HUMBOLDT — Humboldt council has passed a motion to change the current no parking area in the alley to the north of the Windsor Hotel to allow four paid parking spaces at a monthly rate.
The motion was passed with an understanding that and should the lane be required in the future, the parking spaces can be removed allowing this portion of the alley to revert back to being a lane way with parking being prohibited.
Mike Kwasnica, Humboldt’s director of protective services, told council that this is following a few business owners as well as community members who work downtown approaching the city with questions and concerns both for allowing more parking in the area as well as increasing enforcement of the no parking zone.
Kwasnica said the plan for the four new spaces is to place the signage and gauge interest in whether a standard rental is the method effective at meeting the needs.
“If we have more people than what we have spots available, maybe that’s what we have to do is go to a lottery – but we would put the signage up first and see who’s interested in those spots,” he said.
Some of the concerns raised were regarding the increased enforcement of the two hour limit on downtown parking, which created parking issues for some employees working in the downtown area. Other concerns were regarding people already using it as a parking zone, despite clearly being labelled “No Parking.”
In response, administration reached out to several Main Street businesses, which had no issues with allowing parking.
The Windsor Hotel management was concerned that if the city were to allow parking along the entire stretch it may create an issue for the semi-trucks delivering products to the rear of the building. Administration said that after speaking with the Windsor Hotel management, they agreed that approximately four parking spots would not interfere with their deliveries.
After observing the area, the city noted that on average no more than two or three cars seem to park there on a given day.
