Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 8, August 2003

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Aurora merchants sue City

By JAMES BUSH

The Aurora Avenue Merchants Association has a message for City regulators who removed parking along 17 blocks of Aurora in May: We'll see you in court.

The business group, comprised of business and property owners along the North Seattle Aurora corridor, has filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court charging that the City failed to give the parking removal program proper environmental review. Although the City completed an environmental checklist on the project (the first stage of review under the State Environmental Policy Act), it later informed the Aurora Avenue Merchants that the removal of parking doesn't require any additional review.

According to the lawsuit, filed by attorneys Cleve Stockmeyer and Wes Larson, the new parking restrictions are part of an ongoing effort by the City, King County, and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to create "a more freeway-like atmosphere" on Aurora through parking removal, left-turn restrictions, and the creation of bus-only lanes. The county and WSDOT are also named as parties in the suit, which asks that the court confirm the need for an EIS and order the City to rescind the recent parking restrictions.

While the Seattle Law Department declined comment on the lawsuit, Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) officials were displeased with this legal tactic. "We feel very confident that we've taken all the steps necessary to warrant this policy change," says Patrice Gillespie Smith, SDOT spokeswoman. "For more than a year SDOT has been working with businesses along Aurora Avenue. This [plan] actually is the result of discussions with the merchants."

The merchants association confirms that there has been a lot of talk, but says the City hasn't always listened. Faye Garneau, the association's executive director, acknowledges that the City discussed plans for rush-hour parking restrictions on Aurora, but surprised merchants by imposing 24-hour restrictions instead (removing parking in the southbound lanes from North 80th to North 90th streets, and from 103rd to North 107th streets). Given that Aurora is home to a single major bus route, merchants have also criticized City proposals for expanded bus-only lanes. "They're making this into a mini-freeway," says Garneau. "It's only going to serve people outside the City, not inside the City."

She adds that the changes in parking regulations and left-turn rules will also affect surrounding residential neighbors by causing spillover parking and traffic effects.

Business people say the stakes are high. A merchants association survey documented some 525 businesses with 5,107 employees along the North End Aurora corridor. "We are the second-highest retail region in Seattle," says Garneau, with gross sales of about $1 billion and $23 million in annual city sales tax collections.

The City has said there will be further parking restrictions, she continues. "Now, whether this happens in five years, or 10 years, or in the next 90 days, we feel this needs to be studied. This is a major land-use change."

Randy McAllister, owner of Aurora Suzuki at 7409 Aurora Ave. N., says he feels fortunate that the parking restrictions didn't extend to his location. "Luckily, [the City] went along with us on our area," he says, adding that he still feels bad for the merchants who have lost on-street parking adjacent to their shops.

Customer polls have shown that much of his business base consists of people who live outside city limits, says McAllister. "If they can't come here and park, that would really affect us."

Despite his situation, McAllister says he will likely back the Aurora Avenue Merchants Association in its suit against the City. "That's something I would probably be involved in, just because [parking restrictions] could happen to us in the future, too."