispute over a proposal to raze a Shorewood house to construct a customer parking lot comes to the Village Board, officials put in place some temporary fixes to alleviate parking issues.
Before the Village Board settles the dispute over a proposal to raze a Shorewood home to make a customer parking lot in two weeks, it approved 22 temporary spaces in hopes of alleviating any parking woes in the area.
The new provisional parking options include:
- At least 10 spaces in the Atwater Elementary parking lot, available 4:30 to 8 p.m.;
- Six three-hour parking spaces designated for East Capitol Drive customers in the Village Hall/Library parking lot;
- Six additional spaces created by moving parking from the east to the west side of East Frederick Avenue.
An ordinance on the books requires the Atwater lot to change to a permit-only lot after 8 p.m., but officials said they plan to examine if extending that an hour or two would be beneficial.
Parking on Frederick Avenue would remain two-hour. Officials said the swapping of parking to the other side of the street could cause issues for residents backing out of their driveways.
"This idea sounds like it has been floated in the past and there was some concern then, and there still is, that now when you back out, there's not just a curb there, there's a car," Trustee Jeff Hanewall said.
Additionally, enforcing the three-hour limit on parking in the six customer parking spots in the municipal lot could be difficult, trustees said.
The idea is to test the new parking plan through the winter and spring.
"We are thinking about it right now as we want to test it through June at least," Trustee Ellen Eckman said.
A controversial rezoning petition by Garden Room owner Deb Kern to have the house at 3940 N. Frederick Ave., around the corner from her business, leveled to construct a nine-stall, environmentally friendly parking lot with permeable pavement and a rain garden, prompted the parking additions.
The village's Plan Commission voted unanimously against the request in late October.
The Village Board is slated to consider Kern's rezoning proposal on Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the Village Center — and the meeting will spell the end of a four-month-long conflict.
Upon Kern revealing her plan in August, Frederick Avenue residents mobilized to garner support in an effort to kill the project, circulating petitions and distributing literature.
In response, Kern started her own petition drive and garnered support of other East Capitol Drive business owners.
Kern said she needs the additional parking to accommodate her growing customer base, while area residents argued the conversion would result in waning property values on the block, one less home for a new Shorewood family and attract crime.
Vicki Bennett
6:21 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Why should street parking be any different for residents on Frederick then it is for other residence? People park on the streets and block driveways all over Shorewood. For example, I'm sure the residents on Farwell by St. Robert School would love to eliminate the street parking that blocks their driveways. Frederick should not be the exception. It just goes to show, the squeaky wheel gets oiled. If the village is going to bring in all the businesses that they've approved over the past few years, then they'd better provide parking. With their recent decisions, we are no longer going to remain a walking community.
N. Peske
8:38 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
It's not as if you don't get ticketed for blocking a driveway by all of four inches! I'm sure car owners with driveways facing Frederick can adjust.
CowDung
9:00 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
I'm glad that the village has finally realized how stupid the 'walking community' idea really is. If we want to bring people in to Shorewood to support our businesses, we need to realize that almost all of them will be driving a car and will need to park.
Cricket
7:20 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
I will believe this is a necessity when I no longer see A LOT of free parking spaces in front of the Garden Room, despite the day of the week or time. On a recent Saturday morning as I walked past twice only 1 space was parked up and that was in front of the apartments. Don't penalize the folks on Frederick or the municipal lot that usually is pretty full. A lot of older folks frequent the library and they should have first crack at parking. When there is a traffic jam in front the Garden Room on a continual basis, revisit the idea.
North Shore Newbie
2:08 pm on Thursday, December 6, 2012
I have to say I completely agree with you on this. This entire thing makes no sense. I live a block away from there and I've been paying particular attention to this for the last couple of weeks as you have. The last 3 days I've been watching the north side of Capitol between Frederick and Murray (across from Feerick) and there have been absolutely NO cars parked there. Not one. That walk would be shorter than the municipal lot and at least as close as the proposed new lot. Where is the demand for parking that the owners are saying is the reason they're losing business? Where's the proof?
Absolutelyfabulous
7:47 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
"enforcing the three-hour limit on parking in the six customer parking spots in the municipal lot could be difficult, trustees said"
W/out enforcement, what really changes once people realize that they can continue to park and utilize the library/visit friends in the neighborhood etc..Those parking spaces are completely out of sight for most of the businesses on Capitol, so no one is really going to know who's parking where and for what reasons.
