The Ridgefield City Council will consider several code changes to improve parking accessibility in its downtown area.
During a Monday, Feb 17, meeting, Public Works Director Chuck Green presented several proposals to address community concerns over parking availability, traffic circulation and accessibility in the downtown core.
“Our objectives, as we’ve talked about before, are to provide adequate parking for downtown residents, businesses, and deliveries,” Green said.
Green noted that downtown parking has become increasingly strained due to new businesses and redevelopment. The city has worked with Ridgefield Main Street, local merchants and residents to identify solutions. The proposed changes include additional Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant (ADA) spaces, new loading zones and adjustments to existing parking restrictions.
“We had a number of locations where trucks are making deliveries have nowhere to park,” Green said.
Among the proposed policy changes requiring council action are the removal of no-parking restrictions along Pioneer and Main avenues, new weekday morning loading zones and designated EV charging stations. The plan also suggests converting portions of North Fourth Avenue to a one-way street to alleviate sight distance issues at intersections.
“In looking at what we have now, we found only two designated on-street ADA parking spaces in the entire downtown core,” Green said.
Green also addressed concerns about long-term parking availability, especially for downtown employees and residents. He noted that some areas have outdated no-parking zones based on obsolete infrastructure, such as routes once used by pole trucks.
The council discussed whether to establish a two-hour weekday parking limit in front of Overlook Park, as city staff observed extended parking durations there compared to other downtown locations.
“We’re seeing most businesses downtown — restaurants and others — catering to less than one-hour or one-hour time frames,” Green said. “They tend to be self-turning over. But in front of Overlook Park, we saw some parking lasting several hours.”
Council members also considered adding wayfinding signage to guide drivers to existing public parking areas at Davis Park and along Railroad Avenue. Another suggestion involved partnering with C-Tran to provide shuttle service for large downtown events, an initiative Green noted was successfully implemented last summer.
Regarding EV charging stations, Green said the Port of Ridgefield has proposed installing on-street charging stations near the Greely Building on North Third Avenue and Pioneer Street. The city has consulted with Portland officials, where similar programs have been implemented. The port would pay to maintain the EV charging stations, and EV stations would not have to be on-street.
The council also discussed potential solutions for traffic issues at North Fourth Avenue and Pioneer Street. Green noted that neighborhood feedback was divided on whether to convert Fourth Avenue into a one-way street with new angled parking spaces or remove one to two parking spaces to improve sight distance with a convex mirror.
“Half the neighbors said ‘yeah, it’d be nice to convert it to one-way, similar to North Fifth Avenue, which would allow for more parking,’” Green said. “The other half (said), ‘well, we like to turn left on Pioneer. We don’t want to go around the blocks to get out.’”
During public comment, downtown Ridgefield resident Sandy Schill shared her perspective on the proposed changes, particularly regarding traffic congestion and safety.
“When I drive downtown, I have now made it a habit to turn left on Division and go down Third to get onto Pioneer,” Schill said. “And when I come home, 80% of the time I turn onto Third and go down to Division to skip … that corner of Pioneer and Main … I poke my nose out and hope somebody will stop for me.”
Schill also supported adding a convex mirror at North Fourth Avenue.
“Removing a parking spot or putting up a mirror would probably work,” she said. “If you go to the hospital, every hallway has a mirror, and they help prevent accidents.”
She further voiced support for some roads connected to Main Street to be converted to one-way traffic to improve safety.
“There are people coming out of the hardware store, out of the liquor store, out of the ice cream shop. It’s the highest-trafficked area,” Schill said. “Making (intersections) one-way in some direction would help.”
Schill also voiced concerns about the placement of EV charging stations on roads.
“You will never find a charging station on a frontage road,” she said. “I have a car charger … and I would say put them somewhere else.”
Additional discussions centered on parking enforcement, with Green acknowledging the city’s lack of parking meters or dedicated enforcement staff.
“Right now, parking is pretty much self-enforcing unless a vehicle is abandoned or left for an extended period of time,” Green said.
Council members also inquired about time limits for EV charging spaces and whether those limits would vary based on charging speed.
“When we talked to the city of Portland they actually put in some places a 30-minute limit where they had the more rapid charging stations (or) up to a 2-hour limit,” Green said. “It just depended on the area of town, the district that they were in. And, so, that will need further discussions with the port about what that looks like, what their charging stations will look like.”
Councilmember Katie Favela raised concerns about the impact of future waterfront development on parking availability, especially for large events at the planned waterfront amphitheater. Green indicated that ongoing planning includes a proposed multimodal overpass at Division Street, which could facilitate event parking downtown.
“Now, what we don’t have is an estimate of how big the events are going to be at that amphitheater and how much parking they’re going to need. That’s a future discussion,” Green said.
No formal action was taken on the proposed parking plan during the Monday meeting. City staff plan to return to the council with a finalized proposal for action during a March 13 meeting.
