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Bid Board hears explanation of new downtown parking, loading and EV stall markings
Summary
City staff outlined why downtown spaces were repainted with hatched areas, grouped ADA stalls and restricted electric-vehicle spots; staff said some parking counts changed because of crosswalk clearances required by state statute 346.53.
City staff gave the West Bend City Bid Board a detailed walkthrough of the new downtown parking striping and designated loading zones during the March 4 meeting.
Max (staff member) said hatched areas along the redesigned downtown serve four purposes: preserve access to existing alleys and driveways, mark small leftover curb spaces that are too short for a full stall, create a 15-foot clear zone at crosswalks to comply with state statute 346.53, and provide the separation required for ADA-accessible stalls. “The ones with the letter c are … to be compliant with the state statute … that prohibits parking within 15 feet of the near edge of a crosswalk,” Max said.
Max said some hatched areas were dual-purpose—covering both crosswalk clearance and the hatch area required to serve an adjacent ADA stall—so a single painted area can satisfy both requirements. He said the transportation group also recommended two time-limited loading zones (for the theater and an area just north of Walnut Street); those stalls operate as loading only during specified hours and are available for regular parking outside those hours.
On electric-vehicle stalls, Max said the rule in West Bend is that vehicles must be actively charging to park in EV-designated stalls. “If they are actively charging, they would be parked legally. Outside of that, if they are done charging, then, obviously, they would have to move to another spot,” he said.
Board members asked whether the downtown ultimately gained or lost parking compared with earlier estimates. Max said he had not done a final count and believed the city likely lost some stalls—“probably a little lower” than an earlier estimate—because of the new crosswalk clearances. Another staff member said the final post-construction count was “pretty close to our target of between 35 and 40,” and that the number often reported was about 36, excluding carve-outs for crosswalks and ADA areas.
The city agreed to distribute Max’s PDF parking map and the questions-and-answers he prepared; the map includes links to Google Street View at each marked hatch area so board members can see exact locations.
