As Main Street in Grapevine continues to bring in more visitors, city leaders said they have recognized there is a parking shortfall that needs to be addressed, particularly on South Main.
“We are victims of our own success on Main Street,” said Dan Weinberger, owner of Weinberger’s Deli at 601 S. Main St. “We’ve done so well, we’ve grown so much; and done so much to bring people into the historic area that is very difficult to accommodate all these guests we are bringing to Main Street.”[totalpoll id="170939"]
Grapevine Public Works Director Stan Laster said a study was completed last year on downtown parking. He said that through the study city staff was able to see that there is not an adequate amount of parking on the southern half of Main in the historic district.
“The demand [for parking] on the northern half of Main Street is pretty much met by the existing parking,” Laster said. “In the southern half we are shy about 200 spaces, and that was shown from the study we did last year.”
In the historic district, North Main is the area between Northwest Highway and Franklin Street, and South Main runs from Franklin to Nash Street.
Issues with parking on the southern half of Main Street came up in July when City Council approved an ordinance that removed some parking spaces on the north side of East College Street because of a resident complaint.
Weinberger, whose business fronts Main and College, was directly affected.
“I did not feel it was necessary to remove the spots,” he said. “In a day a parking space can turn over between eight and 14 times a day, which means that’s eight to 14 people that may not come in anymore.”
However, Laster said the resident’s complaint was valid.
“The issue in this particular case was that people were parking so close to an individual’s driveway that she couldn’t get in and out of her driveway,” he said. “From talking to [JE Foust & Son] Funeral Home, we learned it was a problem for them as well, as they have a driveway that leads out to College, so we proposed to eliminate three spaces.”
Parking garages
City staff said parking relief will come to business owners on Main, particularly those on the south end, in the form of a parking garage, which will be built as part of the TEX Rail station at Dallas Road and Main. The parking garage is expected to open in 2018.
“There’s not really anywhere left to build parking unless you build up,” Laster said.
Although a final number of parking spaces in the garage has not been determined, Laster said staff has “been bouncing around with 300-350 spots. The goal is to resolve all of the parking issues we anticipate having in the future.”
Valorie Muse, president of the Historic Downtown Grapevine Association and owner of One Posh Place, said she is unsure of how helpful the garage will be for merchants on the northern end.
“I’m not sure how much [the garage] is going to help with parking on [North] Main because it is so far away from [shops] down here,” she said. “I still think we need another parking garage in this area.”
Laster said the city recently rebuilt a parking lot near North Main at the northeast corner of Jenkins Street and Wall Street that can accommodate 141 vehicles. He said in the future, if staff sees there is a demand for a parking garage on North Main, it would be built in that parking lot.
Debi Meek, owner of Bermuda Gold & Silver at 404 Main St., said she thinks a parking garage would be a solution to the parking problem.
“I think a parking garage right next door to Esparza’s [Restaurante Mexicano] would be a great idea,” she said. “As Grapevine continues to become even more of a destination than it already is, the people are going to multiply, and parking is going to get significantly worse.”
Muse said another solution might be to have people park in a vacant parking lot and be bused to Main like the city does for events and festivals.
Future of parking
As businesses continue to open on Main, Assistant Director of Development Services Ron Stombaugh said parking will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Stombaugh said in most cases new parking is not needed to accommodate new businesses as the new business usually provides the same services as the business before it.
“If [the new business] is like the business that was previously established, theoretically that conversation about parking has already [taken place], so we don’t revisit it,” he said. “The only time we would revisit [parking] is if it was a need for a public hearing or the particular use was a complete different change than what was already established.”
He also said that parking standards downtown are unique in that historic downtown is zoned as a central business district, which allows the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council to consider alternatives or even reduce the parking that is required in an ordinance.
However, City Manager Bruno Rumbelow said the city will continue to add parking when it can.
“What we are trying to do is add capacity where it makes sense to add capacity,” he said. “The economics of Main Street are important to us. And parking is important to the customer, the building and to the tenants so it is an issue we have taken seriously for a really long time.”
