MILFORD, Oh. — The city of Milford is no stranger to parking complaints.
It was a subject that multiple residents mentioned during our Let's Talk event on July 29.
“They’ve talked a lot about this in city council, trying to figure out where to put better parking," resident Steve Jones said.
"Parking is another issue," resident Anne Kuhn said.
In April, Milford's City Council commissioned TEC Engineering, Inc to conduct a traffic study to take a look at what's available downtown and possible solutions to allow for more parking.
During the council's regular meeting on Aug. 18, Dylan Osborn from TEC presented the findings to council members.
WATCH: Here are alternatives that are being considered to improve limited parking in downtown Milford
“We flew a drone every 30 minutes; we did a pass from one end of central downtown to the other, again on a Friday and a Saturday," Osborn said.
The engineering consultants monitored parking and found that during peak hours, there are almost no empty spaces.
"From what was available versus where cars were parked, we found that around 90% of available stalls, on-street and off-street, were occupied," Osborn said.
The engineering firm found several areas of concern. Those are: parking is already near capacity, new developments will create a net shortfall, existing stalls don't fully meet city standards, wayfinding is weak and nearby capacity sits unused.
Back in July, Milford's Mayor Ralph Vilardo told me that new developments and new parking go hand in hand.
“So that we can address and utilize some of the areas for parking to be able to balance that growth because there’s no reason to have good, positive growth without addressing parking," Vilardo said.
During Tuesday's meeting, Osborn explained the seven alternatives his firm is bringing to the council as possibilities.
“Alternative 1 analyzed making Water Street one-way, northbound, and then adding in angled parking," Osborn said.
Alternative 1 would add approximately 32 parking spots to Milford, according to the study. Alternative 2 would turn Water Street into a southbound one-way. Alternative 3 proposes a one-way loop involving both Water Street and Main Street. The study specifically states that Alternative 3 is "strongly discouraged due to the corridor's commuter traffic."
The other alternatives are turning a vacant parcel on Cash Street into a public parking lot, promoting public parking near Riverside Park and Water Treatment Plant, parking partnerships and adding an upper deck to the 300 Main St. parking lot.
The study recommends a combination of ideas to find the proper solution. The report states that nearly 70 parking spots are needed due to new developments within the downtown district and that combining options would provide more than 70 spaces.
At the end of Tuesday's presentation, City Manager Benjamin Gunderson spoke about next steps.
“I think next meeting what we'll do is we’ll come prepared with the options and say ok, these are prices and this is how we think we would tackle this," Gunderson said.
Mayor Vilardo and I spoke on the phone Wednesday morning. He told me that all of these ideas and alternatives are preliminary; any decision would include lengthy public comment and input from residents.
