PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend Main Street Program has proposed establishing an experimental “parklet” this summer, turning a single parking space into a green area that provides respite in the downtown area.
Samantha Thomas, a walkability expert who also serves on the Main Street board, introduced the concept to about a dozen people at the Palace Hotel on Thursday morning.
“Those merchants who have parklets nearby see an economic benefit,” Thomas said.
“They provide a place for people to sit and enjoy themselves while they are downtown.”
The idea is an extension of an experiment at the 2014 Wooden Boat Festival, when Thomas secured an event permit to occupy a space on Water Street near Elevated Ice Cream, decorating it with plants, dividers and a boat sculpture.
Thomas said that during the festival, about 18 people an hour, or about 400 people over the weekend, stopped at the parklet and paused for at least a few minutes.
Thomas is advocating creating a parklet on the water end of Tyler Street in front of Better Living Through Coffee as a way to test the concept and decide whether to create more parklets throughout the downtown area.
Main Street has allocated $2,400 for its creation, which includes creating a barrier, installing plants, building a sculpture and purchasing chairs.
Main Street officials said they plan to work with city officials to gain approval for one of the spots, hoping to build and install the parklet in July and keep it stationary through the Wooden Boat Festival, Sept. 11-13.
Ken Clow, city public works director, called the parklet idea “a unique situation” for which there is no policy in place.
Once the city receives a request from Main Street, it will be addressed by the Public Works and Development Services departments “to determine what is appropriate,” Clow said.
The finished product would be easily disassembled and moved to another location, according to Main Street Executive Director Mari Mullen.
Depending on the response to the parklet, Main Street could establish several more locations next year or rethink the idea, Thomas said.
“If it works, we’ll make it permanent,” she said. “If it doesn’t, we’ll refine it and try it again.”
While last year’s parklet was on the regular tourist path, such places may be more effective in areas off the main drag, Thomas said.
The Tyler Street location is favorable “because it provides something on this end of town,” Mullen said.
Other possible locations include a portion of the parking lot near Quimper Mercantile or a space in front of the Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader office on Adams Street.
Thomas expects that any parklet would find immediate acceptance.
“When you build places for people to gather, people come,” she said.
“We want to get people to stop where they might not normally stop.”
In the long term, Thomas would like to see the entire half-block of Tyler Street between Water Street and the water turned into a park, saying it now is hard to navigate and the source of much traffic congestion and confusion.
For that to occur, a permitting and public comment period would be required.
A business adjacent to a parklet will lose a parking space, but that isn’t a negative thing, according to Beverly Malagon, owner of the Kuhn Building on Water Street.
“It’s not a drawback to lose a parking space in front of your business because people will sit there for a while right in front of your window, and they will be tempted to come into the store,” she said.
While a parklet is a small area, there were some who sought to shrink the concept even further.
Wynwoods Bead Gallery’s Lois Venarchick advocates installing chairs and benches along Water Street so people can just sit down for a while to take a break from shopping,
“A lot of older people just want to have a place to sit down when they are going from one place to another,” said meeting attendee Katherine Baril, who retired from the WSU Extension office five years ago.
Main Street is currently soliciting comments from both merchants and members of the public about what they would like to see — or not see — in a parklet.
To comment, call 360-385-3911 or email director@ptmainstreet.com.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.