By JON WILSON, Consulting Editor, TBReporter

The meetings will help develop a plan to meet current and future parking demand downtown.

ST. PETERSBURG  — The City of St. Petersburg has begun a study of parking conditions in the downtown area and is asking for the public’s help in identifying parking issues and opportunities. Two public workshops are scheduled. The workshops will be interactive, allowing community members to share their downtown parking experiences and suggest enhancements.

The study will look at parking demand and supply in the area generally from Fifth Avenue N to Fifth Avenue S between Tampa Bay and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street. The study area also includes the area between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street and I-275 from one block north of First Avenue N to one block south of First Avenue S.

The study is a step in developing a plan to meet current and future parking demand in the study area. The plan will recommend alternatives for solving identified parking issues and strategies for managing existing parking resources. The city has hired Kimley Horn to conduct the study and provide recommendations. 

The first public workshop is 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday (July 21) at Pinot’s Palette, 1572 Central Ave. It will focus on the Edge District and there will be free two-hour parking.

The second workshop is 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday (July 22) at the Museum of Fine Arts, 255 Beach Drive NE. It will focus on the Downtown Core.

There will be free parking in the Beach Drive/Dolphin Lot (north side of pier approach) by placing a copy of the workshop flyer on your car dashboard. You can find it here: http://www.stpete.org/transportation/parking_management/docs/WkshpFlyer_PkgStudy_2015_0710_Final.pdf). Download the workshop flyer at http://www.stpete.org/transportation/parking_management/.

Anyone interested in sharing observations and experiences involving downtown parking is encouraged to attend the workshop of their choosing. The public is also invited to complete an online opinion survey for the parking study. Completed surveys must be submitted by Aug. 1. More details are provided on the online survey site:  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GNXJCJ7 .

For more information on the downtown parking study or workshops, contact Evan Mory, Director, Transportation and Parking Management, City of St. Petersburg at Evan.Mory@stpete.org or (727) 551-3322, or Mark Santos, Kimley Horn, at mark.santos@kimley-horn.com or (786) 208-0891.

St. Petersburg |Neighborhood News |Downtown | The Edge | Parking

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