Some fume over loss of parking in Marysville

By Brian Kelly

Herald Writer

MARYSVILLE — Some people are already feeling the pain of the Highway 529 bridge closure.

But that pain may be permanent.

To help prevent traffic tie-ups such as the ones last year when Highway 529 was closed between Marysville and Everett, the city of Marysville eliminated two parallel parking lanes on Fourth Street between State Avenue and 47th Avenue NE to increase the number of travel lanes from three to five.

The city council approved the changes last year, with the idea that the parking spots would be abolished in 2003. And with the next closure of Highway 529 pegged to start Wednesday, the city decided to take out the parking lanes a year early.

When Highway 529 is reopened after the work on the Steamboat Slough bridges is complete later this year, though, the Fourth Street parking lanes won’t return.

And that has some property owners angry.

"It just came out of the blue to us," said Pam Olson, who has operated Kidsville Daycare on Fourth Street for 15 years. Olson said she and her husband, Richard, didn’t hear about the idea to remove the parking until they got a letter from the city in late April.

"Basically, our front yard is useless. Our backyard is now our front yard," she said. "I’m all for progress, but this is kind of ridiculous."

Olson said the city should compensate the couple for the loss of the parking spots in front of the two properties they have on Fourth Street. Her husband has been going door-to-door over the past two weekends warning property owners in the neighborhood about the permanent change.

City spokesman Doug Buell said Fourth Street is the city’s busiest east-west route, and more capacity is needed to handle traffic.

"It’s unfortunate that the parking needs to be taken away. But it does," Buell said.

City officials are talking about ways to lessen some of the impacts, he added, such as how to prevent traffic from speeding down nearby alleys that would make parking safer for people who live along Fourth, or finding ways to prevent drivers from taking short cuts through alleys.

Not everyone is fuming about the loss of parking.

Carmen Brown, owner of Ears 2 U Hearing Aid Service, was mostly concerned about the safety of people who hadn’t heard about the changes and may park along the street.

"My concern is slowing the cars down and giving people enough notice" that the parking lane is now devoted to moving traffic, she said.

Her business, which has been on Fourth Street for roughly 12 years, has adequate parking in back. So losing a few spots in front wasn’t a problem, Brown said, especially since the church next door lets the business use some of its parking.

Brown does see the city’s point, though, that two more lanes of the roadway are needed.

Other business people along Fourth Street said much of the on-street parking on both sides of the street is taken up by commuters who park their cars for the day and jump on a bus to go to work.

"They weren’t using it to come into our store," said Christa Krenz, who owns Jostens with her husband, Scott.

The business, which sells things such as letterman jackets, senior photo packages and caps and gowns, has a lot for off-street parking. And just last month, the business purchased an adjacent single-family home property that will eventually be used for a parking lot. Right now, the backyard of the property is being used for employee parking, Krenz said.

With the parked cars gone for good, businesses along the street may be more visible to travelers on the busy street.

"In a way, I’m like, ‘Cool, they can see us,’ " Christa Krenz said.

Eliminating the parking will also make it easier for people to pull out onto Fourth from side streets.

"At 5 o’clock, you can’t get out of this driveway. It’s insane," Krenz said.

Holly Jackson sees other positives from the change.

"I think there will be fewer accidents because we can see (west)," said Jackson, branch manager at Alpine Mortgage Services, Inc.

Others who live on the street may feel differently, she stressed.

"I definitely can see a lot of these residents aren’t going to be happy about it, because they have no place to park," Jackson said.

But given that the street is a major east-west thoroughfare next to the downtown core, it’s bound to lose its residential flavor in the future.

"It’s doomed to be a commercial street," she said.

You can call Herald Writer Brian Kelly at 425-339-3422 or send e-mail to kelly@heraldnet.com.