SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — At a Sioux Falls City Council informational meeting Tuesday, councilors discussed a new proposal brought by Councilor Jennifer Sigette, which would bar vehicles beyond a certain length from parking along a portion of Phillips Ave.
You can find an explainer on this proposal here: Council to consider new parking rule in DTSF
The lone voice of clear opposition to the proposal during the meeting was Council Chair Curt Soehl.
He spoke with KELOLAND News via phone Wednesday to provide his thoughts on the matter.
Soehl is concerned that people from out of town will stop coming to downtown if they can’t park vehicles longer than 18 feet along the proposed four-block section of Phillips Ave.
“I don’t want to disrupt the prosperity of downtown Sioux Falls and that is a large concern of mine,” said Soehl. “If we get people from out of state or from other parts of the city that don’t understand the parking regulations — even a $15 ticket leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths.”
Soehl also expressed a concern that without parked vehicles sticking out into the driving lane, people will drive faster down the street.
In a phone interview on Tuesday, Sioux Falls Police’s Sam Clemens pushed back on concerns related to these two arguments.
On the idea that clearing the driving lane would lead to speeding, Clemens argued that the stoplights in downtown are configured in such a way to prevent people from building up excess speed. He also noted that the presence of these extended vehicles and lane blockages might actually make speeding worse in some instances.
“If you have somebody that’s blocked and not able to get by, they may be in a hurry,” said Clemens on Tuesday. “So as soon as they have a shot to get around that extended parked vehicle, they may drive into oncoming traffic maybe when they shouldn’t, trying to push the issue because they’re, you know, tired of being parked.”
As to the idea of people not shopping in downtown if they can’t park on Phillips, Clemens had this to say, “there’s a lot of public parking downtown, so if you have an extra long vehicle that you’re not able to fit onto Phillips Avenue — you can go around the corner and there’s tons of spots — there’s parking garages, there’s some parallel parking spots. There’s a lot of other options.”
Check out downtown parking info provided by both the City of Sioux Falls and by Downtown Sioux Falls.
Advocates of the ordinance also expressed concern that emergency vehicles on Phillips could be delayed due to oncoming traffic preventing it from being able to swerve around a vehicle extending into the driving lane.
Soehl said he used to drive a firetruck and that under state law, people are supposed to move to the side of the road. He acknowledged that on Phillips there is not much room to move over, especially if vehicles extend into the lane, but added, “That’s also an issue all over. If you go up and down 41st Street — it’s an issue all over,” he said.
We asked Soehl about the availability of parking around downtown beside Phillips Ave. He said there is a lot of parking, and that when he drives a full-sized pickup which he rarely parks on Phillips because of the difficulty getting it in and out of the diagonal spots.
“That being said, you know, the Ford F-150 is the number one selling vehicle in the United States,” said Soehl. “Certainly in South Dakota, we have more full-size pickups and SUVs than we do Hyundais or Kias.”
Though downtown also has a number of parking garages, (one of which Soehl said he’d still like to see something built on top of) Soehl says he doesn’t think some will see them as good options.
“South Dakota is still a state where people are accustomed to parking directly in front of the business that they want to go in,” said Soehl. “We are still generations away of learning how to park in a parking ramp from the state of South Dakota. Sioux Falls, maybe not quite that far away, but the state of South Dakota is still that way.”
Though Soehl opposes the parking ordinance, he doesn’t expect his thoughts on it to make an impact. “
“Now, I will be the only council member to vote against it, and we’ll go on and life will be great,” said Soehl. “I just hope that if there is an economic downturn downtown that they don’t struggle and look back and say we never should have done that.”
Despite his opposition to the ordinance, Soehl had complimentary words for the councilor behind it.
“I know that Councilor Sigette is a supremely intelligent council member, and she has looked at everything as best she can,” said Soehl. “I give her the utmost credit — I give her such credit also, by doing her homework and her due diligence on this project.”
