Somerton plans to open more business parking

SOMERTON - The city will buy up property for more car slots as part of efforts to resolve a parking shortage that officials say has hurt businesses along Main Street.

The city plans to create at least 200 public parking spaces over the long term and is looking at the possibility of lifting the current restriction on curbside parking on Main.

The Somerton City Council this week unanimously approved the purchase of a lot on Cano Street. The acquisition is among various short- and long-term measures recommended by the firm Development Design and Engineering to relieve a parking problem that owners of businesses along Main say has cost them business — not only with residents but also with motorists passing through the city.

The property on Cano Street, adjacent to and south of Main, would serve as a parking lot for customers of 16 businesses along Main. Cars would follow an alley from Main to reach the lot.

"We are responding to a petition that the merchants presented to us," Mayor Martin Porchas said. "More than 15 years ago, the state ended parking on Main, and many of the merchants thought it was the city that did it."

The Arizona Department of Transportation had jurisdiction over Main Street as part of Highway 95, which becomes Main within the city limits. State law prohibits parking in a highway right of way.

The stretch of Main between Union and State avenues is most severely affected by a parking shortage, with customers competing for a limited number of spaces behind the businesses or along neighboring streets, city officials say.

The purchase of the Cano Street lot, at a cost of $71,250, will open up 37 parking spaces. It will be the first of several pieces of property the city hopes to acquire for parking with $500,000 in funds from the Greater Arizona Development Authority, Porchas said.

Meanwhile, the city is negotiating to purchase part of lots located on Union Avenue and behind Somerton Municipal Court, which fronts Main. That acquisition would provide another 42 spaces.

Somerton acquired Main Street from the state in September, and Porchas said the city is looking into allowing parking along Main once again.

"That would be the least costly (option), because all we would have to do is paint parking lines and put up signs," he said.

"I have faith that this will be a shot in the arm for the businesses," Porchas said. "Right now, I think that 80 percent of the motorists passing through don't stop in the city. We are going to attract those people.

"If we see that there is sufficient parking with the purchased property and from opening up parking along Main, the remains of the funds will be spent on the streets for roadwork," he said.

The council this week gave city administration approval to prepare an agreement with Casa Moreno, a church-sponsored assistant center that serves the needy, to expand the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church parking lot, which could serve as public parking during the week.

Under the agreement, the Casa Moreno building would be demolished and the center would be relocated to another site near the church.

While City Hall is trying to help businesses by opening up parking, Porchas said, "the time will come for the merchants to say what they will do on their part to attract more people to their businesses, beginning with an image change in their buildings.

"I have faith that we can begin to help the businesses in Somerton."

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Now Esperanza Gonzalez has reason to feel more accessible.

The Head Start program manager for Chicanos Por La Causa said her agency and other establishments along Somerton's Main Street have long been plagued by a parking shortage that has kept away clients and customers.

The Somerton City Council this week voted to purchase the first of what may be several pieces of private property that will be converted to public parking lots for motorists wishing to shop along Main Street. The city also is looking into the possibility of lifting a prohibition on curbside parking on Monday.

"That's great," she said. "Now we'll have a place for customers."

Gonzalez has been among those who have made frequent appeals to the city for more public parking.

"We only have one parking space at Chicanos Por La Causa," she said. "None of the businesses have parking. All they have is parking in the back, and the owners use that. They don't have spaces for customers."

Jesus Valdez, owner of Video Star in Somerton, said the parking has been an ongoing problem for his business.

"We have been hurt every year," he said, adding that the problem is more severe this year now that it is coupled with a recession.

Jose Yepez, president of the city's chamber of commerce and a city councilman, said the lack of parking is not the sole reason for the dropoff in business.

"But I think it does have a big part in it," said Yepez, the owner of a Somerton business, Yepez Auto Parts.

"We're trying to look for different options to increase (parking)," Yepez said in an interview prior to this week's vote to buy land for a lot. "We're trying to be proactive."