Parking Woes at Local Malls
[I particularly like the part where the Mayor has a wider reserved parking space than everyone else]
Tight spots
Many of city's parking spaces don't measure up.
By John Estus
Staff Writer
Want to test the laws of physics? Try backing a Hummer H2 out of a nearly 14-foot long parking spot without plowing into another car.
"This is a joke, groaned Allyson Jones, 21, as she inched her orange H2 backward on the third attempt to back out of a parking space at French Market Mall, NW 63 and May Avenue.
On her fourth try, Jones finally got the 17-foot long Hummer out with a few inches to spare.
She had been trapped in one of many parking spots that are smaller than Oklahoma City parking codes require.
Most of the French Market Mall spots are just 13 feet 9 inches long, but the code says they should be at least four and a half feet longer.
Traffic aisles in the parking lot at the shopping center also are narrow.
The shopping center's management company, Maryland-based Saul Centers, did not return calls seeking comment.
While length and width requirements change slightly with the angle of the parking space, the minimum requirements are never less than 8 ½ feet wide and 18 feet, 7 inches long for regular parking spaces.
Season brings problems
"We see a lot more dings during the holiday season, said Mike Denison, owner of Dent Depot and Tear Repair. "People opening doors or trying to race into a parking spot.
At Penn Square Mall recently, some cars in the parking garage's compact spots were less than 6 inches apart.
Some spots are only 7 feet 1 inch wide despite the city's requirement that compact spaces be no smaller than 7 ½ feet wide.
A Dodge Neon fits into a 7-foot 1-inch spot with about 8 inches to spare on either side, though that only leaves a little less than 1 ½ feet to open the door and squeeze out of the car if cars are parked on both sides. That's assuming the cars are parked straight and are bonafide compact cars.
The Ford Expedition straddling both parking stripes of a compact space certainly wasn't.
Penn Square officials said they measured their compact car spots and think they are up to code.
"We will double check and if we've got any that we need to fix we'll take a look, said the mall's general manager, Bob Landack.
Eyeball test
When developers propose a project, they submit construction plans to the city's zoning department for approval.
They are required to include parking lot layouts and parking space sizes in the plans.
The zoning department oversees city parking spaces and must sign off on the plans before construction begins and approve the finished project before it can open to the public.
J.J. Chambless, an urban redevelopment specialist for the zoning department, said zoning inspectors typically don't measure completed parking spots before approving them. Instead, they give it an eyeball test.
"I'm sure they would (measure) if it looked like there was something wrong, Chambless said.
There haven't been any cases Chambless remembers when a zoning inspector found parking spaces too small and didn't approve the construction, he said.
Chambless said if inspectors find a parking space is too small after construction, they send the property owner a notice and give them a chance to fix it before issuing a citation.
Just outside the zoning office, most of the spaces in the lot between the city municipal building and an office building at 420 Main St. are smaller than the required at 8 feet, 1 inch wide and 17 feet, 2 inches long.
But some spots in the lot have plenty of room, such as the mayor's 10-foot-wide reserved parking spot and City Council members' 8 foot, 7 inch wide reserved spots.
"I'm very confident that he (Mayor Mick Cornett) has not asked for a larger parking spot, said David Holt, an aide to the mayor. "I'm sure it was unintentional.
"If any one wanted him to make his spot smaller, I'm sure he would oblige but that would probably cost more money than it's worth, Holt said.
Acting chief traffic engineer Stuart Chai said parking lots sometimes have disproportionate measurements that make it impossible to stripe every parking spot at equal sizes.
The bigger the better
Developers are required to have a certain amount of parking spots for every square foot of commercial office or retail space in a building.
Exceeding the minimum amount of spaces set by the city is a good business practice because parking is crucial in cities that lack major mass transit systems.
"My father taught me years ago that there's one thing that will kill a business quicker than anything, and that is no parking, said city developer P.B. Odom III.
But when developers try to cram more spaces into parking lots by cutting the size of the spaces to less than city standards, it can end up working against them.
"It's really a detriment in my judgment to do that, Odom said.
"People then have wrecks and there's door dings. Nobody wants door dings.
Originally Posted by BailJumper
Bookmarks