Kent adds more parking meters, but downtown parking remains a problem

Ask any student or business owner in Kent about parking, and they probably have a lot to say. On and off campus, a common universal struggle is the inability to find a place to park. “I’ve been here for 38 years, and parking has always been an issue for downtown Kent and the people who come down here.” says Sue Nelson of Sue Nelson Designs. The City of Kent is planning to install additional parking meters along West College Avenue, between Franklin Avenue and South Water Street. This short road across from Panini’s will gain 30 parking meters for the existing parking spots. These meters will only operate during the day – after 5pm the parking will be free. But some residents don’t see this as a viable solution.  

 

Tim Huth, owner of One Love Yoga, has been outspoken in his dissatisfaction with how the city handled the parking meters. Sandwiched between parking meters and newly constructed Kenko and Pizza Fire, he saw a dramatic impact on his business. “We were having growth in the double digits, and then the month after they installed the parking meters, it stopped.” Huth has studios on South Water Street and at the Silk Mill, but says his South Water Street location had a much larger drop in customers – all because of the parking meters.

 

“Some of our guests go around the block two, three times.” says Tim Huth, owner of One Love Yoga. For a customer visiting classes 3 times a week, that cost adds up to as much as 40% the cost of a membership. And the employees suffer as well. They end up having to pay to come to work, sometimes around 20% of their salary. And Huth says this is a huge problem for everyone along South Water Street.

 

According to the Executive Director of Main Street Heather Malarcik, “Installing meters in select locations downtown will help keep our prime, on‐street parking spaces available for customers.” Malarick said in a press release. Sue Nelson disagrees, and says much of the prime metered parking during normal 8 – 5 business hours is taken up by employees, not just people looking to shop. “I really do believe people working in downtown would park in these spots because parking in other places would be foolish.” She said. Employees reflect her statement.

 

“We’ve had people get towed while they’re working.” says Seth Fengman

“Parking here is terrible,” says Gwen Goebelt, a freshman Studio Arts major who works at Insomnia Cookies. She says she usually works nights, so she’s able to use the free parking when the meters shut off, but says it’s still challenging. “I just try to get a spot where ever I can.” she says.

 

Right next door, Seth Fengman walks to his job at Panini’s because of the parking situation. “I never know which spots are safe,” he says. “We’ve had people get towed while they’re working.” Fengman is a junior at Kent State studying political science, and has worked at Panini’s for two years. He says some employees need to run out and feed the meter in the middle of their shifts, which can be frustrating for them.

 

Heidi Gaunter owns Kent Karate and Family Fitness, and has operated on West College Avenue for the last four years – although she has been running her Karate school for 25 years and lived in Kent since the 5th grade. She thinks the parking meters will be good for businesses and downtown. “The developments have brought both students into downtown and the community into downtown, and allow them to interact with each other, so there’s less polarity between the two.” she says. She also believes that people see the value in downtown and are willing to overlook the cost to park. “People think it’s worth more when you need to pay into it to visit,” she says. Gaunter’s studio opens at 5:30pm, so she doesn’t think the new meters will impact her business much since parking is free after 5pm. Gaunter was surprised to hear about the installation of parking meters, because she thought West College Avenue and the businesses along it were going to be turned into a parking lot. Gaunter and other business owners have been talking to developers for about four years about selling the lot. Out of the four buildings along West College Avenue, only two are still occupied: Gaunter’s Karate school, and the Kent Canadian Club, which is a private club with members-only access that has been open for over 80 years.

“Of course parking has always been an issue.” Gaunter says. “But it’s a good problem to have.”

“Of course parking has always been an issue.” Gaunter says. “But it’s a good problem to have,” she adds. While parking meters would have very little impact on the businesses on the intended street, employees on South Water Street feel differently.

 

“This problem is way beyond just parking meters. This is about the over-saturation of business and undersaturation of square footage.” says Huth. He sees Kent as simply not having enough parking to meet the needs of the city, and additional meters are just a band-aid solution to the deeper problem. “From a business perspective, you don’t invest in an area that’s declining.” Huth sites the abrupt closure of Bar 145 and an AT&T store as just a few examples of Kent’s decline, but has seen his own business hit hard by the parking meters.

 

“The revenue they made from the meters last year, I lost in income.” He says. “And that’s just one business. I can’t imagine how much revenue is just walking away from downtown.”