FAQ #1 - "Why can't we park in the concrete circle, or for free in the upper garage?"

This is the first in a series of "Frequently-Asked Questions" about life in The Esplanade. To see the complete list of FAQs, click HERE. Please consider submitting to this list of FAQs by writing a question, and then a corresponding article to answer the question.

By Dan Hardebeck

I will do my best to answer this question as thoroughly and objectively as I can. However, parking in and around our building is a complicated and controversial subject. I am certain there are other people who can offer additional information on this subject, so please use the comments section below this article to correct or amend anything I have written.

First of all, we must understand that the original construction and continued use of our building was and is governed by certain city, state and federal regulations. These regulations get all the more complicated given our shoreline location and the fact that we live on a "Superfund" cleanup site. The bottom line is that no, we cannot do whatever we want with the 16th Street concrete circle or our upper garage; even though the property may belong to us, there are permits, zoning laws, and shoreline regulations that must be followed.

If one reads the Shoreline Master Program And Land Use Regulatory Code, some things become clear:

• Buildings constructed on the Foss Waterway must create public view/access corridors between Dock Street and the waterfront (Section 6.5.2.D.4).
• In order to preserve these public view/access corridors, all outdoor parking spaces must be on the street side of the building (Section 7.8.2.A.7).
• If there have to be, there can be outdoor loading zones and/or disability parking in the public view/access corridors (Section 7.10.1.7).
• We are required to have a certain number of parking spaces in our garage designated as publicly available parking (Section 7.10.2.5).

Although Section 7.10.1.7 of the Shoreline Master Program does allow outdoor loading zones and ADA parking, the developer of our building entered into a more specific agreement with the City of Tacoma in January of 2006. This agreement was specific to the 16th Street Easement on the south side of our building. Section 2d of the agreement "prohibit[s] vehicle access in the Easement Area (except for emergency and utility vehicles."

This agreement is also referenced in our building's CC&Rs under Article 23.6.2.iv, "The Declarant has dedicated to the City of Tacoma and the general public an easement to preserve and maintain a view corridor and an easement for public pedestrian access...The purpose of the View Corridor Easement is, among other things, to...prohibit vehicle access in the 16th Street View Corridor (except emergency and utility vehicles)..."

So, what this all means in plain terms is that we cannot allow vehicle access in the concrete circle. Our upper garage can have some spaces reserved for the businesses in the building, but the majority of the spaces must be public parking. Could guest parking have been established when the building was constructed? Certainly, but it was not, and unfortunately that is now water under the bridge.

Over time, problems have arisen and some residents' tempers have flared, fueled by several factors:

• In the early years when our building was scantly occupied, the parking codes were only loosely enforced. But as the building filled up attempts were made to more tightly enforce the codes, and residents were frustrated at the changes when they had no place to park their extra vehicles and no place for their guests to park.
• At times the parking enforcement was inconsistent, with seemingly aggressive tactics on occasion and lax supervision at other times. Moving vans, service vehicles and contractors' trucks were sometimes parked in the concrete circle for hours, while at other times these people are asked to move to the street after just a few minutes. There was also some confusion as to who, exactly, was enforcing the parking codes - with notices/tickets being issued by Republic Parking, the building manager, and members of an HOA parking committee. 
• The situation was not improved when agents of the management company, and/or sales agents, and/or representatives of the developer did not follow the parking codes - one can understand why these individuals in particular would invoke anger and frustration for abusing the rules.

It has been suggested that the HOA should permanently rent some of the building's public parking spaces in the upper garage for use as guest parking. This idea was rejected because A) it seemed more prudent to the board to have residents who would actually use the spaces spend their own money, rather than spreading the cost among all, B) it was felt that some residents might monopolize the spaces with their extra vehicles or their more permanent "guests," and there would be no way for the board to enforce the use or misuse of the spaces, and C) if the HOA were to rent those spaces back to itself it very likely would not qualify as making the spaces publicly available, as required.

In an attempt to help the situation, the board has negotiated special parking rates in the upper garage during non-peak hours. These special parking rates require a resident-only code to be entered into the payment machine; if you do not know the code, please see the building manager. The code allows residents to park for 12-hour periods on weeknights for $4.00 and weekends for $5.00.

However, these solutions do not address all of the problems. For example, if someone hosts a regular gathering of friends on weekdays, those friends will incur significant costs parking on the street or in the upper garage. To some degree, that is just the cost of living in an urban neighborhood, and certainly we have all heard of the parking nightmares in Seattle's urban neighborhoods that far outstrip our own. That being said, difficult problems can sometimes be solved by creative solutions. For example, there may be a tech-savvy individual in our building who could create and manage a "parking sharing" website or cell phone app. Residents could "donate" their spots in the lower garage during specified hours when they know they will not be home, and in return be compensated with X number of hours in other parking spots from the pool. Just a suggestion, but the point is that, in my humble opinion, participating in solutions is probably more productive than aggressive complaining.

Again, I apologize for the length of this article, but it's a complex issue. I'd like to encourage others to correct, amend or comment on anything I have written here by using the comments section below. As is always the case on this blog, please keep comments civil, polite and constructive.