By Michael Howell
Hamilton School District Superintendent Tom Korst came to the last Committee of the Whole meeting to ask the Hamilton City Council to consider granting a variance to the city code requirements concerning the number of parking spaces required at the old Westview school building that the district has agreed to lease to the University of Montana Bitterroot College.
Having maxed out its current accommodations at Ravalli County Entrepreneurship Center on Old Corvallis Road, the Bitterroot College decided to move to town and has agreed to a five-year lease of the Westview school building including some renovation and additions. Korst told the committee members that the school had a plan to provide the 109 parking spaces that city code requires for the project but does not have the money to create all the spaces at this time. He asked for a variance from the requirement that the parking spaces be installed before opening up for business and instead a chance to provide the spaces in a phased fashion over the next five years.
Korst noted that right now the Westview property had 53 parking spaces with 17 off-street parking spaces. He said the district was currently looking at an option of acquiring another 35 spaces across Main Street at the Armory. He said there were options for creating the additional parking required but the primary option under consideration would involve relocating the tennis courts and cost about $400,000. He said that would not only take too much time but would also cost too much money. He said the money was just not in the district’s budget. He also stated that at its current location, with 210 students enrolled, the college was getting by with 77 parking spaces and it was working.
City Attorney Karen Mahar said that such a phase-in plan, if agreed to, would have to include some sort of security such as a bond, certified letter of credit, or some other option for guaranteeing the infrastructure improvements will be made. She said generally, at this time, a bond on a $100,000 project could be gotten for about $1,000. She said besides bonding and letters of credit several other options were available according to the law.
Victoria Clark, Director of the Bitterroot College, said that she understood the need for security and that she would be fine with the stipulation, “but we would like it to be affordable.”
Chair of the Hamilton School District Board of Trustees David Bedey, Hamilton Downtown Business Improvement District Chair Mark Newman and Russ Lawrence of the Hamilton Downtown Association, all spoke in favor of granting of the variance.
One resident in the area noted that parking during football games currently created real problems in the neighborhood and having a college there could too. She said local residents should be considered.
Asked if the college could control student parking and prohibit students from parking on the east side of 9th street in front of residences, Clark said the college had no authority to do that but the city could regulate it by establishing a ‘residential parking only’ zone.
“Residential parking is a great way to go,” she said.
The committee agreed to move the variance request to the full City Council for consideration.
Attorney Mahar also brought up the issue of some amendments and a proposed new parking ordinance that had been drafted for consideration by the council in response to recent discussions concerning the time limit on parking in the downtown. She said that state laws and past city resolutions concerning parking had been reviewed and noted that the city created a Parking Commission in the 1970’s that was later abolished.
She said a Parking Commission was created again in the 1980’s with no record that it was ever abolished, but currently it is “defunct,” she said. She said a couple of Parking Plans were created in the 1990’s.
Now Mahar has drafted a proposed new Parking Ordinance. She said it involves an amendment to an associated ordinance governing the use of sidewalks and skateboards. Instead of a Parking Officer the parking regulations would be enforced by general police officers. It addresses the issue of loading and unloading in front of businesses by establishing a process in which the Public Works Department examines any request and makes a recommendation to the Council where it can be approved by resolution or denied.
The new ordinance would allow for parking tickets to be handled by simply paying a fee. Going to Court would only be required if the ticket was protested. The new ordinance would also lift all the time restrictions on parking in the downtown but other restrictions such as handicapped only and taking up more than one parking space would still apply.
The proposed Parking Ordinance was moved to the full Council for consideration.