This discussion has been going on in Poulsbo for more than a decade: How can the city improve the parking situation downtown?
This year, efforts to answer that question have intensified — meaning there may be changes ahead for drivers in Poulsbo.
Finding parking in downtown Poulsbo—a network of streets between Highway 305 and Liberty Bay—has always been difficult, but the problem has become even more acute as Poulsbo’s population has grown by nearly a third since 2010.
“The general problem is that there is simply not enough parking for all the people who want to go downtown,” said Denver Smyth, president of the Historic Downtown Poulsbo Association (HDPA).
Skye Loyd, who runs the Verksted Gallery artist co-op, said Poulsbo’s lack of designated employee parking is particularly frustrating, especially when she has to bring larger artworks into the store.
“When you need to bring in a lot of stuff, there’s nothing nearby,” she said.
“You have to park illegally across the street and stand there, waving at people and holding the car,” added Shannon Kruger, a fellow artist at Verksted.
Loyd and Kruger often use the public parking lots at City Hall, but they are closed on Mondays and Thursdays. On those days, “I just drive around until I find a spot,” Kruger said.
Business owners and employees aren’t the only ones having trouble with parking downtown. Kirsten Puhr, owner of The NW Dog, says she hears from customers who book nail trimming appointments for their dogs and then can’t find a parking spot.
“That’s the biggest cause of complaints,” she said.
“There’s just so much going on in downtown Poulsbo,” says Tasha Zetty, a RE/MAX agent and president of the Poulsbo Chamber of Commerce. “And if they can’t find parking, people just drive to the next town over,” completely bypassing Poulsbo’s shops.
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Recommendations from the Poulsbo Parking Study
On May 15 of this year, Poulsbo’s Downtown Parking Advisory Committee presented a series of recommendations to the City Council to address Poulsbo’s long-standing parking problems. The recommendations were based on a parking study and action report the City commissioned from Walker Consultants in 2023.
The city government first addressed the parking problem in 2008. It commissioned a study on parking management and issued a series of committee reports and memos between 2008 and 2012. These reports raised similar concerns to those raised by the most recent committee on parking management.
In its presentation to City Council in May, the Parking Committee — comprised of city staff, business owners and members of the Planning Commission — drew on the Walker report to identify four main areas for improvement: signage and wayfinding, formalized employee parking, code enforcement and hybrid or metered parking.
Currently, public parking in downtown Poulsbo is free, both on-street and off-street. The May presentation was the start of a process that could ultimately lead to tighter controls and possibly even metered or hybrid parking in the downtown area.
Heather Wright, the city’s planning and economic development director, said Walker Consultants has been working on a proposal on the four focus areas the council discussed during its May 15 meeting.
“The council knows they want to put up signage,” Wright said. “Where should the signs go? What should they look like? They know they want some sort of enforcement. Now, who should do that? … It’s a matter of what sort of enforcement and what it should look like, that all needs to be worked out. And that’s what the consultant will help us with.”
She added: “It all connects the dots that Walker will bring into focus for us.”
First proposal published in August
Wright, a member of the parking committee, said Walker will present an initial proposal at the council meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 14. The following Wednesday, council members will decide whether to approve a budget amendment that would allow Walker to officially partner with the city in managing parking in Poulsbo.
Gary McVey, a city council member who also sits on the parking committee, said he is generally in favor of charging for parking in what he called the “front rows” of downtown Poulsbo, such as Front Street and the Anderson Parkway parking lot. He compared the practice to buying seats on an airplane.
On an airplane, “you usually charge for the best seats,” McVey said. “I think it’s fair that we keep some of the free seats for people who are willing to park further out and (don’t) want to pay for the front row. I think it’s important that we offer both options.”
McVey noted that his opinion may change based on Walker’s proposal next week, when the council will have a better idea of what potential parking solutions will cost.
During the May 15 meeting, some council members expressed their impatience and desire to finally make progress on the parking issue, while others warned against a hasty, sloppy solution.
Britt Livdahl, a council member who sits on the parking advisory committee, was in the first camp, urging her fellow council members to take the paid parking model “seriously.”
“We need to take a step to move beyond where we are now,” she said. “We have been here before … and then fear and anxiety have prevented us from ever moving beyond it.”
Livdahl did not respond to a request for further comment.
Councilman Ed Stern, who served on the committee with Livdahl, said that before members of Poulsbo’s administration take action, they should take a closer look at the city’s parking problems.
“I see these things two ways,” Stern wrote in an email to the Kitsap Sun. “Good problems and bad problems. Parking problems because so many people want to visit our charming downtown waterfront is a good problem.”
He added: “For me, the key is to make sure that the cure is not worse than the ‘disease’ and that we as a city are very careful not to create nasty problems when it comes to allocating parking restrictions.”
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Companies are against the idea of paid parking
Many of Front Street’s business owners oppose one solution in particular: paid parking. Walker Ranson, co-owner of Liberty Bay Books, said paid parking is the “worst of all the ideas” the city has proposed.
Lori Simnioniw, owner of Beachside Boutique, is one of many business owners who fear their customers will leave if the city imposes parking fees.
“Why should locals pay for parking when they could go to The Trails?” said Simnioniw, referring to a shopping center in Silverdale.
Simnioniw is also concerned about the logistics of paid parking. “If they make it so you have to use your phone to pay, think about the demographic, the elderly,” she said.
Wright said Walker Consultants’ upcoming proposal will help clarify many of the logistical issues surrounding a paid parking model, including how best to collect payment.
McVey said he believes metered parking would actually help businesses, not hurt them. He singled out The Loft, a restaurant in downtown Poulsbo that stopped taking reservations because so many people were missing their reservations because they couldn’t find a parking spot.
“Would you rather have someone park (in the Anderson Parkway parking lot) for six to eight hours at a time?” McVey said. “Or would you rather have that space given over to more customers for your business?”
Denver Smyth, president of the HDPA, said the HDPA will continue to be a “conduit of information” between the city and local businesses as the park proposals move forward.
“A step in the right direction”
Despite general opposition to paid parking on Front Street, many business owners support other aspects of the parking committee’s proposal, including penalizing cars that have exceeded their parking time.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” said Kristen Puhr, owner of The NW Dog. “We have to start somewhere.”
Meanwhile, Walker Ranson of Liberty Bay Books said he wants the city to crack down on people leaving their cars in the Anderson Parkway parking lot overnight. “This is definitely something that needs to stop,” he said.
All revenue generated by a paid parking model would ideally “stay in the city center” and finance effective parking enforcement, said McVey. Later, it could even be used to finance a municipal parking garage.
Ultimately, McVey said, it’s a good time for Poulsbo to think about solutions to the parking problem, even if many of those solutions are controversial.
“I think we’re in a position of strength right now,” he said. “I wouldn’t try to consider these or any other big changes when times are tough. But I think if we were to make some changes … now would be a good time. The community is growing very steadily and that’s probably going to continue.”
McVey continued: “I think doing nothing is not an option.”
