Parallel Parking vs. our Comp Plan

Chairman Quam,
In my net loss of parking calculation regarding Pine Avenue, I neglected to calculate the frontage unavailable for parking at the intersections of Pine and any side street. Adding the requisite visibility triangles to those intersections results in the loss of 16 additional parking spaces. Net loss if we adopt parallel parking on Pine would be 107 spaces, not 91.

At a recent meeting you suggested there was nothing in the Comp Plan that required on-site parking. You may be right, but I'm not certain that's true. If you go to the Future Land Use Element of the Comp Plan, Policy 1.1.2, you'll find this near the end of the list of bulleted items: "Provide requirements for the provision of open space, and safe and convenient on-site traffic flow and parking requirements." To me, "on-site" means on the subject property.

There's also this language to contend with: "Policy 1.3.7 All commercial uses shall be located and designed so as to enhance safety by providing adequate off-street parking and loading areas and by separating pedestrian and vehicular traffic." Obviously the key words are "off-street parking and loading areas." What exactly is meant by that?

If the Comp Plan said "on-street" would we interpret that to mean "in the middle of the street?" No. We'd say that meant parallel to the street or directly adjacent to the street. To me, "off-street" precludes parallel parking or parking directly adjacent to the street. To me, "off-street" means "on-site." Your interpretation may differ.

There's also the language in Policy 1.3.8 to deal with. Curbs, where they exist, are alway situated at the edge of a road to create a barrier between the roadway and the sidewalk. The language in this policy is about minimizing direct access onto major roads. Parallel parking or any form of adjacent to the street parking maximizes direct access. The only way to minimize direct access is to require driveways and on-site parking.

Recent assertions that situating parking on-site encourages strip development don't hold up in light of our Comp Plan's parking policies. Sun Plaza exactly conforms to those policies. On-site parking with room to maneuver on the subject property, side street access via a driveway, which minimizes direct access to the main road. The end result is not strip development; it's safe traffic circulation.

Thanks for listening.

Harry Stoltzfus
Anna Maria City Commissioner

Sidewalk Lunacy

February 27, 2010

In November, I suggested the City of Anna Maria had mistakenly approved site plans in the Residential/Office/Retail (ROR), based on this language in our Comp Plan: “. . . the City’s traffic circulation system shall emphasize safety and aesthetics . . . , separate pedestrian and vehicular traffic . . . , minimize direct access onto major roads”, and accommodate “bicycle and pedestrian traffic needs.” I maintained requiring vehicles to drive across the sidewalk to park, and then back out, sometimes blindly, through pedestrian, bicycle and vehicular traffic to re-enter the roadway, did not meet the above standards, and was inherently unsafe.

My assertions were labeled “monkey wrench” issues. Opponents said we’ve never had a fatality on Pine Avenue, so there is no safety issue. Some said “changing the rules in the middle of the game” was a taking of developer property rights.

My contention was then, and is now; the rules are already in place. They’ve simply not been consistently applied.

From our Land Development Regulations (LDR): “All off-street parking areas, including all areas for maneuvering, shall be located solely on the subject property, shall not use public rights-of-way, . . . and shall be designed to provide safe and convenient circulation.” “Maneuver”, when describing a vehicle, means “steer”.

Restated, every developed lot shall have a driveway; vehicles must enter the subject property to park.

Those who cried “you can’t change the rules” have now proposed the biggest parking rule change in the history of Anna Maria. They’ve asked the City to cede the City-owned right-of-way for parking and allow property owners to determine where to position the sidewalk. Instead of lining Pine Avenue with trees, they wish to line it with cars. It screams “Commercial District!”

It’s a half-access solution. Vehicles will still back into bicycle and vehicle traffic. Property owners will still need driveways to accommodate loading zones. And our sidewalks will weave back and forth the length of Pine, sometimes in the city right-of-way, sometimes on private property, depending on whether or not the owner volunteers to move the sidewalk.

At issue: what do we want the Anna Maria of our future to look like? Do we change the LDR and the Comp Plan to accommodate the wishes of a few, thereby allowing larger buildings and greater commercial intensity in our ROR? Or do we clarify the existing language in the LDR, carrying out our Comp Plan’s goals which are: “to protect the single family residential character of the City within the Residential/Office/Retail Land Use Category, . . . preserve the unique, historic cottage type housing . . .” and “encourage property owners to build less than the maximum size buildings.”

If you care about the outcome of this discussion, you should go to City Hall Thursday, March 4, at 6:00 for the Joint Session of P&Z and the Commission and voice your opinion. Or email the City for city-wide distribution: amclerk@cityofannamaria.com

Thanks for listening.

Harry Stoltzfus

Anna Maria City Commissioner

Parking and Sidewalk Safety in the ROR

The following was written for a handout at the most recent P&Z and Commission Joint Session

January 11, 2010

It’s been suggested we have three options regarding off street parking configurations:
1. Continue as we are. Change nothing.
2. Move the sidewalks.
3. Create driveways and require off-street parking configurations on the developed properties.
I suggest Option 1 is no longer an option, for these reasons.
By Florida statute:
Title XXIII
MOTOR VEHICLES Chapter 316
STATE UNIFORM TRAFFIC CONTROL

316.1995 Driving upon sidewalk or bicycle path.--No person shall drive any vehicle other than by human power upon a bicycle path, sidewalk, or sidewalk area, except upon a permanent or duly authorized temporary driveway. A violation of this section is a noncriminal traffic infraction, punishable as a moving violation as provided in chapter 318.

We’ve got a problem. Either we designate every location in which a vehicle crosses a sidewalk a driveway, or the drivers of those vehicles crossing the sidewalk are committing moving violations. It’s illegal to drive across a sidewalk unless you’re on a driveway.

Attention – Feb. 11, 2010, 6 p.m. Joint Commission & P&Z Board Meeting

This Thurs. Feb. 11, 2010 at 6 p.m. (not 7 p.m.) the City Commission and the P&Z Board will have a joint work session meeting entitled Review of Chapter 90 – Internal Traffic Circulation and Access. The agenda items will be:
a. Recommendations from Safety Committee Regarding Minimizing Safety Hazards with Vehicles Backing Out Across Sidewalks in ROR District.
b. Review of Chapter 90.

In a nutshell – what do ‘we’ people of Anna Maria want our City to look and feel like? How do we want it to function? When you drive down the narrow main streets of our city, along Pine Ave. and Gulf Dr., do you want to see the tail ends of parked cars backing out towards the street across the entire frontage of commercial properties along the length of the business district?
OR do you want to see limited driveway openings leading to small parking areas on the business properties (like the Sun Plaza at Magnolia and Gulf) where there is a proper driveway leading to on-site parking with a pretty hedge safely separating cars from a safer and more ‘walkable’ pedestrian sidewalk. (I think that is what Chapter 90 basically says already; it should be applied.)

Work session meetings are always important. Consensus is often taken for code revision ‘language’. The public will be allowed to comment. This is a big deal. This code will define the main streets of our beach town! See you there on Thurs. at 6 p.m.!