Finding parking downtown could become a little bit easier very soon — if the City Council approves a proposal to add 45 spaces to the 76-space parking lot on the southwest corner of Albert Avenue and Bailey Street, that is.
The city had to sacrifice 34 public parking spots near the Albert-Bailey intersection to make way for the Stonehouse Village III redevelopment, which involves the construction of a five-story, mixed-use building containing 36 residential condominiums and 122 parking spaces — some of which will become public parking spaces — on Bailey Street between Grand River and Albert avenues.
When the multistory Stonehouse Village III project is completed, the first story will be available for public parking. The project should be completed within the next six months, but until then, the city will continue to face parking shortages.
More students move farther away from campus every year and choose to drive into town.
East Lansing also is a growing city, and both of these facts lead to more cars on the streets and a higher demand for parking spaces. Thirty-four spaces may seem trivial, but this proposal would replace those 34 spots and create 11 more. Anything the city can do to improve planning should be done, no matter how small the project.
Adding parking spaces downtown would help the city’s parking situation as well as local businesses — as it is, customers complain about not having enough parking in the area. The proposal also plans to change the entrance to the lot from Albert Avenue to Bailey Street. That would help ease the occasional congestion and aid the flow of traffic.
Offering more parking with an entrance connected to Bailey Street also would create an alternative to parking in the Division Street parking ramp, which would help alleviate some of the traffic that can build up on Division Street between Grand River and Albert avenues.
Extending the lot to the east is the only possible solution in that particular area because the lot is surrounded by businesses to the south and houses to the west and north.
Last spring, a house was torn down in the area of expansion, and the lot currently sits unused.
The construction for the new lot would likely be quick and simple, making this proposal a realistic and easy fix to a real problem.
The East Lansing Planning Commission unanimously voted in favor of the proposal during a public hearing Wednesday.
The East Lansing City Council will review the site plan during a council meeting in coming weeks and will eventually vote on the proposal. Expanding the lot will allow for more much-needed parking in the area. Changing the entrance will eliminate annoying backups on Albert Avenue. The council should follow the planning commission’s lead and vote in favor of the proposal — if only to create more parking options and fewer hassles as quickly as possible.
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