Residents, business owners and council spar over proposed North Water Street parking restriction

Ordinance 8-19-26, which would restrict parking on North Water Street, drew multiple public comments and a cautious council response at the Aug. 5 Committee of the Whole meeting.

Resident Jake Hartman said the proposal would remove parking used by his household and nearby businesses and described efforts to contact city staff without success. “So what we would ask as a family is not to take our parking away, not to take their parking away, not to take our neighbors parking away, not to take business owners parking away,” he said, and urged council to consider a smaller 60-foot restriction rather than the 100-foot item on the agenda.

Downtown business owner Nicole Louie told the council that losing on-street spaces would hurt merchants and worried that the city lot across the street feels unsafe for pedestrians without a marked crossing. Council members asked staff about delivery patterns and whether the issue was caused by a single business’s delivery practices. Multiple alderpersons said they were not comfortable moving the ordinance forward at this time and favored further discussion or referral to a committee that could consider business impacts.

Outcome: Council did not advance the 100-foot restriction at the meeting and signaled more conversation would be needed before any formal change to parking on North Water Street.