" At least 10 spaces in the Atwater Elementary parking lot, available 4:30 to 8 p.m."
Will this section of spaces be enforced and if so, how? What's going to prevent a permit holder from grabbing spaces 4 hours earlier? They can always say they were patronizing one of the businesses on Capitol; potentially produce a receipt from City Market for their coffee and say they were working/meeting people the rest of the time.
__________
How does this work? These new spaces are "Temporary" w/ the village testing out the various options to see how they work. Yet, based upon the article whatever decision the village board comes to on Dec. 18th w/ regard to Anaba's proposal is final. So, Anaba can get denied and then the temporary spaces made available could possibly change down the line to fewer available? Though, that would be going in the wrong direction since " Per village code, there should be at least 197 off-street parking stalls available for businesses in the 2100 block of Capitol drive and there are only 21"
Vicki Bennett
9:04 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
There is really a simple solution to all of this. The village should install parking meters. This action will provide revenue and also control those who violate the hourly limit on parking. Our police department isn't able to patrol every street for parking violations. The meters will help with this problem and also isolate the 10 parking spaces in the Atwater lot and the municipal lot.
CowDung
9:58 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
I have heard that the Village is looking into that for at least the Oakland business district.
Todd Dunsirn
9:14 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Just curious, but have they considered valet service during their busy times? I'm going to assume that there are certain times where parking is difficult in relation to their peak times during their operating hours. That said, I live close to this area and really don't see how parking is 'that' difficult. You might have to walk 1 block.
I've actually eaten lunch there in the past 3 months and the place was virtually empty. Is that because of the parking, or because of the business offering itself? I actually didn't realize they served lunch the way they did and I've lived here for 10+ years. Maybe marketing is more the issue than parking. (The food was good by the way.)
N. Peske
11:05 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
There are walkable communities that are densely populated, with small lots and parking problems, and there are car communities where you have to drive everywhere because of the sprawl. Shorewood's never going to be the latter unless we start bulldozing with gusto, which I hope we never do! The parking recommendations for new businesses are silly--clearly, the brainchild of someone who has lived in a car community his or her whole life. How on earth did we survive in the 70s and 80s having to--horrors!--walk a block or two to get to the business district?
Honestly, not having ever lived in a car community, I don't get what people don't get about "walkable community." They are rare in comparison to car communities. If you don't like it, goodness, you have SO many choices. If you want to be in a walking community, you accept parking challenges and small lots. No brainer.
I do think we might want to make sure that the village websites, social media, and newsletters convey the new parking options. Get the word out. Also, the business owners can train their customers to inform their customers of the options, just as I'm sure they inform them about specials, sales, and the shop's Facebook page.
I love these new, creative solutions, by the way. Kudos to those who came up with them.
CowDung
11:10 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
What I don't get about a 'walking community' is how we expect people from Whitefish Bay, Fox Point, Glendale, etc. to walk to the 'walking community' of Shorewood to shop or dine at one or more of our fine establishments.
We can certainly keep trading dollars within Shorewood, but if we truly want to strengthen our local economy, we need to bring in dollars from outside the village as well...
Alol
11:36 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Okaaaay, so park on a side street AND THEN walk through the community. Ride your bike to the walkable community. Hop on the green line bus from Glendale or WFB to our walkable community. It's not that difficult to figure out, CD.
CowDung
11:45 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Certainly it is possible for people to get here without a car, but it certainly doesn't encourage anyone to make Shorewood their shopping/dining destination if we purposely make parking difficult and inconvenient in order to keep promoting the village as a 'walking community'.
Sunrocket
12:54 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
What about Cedarburg? My friend and I routinely go there twice a year, in the summer and around Christmas to shop. We park the car once, and walk the rest of the way along with almost everyone else that goes to Cedarburg the young and geriatric alike. The Cedarburg business/shopping district is much larger than Shorewoods and if something large and unyielding is purchased, we go get the car, drive to the store and load up. Perhaps a loading zone is more in order.
Alol
10:17 am on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
How are we purposely making parking difficult? Plenty of people have been coming to Shorewood to shop during the holidays for years. Especially back during the days of Schwartz Books, Harley's, Actaea salon, etc. and I don't think that parking has kept shoppers away or hurt business. With all of the new shops, there will be more shoppers who will have to park and walk, and they will to get what they want. Otherwise they'll find someone to drop them off and pick them up.
