QUESTION: what is the City doing about commuter parking?

We definitely realize that commuter parking is getting tight and painful. A lot of projects will improve access in the long-run: more housing right downtown next to the station, fixing the Traffic Avenue bottleneck, and even Sound Transit’s parking garage that will bring 500 more spaces in 2021. However, as all this gets built, it will make things even tighter before it gets better. And, we’re fully aware that no matter how much is done, demand for parking will always outpace supply.

We will keep reviewing how to balance residential, local business and commuter parking needs to see if we can help one group without impacting the others too badly. We think we can find a few areas that are currently timed parking that we can let go back to open parking for commuters without hurting businesses, but even that brings just minimal spaces at best.

There has to be more options to access the Sumner Station than just parking. One long-term way is to provide housing at the stations, so people can live and commute and not worry about parking. We have two projects coming—one the Red Apple and one up on Fryar next to the existing library. Both accommodate parking for their residents on-site, making them good options for transit commuters.

The other long-term access solution is for transit options feeding the station. The Bonney Lake shuttle proves that this option works well for commuters, and it would be wonderful to have feeders coming in from Tehaleh, Orting, etc. However, we don’t run transit. We keep mentioning this need to our transit agency partners, but they have a lot of regional projects on their plate.

Related Question: Does the City get funding for having a station here?

This is a common perception that then leads to the idea that the City has some sort of duty to provide commuter parking. We get no such funding and have no such duty.

For a long time, the land the station and lot is on was owned by the City, so Sound Transit paid us a lease. However, we set that rate below market value, meaning we were essentially subsidizing, not profiting, from the exchange. We also receive funding from Sound Transit for specific access projects--the Traffic Avenue interchange, a pedestrian bridge over SR 410, sidewalk improvements and bike lanes on Academy Street. However, none of that funding comes to us to create parking. It is all for project-specific access improvements, and in most cases, the City also invests as much resources in the same projects.

Related Question: Will bike lanes on Academy Street take out that parking too?

No, they will not. The design is to have bike lanes and retain street parking for commuters. Academy Street was the compromise to leave open for commuter parking when we installed Restricted Parking Zones (RPZs) for residents. We chose that street because no home's front door faces the street. There are still a few homeowners who disagree with that compromise.