7th St. may see angle parking instead of 2-way traffic

Chuck Taylor, owner of Chuck's Bar, suggests angle parking on three blocks of 7th Street. — Chuck Taylor, owner of Chuck’s Bar at 507 W. 7th, suggests angle parking on three blocks of 7th Street.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Three Hays city commissioners at Thursday’s work session declined to move forward with the proposal from the fourth commissioner, Lance Jones, to remove the one-way traffic designation for 6th and 7th Streets. Commissioner James Meier was absent.

Changing 7th Street to two-way traffic is part of the city’s updated Comprehensive Plan.
RELATED: Chamber survey results on Sixth, Seventh street changes

All four however, agreed to explore the possibility of angle parking on Seventh Street as proposed by local bar owners Chuck Taylor and Tony Taylor during audience comments. Chuck owns Chuck’s Bar; Tony owns On the Rocks Bar and Grill, and both are located at 507 W. Seventh–just east of the Fort Hays State University campus.

“It’s very tough to find parking during the day down there because the (FHSU) kids use it all up,” Chuck Taylor told commissioners. “I’d be more in favor of looking into turning the north lane to angle parking which would help out the businesses down there quite a bit and you would still have one lane for (westbound only) traffic and (eastbound only) traffic on 6th Street,” he suggested.

“If you go back to Ash Street where the (First United Methodist) church is—they’re already started with angle parking–so you might consider turning all three of those blocks into angle parking. Anytime you go down there on those three (blocks) during the day, there’s just no parking anywhere,” Taylor said.

Chuck Taylor and Tony Taylor measured 7th Street in front of their establishments earlier Thursday.

Tony Taylor, owner of On the Rocks Bar and Grill, measured 7th Street — Tony Taylor, owner of On the Rocks Bar and Grill, asks if the city is interested in putting parking meters in front of his business.

“We kinda did some math,” Tony Taylor told the commission. “…The street is 35 feet wide….currently there’s 9 parallel parking spots along that first block places there. If you did angle parking on just that block alone, you’d double that to 18 parking spots,” he said. “It would also slow traffic down.”

“The college kids are going to use up the parking if they can,” Taylor conceded. He suggested the city might want to “put in parking meters or one-hour parking signs in front of our businesses–something to prevent that. I run lunch and have no lanes for carryouts. I have to live and die by the college for my lunch crowd.”

Commissioner Henry Schwaller shook his head and then said “No” to Taylor’s question about the parking meters.

Dave VanDoren, owner of the Hadley Center, 205 E. 7th, spoke out in support of removing the one-way designation on 7th Street, sharing his reasons why it should be two-way traffic between Main and Vine.

Dave VanDoren, owner of the Hadley Center, favors changing 7th Street to two-way traffic between Main and Vine. — Dave VanDoren, owner of the Hadley Center at 205 E. 7th, favors changing 7th Street to two-way traffic between Main and Vine.

He estimated there are about 400 vehicles from the Hadley Center and High Plains Mental Health Center, 208 E. 7th, which make round trips to those locations each day. According to VanDoren, the drivers are going an “extra four blocks to get to Main Street” each time. “The result is roughly an extra 1,000 blocks of extra driving each day. That’s a lot of extra fuel and wear and tear on streets and vehicles,” he said.

Commissioner Jones thanked the three men for their input. “I feel that the traffic goes too fast down 7th Street..it’s almost like a race track at times, with people passing you on the left and the right,” he said. That’s one of the reasons Jones proposed the change. He also looked at economic studies concerning one-way streets. “They’re not economically friendly to businesses…It’s a fact that people won’t want to drive around the block to go see your business,” he said and pointed to Chuck’s Bar and On the Rocks as examples.

City Commissioner Lance Jones talks about his support of two-way traffic on 7th Street. — City Commissioner Lance Jones explains his support of two-way traffic on 7th Street.

Regarding 6th Street which is narrower than 7th Street, Jones said he had wanted to look at both studies done previously at the same time. “If we’re going to lose parking, I don’t think 6th should be two-way. Parking is bad and housing is very dense in that area.”

Assistant Public Works Director John Braun said he believes there has been “some previous consideration” of angle parking on 7th Street. “I think one of the concerns that may have been brought up in the past was the ‘hump’ in the middle of the road and backing out onto it. It just may be uncomfortable…I’m not sure it’s a detriment.”

“I’ll bet if they could find a parking spot, they’d be pretty happy,” said Vice Mayor Shaun Musil.

“I’ll update it. We’ll go out and take a look at it and bring it back,” Braun replied.

Commissioners agreed to move the idea on to a future commission meeting.