Councilman Shares Ideas For Making Downtown More Pedestrian-Friendly

Downtown Edmonds may already be known as a great place to take a stroll, but city councilman Steve Bernheim wants to make the town’s central area even more pedestrian-friendly.

Bernheim has three ideas he plans to introduce to his colleagues during 2011, the last year of his council term.

One of his suggestions is to close certain downtown streets to vehicle traffic on weekend evenings during the summer so that more restaurants can offer outdoor dining. Another proposal is to move the parking on North Sunset Avenue to the east side of the roadway in an effort to make the scenic roadway more inviting for pedestrians.

Bernheim’s third idea is to create a walking path on Admiral Way by removing parking on the east side of the street.

Two of his suggestions would entail a decrease in parking, but Bernheim said he believes that cutting the number of spaces would be an inevitable component of making downtown more inviting to walkers.

“I think as we move into the future, more and more parking spaces are going to be given over to pedestrian uses,” he said.

Brian P. Taylor, owner of Daphnes on Main Street, said he supports the idea of periodically closing some streets to traffic but does not believe the notion of taking parking spaces away has widespread popularity.

“I’m completely for it, and I’m always a little surprised (about) the anger that arises from both merchants and customers when you talk about restricting parking,” Taylor said. “They just loath to park two blocks away.”

 owner Pam Stuller is also open to the idea but said any discussion on the topic should be mindful of logistical considerations, such as traffic flow on other streets and whether businesses have layouts that are conducive to outdoor dining.

“Obviously you don’t want to close off so many streets that it makes it difficult for people to get here at all,” Stuller said.

Bernheim’s proposal to shift parking on Sunset Avenue would not eliminate spaces but rather move them to the other side of the street. He said he envisions the switch taking place on a quarter-mile stretch between and where the road curves east and shifts to Caspers Street.

As things are now, Bernheim said, people often park their cars on the west side of Sunset Avenue and leave their engines running while they take in the view.

“So all your walkers and bicyclists and tourists are effectively confined to the landward side of the view,” he said.

All three of his ideas would entail some drawbacks, Bernheim said. On Sunset Avenue, he said, residents who live on the roadway might not like having cars parked right in front of their homes.

But overall he believes the projects would be relatively quick and easy to implement. The biggest expense, Bernheim said, would probably be road striping, which he estimated might cost $25,000 for all three proposals.

Fellow Councilman Strom Peterson, who owns a on Main Street, said he thinks the business community is open to discussing Bernheim’s idea of shutting down some streets for outdoor dining. That proposal, in particular, could be tried out for a set period of time and reversed later on if necessary, Peterson said.

“On the face of it, it seems like a great idea to me,” he said. “It’s certainly a conversation worth having.”