City Council decides not to consider commuter parking on residential streets

The Lake Forest Park City Council voted unanimously not to consider commuter parking on residential streets at its meeting of September 27. The Council had originally authorized a contract on June 28 to gather information as to whether there was capacity on portions of 41st and 44th Avenues near the Town Center to install parking that could serve commuters trying to get to the SR 522 bus lines. The Council was careful not to commit to considering a project prior to receiving the information, which was delivered on September 24.

Councilmember Jeff Johnson commended the neighborhoods for organizing to oppose, what “… turned out to be a bad idea.” He asked them not to blame the Mayor or the Council for having an idea. Johnson said he appreciated their energy and asked them to stay involved in trying to solve the park / ride siting problem that has plagued Lake Forest Park for years. Several other councilmembers expressed similar thoughts.

In a subsequent motion by Deputy Mayor Catherine Stanford (also approved 7-0), the Council assigned its Local Governance Committee to continue to study options to resolve this long-standing problem and to use a $500,000 state grant for a park and ride or other option to get people out of cars and on to buses in light of the extra traffic through Lake Forest Park brought by tolling to cross the SR 520 bridge.