The city of Durango’s proposal to install temporary back-in diagonal parking on parts of Seventh Street has left residents feeling blindsided.
The project aims to test if the parking design slows traffic and could serve as a model for other residential neighborhoods.
Residents say speeding isn’t a problem on Seventh Street, citing the city’s own data, and suspect the true motive is to add parking spaces for downtown visitors.
They also fear back-in diagonal parking would do more harm than good, changing street’s residential feel into something more akin to a parking lot. They say it would congest traffic, confuse cyclists and lead to drivers to back into trees or structures in the parkways between curbs and sidewalks, among other concerns.
The city acknowledges speed isn’t necessarily a problem on Seventh Street, but says it has received many complaints about speeding. The temporary project would help determine whether diagonal parking might work in other residential areas around town.
Residents of Seventh Street and nearby areas are upset the city didn’t consult them first. On July 1, 12 people spoke against the plan at City Council.
“I’ve been here for 14 years in the same home and I can confidently say that this project totally blindsided the neighborhood,” said Sarah Shaw, who lives at Seventh Street and East Fourth Avenue. “Residents were never asked if we supported the back-in diagonal parking or invited to a forum or asked for any input.”
She said if the project is truly about improving the neighborhood, residents should have been consulted from the start.
Shaw previously asked the city about installing sidewalks along Seventh Street to reduce speeding. But a speed survey last year showed 85% of vehicles on Seventh Street traveled at 24-26 mph – about the 25 mph speed limit – which does not indicate a speeding problem, said Keith Dougherty, city engineer, in an email to Shaw shared with The Durango Herald.
Multimodal Manager Devin King said speeds of 24-26 mph on a residential street are not typically something the city would address with street improvements. But the city has received numerous requests for action from residents, and temporary diagonal parking will help determine if diagonal parking reduces speeds by narrowing the roadway.
The Seventh Street project, along with two other demonstration projects proposed for Goeglein Gulch Road and Riverview Drive, is part of a speed management plan funded by a $300,000 Safe Streets for All grant the city received in April.
Transportation Director Sarah Hill said the project is designed to test traffic calming features on a residential street, an arterial road and a collector road.
The plan is to install alternating diagonal parking – having diagonal parking on one side of the street, then switching to the other side on the next block, and so on.
Eighth Street resident Andrew Aitken said his Seventh Street neighbors’ concerns are more immediate, but he’s worried if alternating diagonal parking is implemented on the next street over, it will eventually be rolled out across the grid.
“We all know it's probably about parking downtown. And to me, what this means is they're just going to exacerbate the issue that exists already. They’re addressing the symptom, not the underlying problem,” he said.
The real issue is a “a growing mismatch between commercial/downtown parking demand and available infrastructure,” he said in a written statement addressing the city’s proposal for diagonal parking.
He outlined alternative solutions used in other resort and mountain towns such as parking permits, government employee transportation and other systems.
Jama Crawford, who lives on East Third Avenue a half block from Seventh Street, was walking her dog along Seventh Street when she noticed a neighborhood meeting of residents concerned about the parking plan.
She said it’s good residents are organizing to preserve the residential character of the street.
“I feel like they gave up a lot of parking downtown (for bump-outs), which was great for the restaurants, but the solution shouldn't be to push that parking out into the residential areas,” she said.
King said the city is not trying to expand downtown parking into residential areas. He said the final design is still being developed, but Seventh Street would likely loose or gain only one space overall. The city would collect traffic data before, during and after the test to determine its efficiency.
He said back-in diagonal parking is the safest style of parking because it provides greater visibility to drivers. The plan also calls for curb extensions that would shorten the street length pedestrians must cross, he said.
Resident Shawn Brown said his 84-year-old mother-in-law, Joanne Bruton, has lived on the corner of Seventh Street and East Third Avenue for 56 years and is an “invested, engaged and giving” member of the community.
In a letter to City Council, he asked why the city hasn’t consulted Bruton or other residents about what they want for their neighborhood.
“Don't you think we deserve to have that acknowledgment at that time before they get something instituted out here and wait till everybody complains?” Bruton said in an interview. “Wouldn't you like to have the dialogue ahead of time? ‘This is our proposal, so what do you think about it?’ Because you’re going to find that most people do not favor that.”
She said residents’ concerns have fallen upon deaf ears at the city.
However, at a July 1 City Council meeting, Councilors Shirley Gonzales and Kip Koso requested more information about how removing Seventh Street from the list of demonstration projects would impact the city’s speed management plan.
Koso suggested the city could explore implementing a different residential street into the plan at a later time.
Hill said at an earlier meeting it’s probably too late to find a replacement street in time to implement it into designs currently being produced.
The projects are expected to be installed in August and removed at the end of October, King said.
Gonzales requested a staff briefing about how the city creates and discusses pilot projects with the community.
cburney@durangoherald.com