We should all try to shop and eat locally as much as we can to keep our community businesses afloat-- we owe it to ourselves to do that. We shouldn't have to rely on Jim and Susie from WFB to survive, but if there's something here that attracts them, they're welcome. I just feel like this is being made into a bigger deal than it is.
I also think it's too bad that we don't have a streetcar or a trolley that makes a quick loop through the northshore during the holidays, maybe on evenings & weekends for shoppers/diners. Maybe it would lighten traffic/parking.
CowDung
10:47 am on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Adding so much new development without also adding an appropriate number of parking spaces is 'purposely making parking difficult'. You may note that Schwartz and Actaea are no longer doing business in Shorewood--something prevented them from attracting enough customers. If you read the comments left on the article about the empty Actaea space, you will find that N. Peske and Vicki Bennett both commented that parking was/is an issue at that location.
Eating and shopping locally is a great idea. It would certainly be easier to shop and eat locally if one can drive home from work, easily park near a restaurant, and eat lunch. I don't think that most people want to waste their lunch hour hunting for the rare parking space or having to walk several blocks--especially during winter. Even in a 'walking community', most of us still drive to and from our jobs every day.
The big question is if Shorewood has a large enough population to support all of our local businesses without having to rely on customers from the surrounding areas. I suspect that most business owners would prefer to not limit their customers to the locals.
Having a North Shore holiday 'wheeled streetcar' loop is a good idea to help bring people into the area for shopping and dining. I seem to recall one that went through Shorwood's Oakland ave. business district, down to Brady and back up to 'downtown' WFB.
Cricket
12:07 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
I love the idea of a trolly or street car during the holidays. Maybe going between WFB, Shorewood and the Downer Ave shops towards Bradford.
Alol
12:20 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
I like the trolley idea too. The one that used to run a few years ago only cost fifty cents and you could get from downtown to the UW on that. Imagine if we could do that up here, I think it would alleviate traffic congestion, and get people into the shops and restaurants. Who do we have to talk to to get that up and running?!
Cricket
1:10 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
LOL - perhaps the village manager or president or someone in the Business Development area. Shorewood has a pretty friendly website, I'll look on there.
Cricket
1:13 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Link to Shorewood Business Development http://www.shorewoodwi.com/contact/thanks.cfm
Sent an email to executive director regarding trolly/street car. Will see what happens.
Alol
11:48 am on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Schwartz shared a large, plentiful lot with Push n' Shove. Harley's, Actaea and Sendik's all shared that large lot at Sendik's, and Actaea and Harley's did not have trouble attracting customers due to parking woes--that was the fault of the slumlord Katz who eventually forced them out. Let's not get facts confused by heresy or "my wife told me the manager at whatnwhat said blabettyblah..." because people are clearly confused and misled about what happened there. Oakland Ave is not becoming a strip mall, and Actaea had tons of loyal customers before they moved to the south side. Harley's needed to expand and still probably enjoys loyal shoppers.
Yes, we could use more parking, but where will it come from aside from tearing down bungalows?
CowDung
12:21 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
We shouldn't be afraid of tearing down the occasional bungalow. Perhaps we need to build more parking structures instead of single level lots. Perhaps new apartment buildings should be built with underground parking for the residents. Addressing the parking issue by declaring Shorewood to be a 'walking community' really doesn't solve the problem.
Over the past couple of years, we have seen problems on the South side with UWM students parking on the streets, and near Oakland with the apartments there. Shorewood's parking situation is only going to get worse if there is no action taken to address the growing need for parking...
Absolutelyfabulous
3:08 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Alol-
Harley's actually downsized their space and Katz upped the rent in their original space. The 2 reasons they moved.
"After 60 years in business, Harleys: The Store for Men will be relocating - with assistance from the village.
Owners Tim and Janet Ryan told the Shorewood Village Board on April 6 about their plans to downsize from the 16,500-square-foot store at 4009 N. Oakland Ave.
The board voted to give the Ryans $183,300 to relocate to a new, 5,333-square-foot space within the Lakewood Building, 3575 N. Oakland Ave."
http://www.shorewoodnow.com/news/42647912.html
Alol
3:16 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Wow, I didn't know that. I thought for sure they expanded. The new/current location looks a lot nicer, that's for sure.
