Punta Gorda staff to map downtown ADA parking and drop-off zones after safety concerns

City staff will return to the Punta Gorda City Council with a recommended plan identifying specific on‑street Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) parking spaces and short-term drop‑off zones for the West Marion Avenue downtown area after council members pressed for safer, closer access for people with limited mobility.

Urban design planner Carl Benz told the council staff had reviewed proposed locations and concluded some curbside ADA stalls would narrow existing walk aisles. "These drop off zones are not actual ADA parking spaces," Benz said, "but they facilitate those that are permanently and temporarily handicapped and can assist possibly more people." He described alternative locations where the city could expand sidewalks into an adjacent band of green space to create compliant spaces without narrowing walkways.

Council members emphasized safety and convenience, and asked staff to identify both drop‑off spaces and a modest number of additional ADA stalls near the core. Councilmember Janine Pope said people are already using part of West Marion as an informal drop‑off area and that formal spaces with signage would reduce dangerous stopping in traffic. "People are doing it now—stopping on Marion when there are already cars parked there. It's extremely dangerous," Pope said.

Staff and council discussed walk distances to key destinations, ramp and van access needs, and the possibility of relocating existing on‑street handicap stalls closer to Marion and Taylor as an interim fix. Several council members supported creating multiple short‑term drop‑off bays — one suggestion was two to three spaces to allow a large van or two vehicles to load/unload safely — and using clear signage: "drop off only, no parking." Benz and staff said they would research walking-distance measures, examples from other municipalities and ADA technical requirements, then return with a map of recommended locations and suggested signage.

The council did not take a formal vote on a policy change at the meeting; staff was directed to report back with specific sites, recommended counts of drop‑off and ADA stalls, signage proposals and examples from other cities.

The council also discussed trade-offs about using green strips behind sidewalks to expand curbside space and noted potential future development could remove those buffers, which would require future rethinking of locations. Public safety and access for senior living facilities and families with strollers were cited repeatedly as driving reasons for quick staff action.