Council approves design variance for North Garden Street project to preserve angled parking by Harmon Park

The New Ulm City Council on Feb. 18 approved a resolution requesting a design variance from Minnesota state-aid standards for the planned 2027 North Garden Street project so the city can retain the existing 45-degree angled parking adjacent to Harmon Park.

Public works/staff presenter Mr. Stadheim told council the corridor between Center Street and Fifth North has been programmed for state and federal aid in 2023 and 2024 (roughly $1.68 million in 2023 and $1.71 million in 2024) to assist construction. He said state-aid design standards call for 14 feet of distance between the back of a parking stall and the traffic lane on roads carrying more than 3,000 vehicles per day; the city is requesting to retain an existing 4-foot distance for the angled parking area near Harmon Park.

Stadheim detailed the rationale: angled parking supports the adjacent recreation fields’ parking needs; the combined current width of parking stall plus buffer is 30 feet and the proposed combined width would be 36 feet even with the 4-foot back-of-stall clearance; meeting the state standard would require eliminating sidewalk or encroaching on the recreation fields or removing diagonal parking, which staff do not favor. He said peak vehicular traffic and peak park use times do not coincide, which reduces conflict risk.

Stadheim said, if the council approves, the city will submit the variance to MnDOT’s state aid variance committee on March 27 for final action. Councilor discussion touched on whether the design could reduce parking; staff said bump-outs in the design may affect one or two spaces but the plan aims to maintain as much on-street parking as possible.

A resolution approving the design-variance request for project SP148-121-010 passed on roll call.