Alol
12:33 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
I thought there was parking under the Cornerstone for residents? Is there parking beneath the Ravenna? And likewise, I thought the Lighthorse was being equipped with underground parking.
I don't think it's bad to gently persuade people to walk by declaring this a "walkable community" or by saying Shorewood is "bike friendly". Surely that can't be seen as a deterrent to entering or spending time in Shorewood...
But I get what you're saying, CD. People are attached to their cars and we aren't going to change that. We have to take that into consideration when putting up multiple, multi-story buildings in a small village.
Cricket
1:09 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Perhaps the Garden Room could have an incentive program - % off your purchase if you walk or park your car somewhere away from the store. Obviously certain merchandise can't be carried far and verification would be a problem but what about a loading zone? They could have employees help carry things out. I believe I heard mentioned somewhere close to 25 people working there yet I have never seen more than 1 or 2 in the place and they are not going out of their way to be friendly or helpful. I'm not sure I've ever even gotten a hello out of them. I again was past the GR this morning around 10:30 and no one was parked in from of the store.
CowDung
1:15 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Not surprising that you don't see anyone out front since that Anaba isn't open at 10:30 in the morning. Don't they open at 11 am for lunch?
CowDung
10:40 am on Tuesday, December 11, 2012
This past Saturday, street parking on both sides of Capitol drive near Anaba was full from around 11 am to at least 2 pm. Same with street parking on Maryland and Frederick. I ended up taking the last spot in the lot by the library...
Cricket
11:51 am on Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Didn't they have special events this past weekend in the village? I thought last Sat was when Santa was coming to GM - no wonder it was parked up. I can assure you it is not that way on other Sat's or really any other day of the week. I live very close to there and am on Capitol Drive at least 2 to 3 times a day driving or on foot.
CowDung
8:35 am on Monday, December 17, 2012
Another parking check this saturday--around 12:30 pm. Only one space was open on the north side of Capitol drive in front of the funeral home. Parking in front of Garden Room was full as well as on Maryland and Frederick...
CowDung
7:30 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Cricket:
Drove past the GR earlier today--only 1 spot open in front of the store. Spaces full along the rest of Capitol Drive. I didn't check Maryland and Frederick...
Funny how you never seem to see any cars parked in those spaces near the GR, but the few times I drive by, I see plenty of cars occupying those spots...
Cricket
10:57 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
CowDung - I was past there on foot today - wide open. I'm not surprised though if it is fuller from time to time, especially around the holidays. I also have not been the only one that has pointed out the availability of spaces.
Seems like a mute point now though, doesn't it. Shot down like it should have been.
Cricket
1:49 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
CD - I think the garden room is open at 10 though isn't it?
CowDung
1:56 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
It might be--I usually only go there to eat...
...and I have seen the parking areas in front of Anaba filled on occasion.
Cricket
1:54 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
BTW - I received a nice reply email from the executive director of the Shorewood Business District. He said the Trolly has been done in the past and is a bit on the pricey side, around $700 to rent for a few hours. I do remember seeing the trolly go by my house for some Christmas events in the past with Santa on board.
Alol
3:14 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
I would've imagined it was on the pricey side. Too bad. Thanks for looking into that!
CowDung
3:38 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
How much is that $700 if it is spread out among the various businesses (or business districts) and supported with 50 cent or $1 fares?
Running it during the weekends between now and Christmas would be $4,200 (6 afternoons). Half that if it were only run on Saturdays. Not sure what ridership was in the past, but it doesn't seem like too big of a hit. Are there other business district organizations (in WFB or east side MKE) that would be willing to split the cost?
Cricket
3:55 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
I think it would be worth it to do it several weekends in December. Not sure how many businesses are open on Sundays. Tie it in with a lunch/dinner/drinks type thing. I'd love to do that on a snowy day or evening. I have never eaten at Anaba as their menu has never appealed to me but I know many people love it. I readily admit to being predisposed to not liking the Garden Room however, as I have been virtually ignored the several times I have been in there. When I worked retail it was hammered in to your head to acknowledge your customer regardless if you think they are going to spend money or not.
Alol
4:07 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
That's what I was wondering--if all of the businesses could pool their money into this, would it be worth it. The greater number of businesses chipping in, the lower the cost for each business, obviously. Maybe if it proved successful it could be operated more than just during the holidays. I really think it would be worth a try.
Alol
1:57 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
The tea room website says it opens at 11 at this time of year, but the garden room site doesn't list any hours.