Windsor officials are planning to improve parking opportunities downtown near Boardwalk Park by the end of the year.
The commitment to improve public parking options was implemented with the town’s recently adopted downtown parking study to increase downtown visitation with the opening of the Future Legends campus in 2023, according to a town news release.
The Future Legends Sports campus is a multi-sport complex on Diamond Valley Drive in Windsor. Boardwalk Park a popular park facility located on North 5th Street near downtown.
In September, the town will close on the purchase of two parcels of land to be used for public parking. Both properties are located in downtown Windsor, north of Main Street and close to Windsor Lake: 106 N. 6th St. and a lot between 501 and 517 Ash St.
“The data collected in the parking study seemed to show that while we do have certain hot spots in our downtown, we typically have ample parking in the downtown area and really need to prepare for the 5 to 10-year horizon where we would have a real deficit if parking solutions aren’t developed,” town manager Shane Hale said in the release.
The town board approved the parking study July 11. Town staff installed four rapid flashing crosswalk beacons at the intersection of 5th and Main streets on July 12.
Town of Windsor parking map identifying new and existing on and off-street parking options downtown near Boardwalk Park. (Town of Windsor).
The parking study provided the town with data on its needs and recommendations including parking management, code changes and suggestions how to gain parking spaces to remain ahead of the need.
The study relied on both in-person and historical data collection. In-person data collection was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. The work resumed with the relaunch of the town’s summer concert series.
“We wanted to ensure the study and its data would be legitimate,” town senior planner David Eisenbraun said in the release. “Our goal was to capture a broad spectrum of parking data — at its peak, during regular work or school days, how parking was accessed, if parking was problematic, and how downtown parking might work to the benefit of all downtown businesses throughout the entire year, not only during seasonal events.”
Town engineering staff have evaluated to re-stripe roadside parking to the west of the lake, and on-street parking upgrades are planned for both Birch and 6th streets.
Town staff are looking at land stewardship to learn if there’s a more effective way to use public land that doesn’t involve property acquisition, and doesn’t negatively impact highly used recreation areas.
For more information, go to windsorprojectconnect.com.
Comments are closed.