Othello residents invited to weigh in on parking regs

OTHELLO — Othello residents are being asked for their suggestions for some off-street parking regulations. Othello Planning Commission members are reviewing regulations for RVs and other vehicles, providing adequate sight distance at intersections, and some regulations governing alley parking. Their recommendations will go to the Othello City Council for consideration. 

Development Director Anne Henning told council members Monday the review is prompted by a property owner trying to develop multifamily housing, in this case a triplex.  In the case of new development, current city regulations require eight feet between the alley and the beginning of the parking space. Each space is required to be at least 20 feet long.  

“So essentially you get a 28-foot-long parking space, which has impacted several triplex projects and would have impacted a few others that were built before the change in the code,” Henning said. “It’s caused them to have to redesign to try and fit everything on the site, or it led to kind of squishing the area because of that additional space at the alley that was required.” 

Planning commission members are considering cutting that back to three feet between the alley and the parking space, but council member Corey Everett objected that wasn’t enough. Alley parking already is challenging, Everett said; cars, especially pickups, are big vehicles and present an obstacle. 

“If you get anything over a 20-foot vehicle, somebody with a standard-size pickup, that alley is blocked,” he said. “And if gets to the point where it’s a problem, then I’m just not going to be going down the alleys.”  

Residents will start parking on the street rather than using parking space on their property that requires alley access, he said.  

A second proposed change would add utility trailers, offroad vehicles and snowmobiles to the list of regulated vehicles. All recreational vehicles would have to be moved further away from the public right of way than is required currently.  

Parking restrictions would change for occupied RVs. They would be prohibited from being hooked up to city water and sewer services.  

A third proposal would affect the parking required for restaurants. The current code requires one parking space per 100 square feet, which the planning commission, Henning said, thought was excessive. 

“A parking space is about 180 square feet. So that’s requiring more parking than there is in the building, almost,” she said. 

Planning commission members haven’t decided how they want to change that regulation, but they do want to reduce the requirement, she said. 

The city’s ordinances prohibit visual obstructions at intersections; Henning said the planning commission doesn’t want to change the ordinance so much as make it easier to understand.  

Currently, the distance required is measured from the property line, but the new rule would change that to being measured from the curb, Henning said.  

    Othello residents are being asked for their suggestions on rules governing the rules to ensure adequate parking space in city alleys.