Lake Avenue West is one of a handful of public streets in the city that require a permit to park, but this may change as the city looks to address parking problems in downtown Kirkland.

The Economic Development Committee is currently looking into several recommendations made by city staff for increasing accessibility to parking, including the possibility of a garage under Lee Johnson Field in the heart of downtown.

The City Council discussed those options during their April 7 meeting.

The recommendations were based on feedback the city received from residents at various community outreach meetings in February and March.

The short-term solutions included improving lighting and maintenance at the library garage along Kirkland Avenue, better parking rule enforcement, as well as adding more signage to help drivers locate open parking stalls.

They also recommended looking at placing time restrictions on parking along Market Street.

Some of the long-term solutions were turning the city’s property south of City Hall into a public parking lot, in addition to exploring mobile technology options.

The council also discussed possibly opening up Lake Avenue West to public parking.

Under Kirkland municipal code, a person is required to get a permit to park on both sides of the street beginning immediately northwest of 115 Lake Avenue West and continuing just past 295 Lake Ave. W. Other streets near Juanita High School also require permits during the day.

However, one resident who spoke during public comment warned that Lake Avenue West has no sidewalks and would not be able to handle the additional traffic.

“Lake Avenue West is a heavily used pedestrian corridor,” he said. “The street is used by pedestrians all times of the day and to have parking with cars…would cause a real safety issue.”

Adding more parking was also among the options the city staff looked at, including the city property south of City Hall along 5th Avenue where two buildings have been demolished to make room for contractors as they renovate Kirkland City Hall.

One of the benefits, city staff concluded, is the property’s proximity to downtown, though there are concerns over how increased traffic would impact the neighborhood.

Acting on behalf of the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce, Director Bruce Wynn presented several short-term solutions for parking, which included imposing four-hour limits on parking along Market Street up to Sixth Avenue.

They also proposed opening up Lake Avenue West to a four-hour limit for public parking, while providing unlimited permitted parking for downtown employees at the city property south of City Hall. Under the chamber’s proposal, non-permitted parking at the city property would be limited to four hours, as well.

For long-term solutions, the chamber suggested building an underground parking garage beneath Lee Johnson Field and Peter Kirk Park.

“The city has a bold vision for the future and must take bold actions to ensure sufficient parking for all stake holders,” Wynn said.

Kirkland City Manager Kurt Triplett said an underground parking garage under Peter Kirk Park is theoretically possible, and in the downtown strategic plan underground parking is preferred over surface parking.

But, he said, coming up with the money would be difficult.

“We’re talking tens of millions of dollar for a parking garage, and we don’t have any ready source for that,” he said. “That’s why it hasn’t been beyond the concept.”

Wynn also voiced support for using signage to help educate people about public parking locations and accessibility.

“The present and future parking of downtown must be managed more effectively,” he said.

Councilmember Penny Sweet, who runs Grape Choice in downtown, called the parking situation a “crisis.

The single biggest complaint she said she receives as a business owner is the lack of customer parking.

Fellow downtown business owner Bonnie McLeod, who runs an insurance company on Park Lane and previously served on the city’s parking advisory board, said one way to solve the problem is by not allowing developments to use parking studies to justify fewer stalls than allowed by zoning, only to get permits for their employees to park in the library on Kirkland Avenue when there are not enough stalls for customers.

McLeod added that permitted parking should not be allowed on Lake Avenue West unless similar permitting is allowed for every neighborhood affected by commercial parking.

“The number of employees is not growing at the rate of new residents,” she said. “Continuing to beat up the employees to get out of downtown is not going to solve the problem when the residents are growing.”

Despite the number of possible solutions, Councilmember Toby Nixon said they need to look at doing even more, such as making it easier for people to pay for parking.

“In general, we need to take a deeper look across the different options that we have,” he said.