Would one-way boost First St. safety?

Safety. That is the number one concern for La Conner's First Street, Fire Chief Aaron Reinstra told the 40 people gathered to discuss parking and traffic patterns at last Tuesday evening's Community Mingle at the Civic Garden Club, Feb. 20. His early remarks set the tone and focused residents' attention on fire department data: La Conner's firetruck has been on South First Street for two calls per month on average over the past two years.

In his opening remarks, Director of Planning Michael Davolio stated that safety was the primary concern then emphasized the first goal was "to establish parking rules." His stress on "solutions, not one solution," his statement that studies find that sufficient parking exists on South First Street and his focus on regulations – or enforcing too lenient regulations – did not hold attendees' attention.

Assistant Planner Ajah Eills also took a coordinating role. She had prepped the seven tables with handouts, including a Google-type street map, a recent arial photo showing cars parallel parked, and the same photo Photoshopped with angle-parked cars. The groups of four to six people each had a planning commissioner or Councilmembers Rick Dole or Annie Taylor as their resource person.

Each group pored over the map and photos. The tenor of all conversations, reported out in the last 15 minutes, were steered by Reinstra's early remarks, prompted by Dorothy Downes' question: "Will a one-way street with one lane of parallel parking (work)?"

"One way is what I want. ... My main goal is one way on First Street," Reinstra had said at the beginning. Later he endorsed "One way (traffic flow) with parallel parking works perfectly fine for me."

At least one person brought that up as a year ago configuration during April's Tulip Festival.

Reporting for his table after 30 minutes of discussion, Planning Commissioner Bruce Bradburn's summary hit common themes: One way travel south on First Street, only from Washington Street; two-way traffic from Morris Street to the post office; one-sided parallel parking – though different tables advocated for each side of the street and some wanted parallel parking on both sides. Strong parking enforcement is critical need, too.

There was repeated agreement on a free and frequent shuttle from the La Conner Marina parking lot on N. Third Street and the S. Third Street lot below Town Hall. Julie Lennartz, whose family has owned the La Conner Pub and Eatery for 51 years, said, "A shuttle is the most important (need). (Merchants) have requested it for years and years."

Minimizing traffic on Second Street was also widely championed, especially by a cohort of Second Street residents. Making it one-way traveling south, perhaps from Benton Street, and a Do Not Enter sign at Commercial/Douglas and Second streets were suggested.

As Lennartz said, "I don't want to encourage traffic in any part of town. Consider how to route traffic out of town. The hill is a residential area."

Town staff were the primary supporters of extending First Street south to Caledonia Street.

Ideas that were not in agreement included paid parking versus all free parking and closing First Street during high traffic periods.

One unique option was making First Street pedestrian only, Madeleine Roozen offering Leavensworth and Carmel, California, as examples. She also wondered where people will park downtown if residential density was increased.

Another unique suggestion was building a parking garage south of Calico Cupboard.

Town officials got a large turnout of 30 and some diversity of attendees they desired. While there was what some might call the usual suspects of elder activists, there was more than a scattering of younger adults. Allied groupings included First Street merchants and Second and Third Street residents. Some 10 town officials, elected, volunteer and staff, filled out the group.

Planning Commissioner John Leaver noted and then sent an email regarding what he saw as an absent constituency: asking "WHERE WAS THE CHAMBER Of COMMERCE?" He reported their absence from every organized town discussion on parking.

As Davolio said at the beginning, no solutions were adopted. He asked for written comments and said a spring utility bill may contain a survey. Non-attending residents can also send suggestions to [email protected].