What’s the Parking Plan for the New Seniors Center?
An Opinion Piece
by Joe Carter
Draft Version 2.0
As of 9/2/2022
“For a seniors center, the parking lot is more important than the building.” A prominent local senior citizen recently made that wise observation while discussing the proposed new Seniors Center on N. Vine Street. It may be a stereotype to say that we seniors need ample maneuvering room when parking our pickup trucks and big sedans, but there is some truth in that stereotype. Heck, we even need a lot of space when maneuvering a Honda Civic.
The old Senior Center has a lot of deficiencies, but parking is not one of them. Other than a few potholes and low spots, it serves the need in admirable fashion. The old building has ample parking near the back door. The parking lot and nearby overflow areas handle the crowds for our most popular events such as country western dances. The lot is flat and on the same level as the door. There are no steps or ramps required to get to the door. If the weather turns to snow or ice, the lot can be treated with salt to avoid slippery conditions and dangerous falls.
One would hope that parking arrangements for our new and improved Seniors Center would at least be as good as the old one. Unfortunately, that won’t be the case. In the recent City Council meetings on July 18 and July 19, the parking plans for the new Senior Center were presented enthusiastically as follows:
25 or 26 parking spaces in a lot near the building
Additional parking in a remote lot 150 feet southwest of the building
Parking is needed to handle an average number of 35 daily patrons plus staff
If everything goes according to plan, the new Senior Center facility will attract even more patrons in the future
While this plan was being presented enthusiastically as a good solution, we felt like we were watching the same movie screen as the City Council but we were seeing a completely different movie. Even though the average daily patronage of 35 won’t necessarily be there at the same time of day, it’s reasonable to expect that all 26 spaces near the building will frequently be full. Assuming patrons don’t just turn around and go home, the remote lot should get plenty of use. The prospect of walking a considerable distance in 105 degree heat may turn some patrons off. This assumption is borne out by the Daily Activity Reports included in the latest Senior Center Advisory Board meeting minutes at this link. Popular activities like dances and yoga classes frequently exceed 26 attendees. One dance attracted 61 people last month. Unless they are all couples and car-poolers, some of them would be in the remote lot. Just imagine what the parking situation will look like if participation doubles when the new Senior Center opens.
While the information presented during the City Council’s July 18 and July 19 meetings, didn’t justify the enthusiasm for the Council’s Senior Center parking plan, the information not presented paints an even grimmer picture. The following paragraphs, pictures and diagrams show the information the Council didn’t present regarding parking plans for the new Senior Center location on N. Vine Street.
In the July 18 and July 19 meetings, the Council for some reason didn’t show their architect’s drawings for the proposed Senior Center building and parking lots. The only place we know of that these pictures are publicly displayed is on a bulletin board at the old Senior Center. The following are the Senior Center project architect’s drawings of the proposed building and parking lots:
Drawing # 1: Depiction of the front of the proposed Senior Center building facing west toward vine street
Drawing # 2: Depiction of a parking lot on the north side of the proposed Senior Center building
Drawing # 1 above shows a small parking area in front of the building. It shows room for 8 parking spaces. There’s a larger lot shown on the north side of the proposed building. What the drawing doesn’t show is that the area on which the north-side parking lot sits is sloped. It rises 3 to 4 feet from the building to where the northern side of the parking lot will sit. A sloped parking lot will not work for senior citizens because a sloped lot will greatly increase the risks of falling. To level the lot there are 2 possible options as follows:
Build up the ground under the lot so it doesn’t slope
Excavate ground under the lot so it doesn’t slope
If option 1 is chosen, seniors will have to navigate stairs and/or a ramp to get into the building because the parking lot will be on a level 3 to 4 feet higher than the building. Option 2 will be much safer and more convenient for seniors. However, both options will likely result in the death of the Senior Tree. We illustrate the impact of the proposed parking lots on the tree in diagrams below. The first of two diagrams is the City Council’s attempt to show the impact of the proposed building on the Senior Tree’s critical root zone. For some reason, the Council conveniently left out the parking lots in their diagram.
Diagram presented by City Council in the July 18, 2022 City Council meeting with added notations
Below, we’ve augmented the City Council’s diagram by adding in the parking lots shown in the architectural drawings.
Diagram showing added impact of parking lots on The Senior Tree’s root zone
As you can see from the diagram above, the total impact of the building plus parking lots is far greater than the 31% shown in the Council’s diagram that they presented in the July 15 meeting. This still doesn’t take into account other artifacts such as sidewalks, rain gutter drains, landscaping, etc. that will impact the root zone.
The following diagram shows one scenario for how the parking lot might be laid out around the proposed new Senior Center in order to minimize impact on the tree’s root zone:
Diagram # 1 - Possible Scenario for Vine Street Senior Center Parking - all features drawn to scale
This scenario shows 20 parking spaces on the north side of the building and a couple more on the southwest corner. We’re not professional parking lot designers (as you can tell from our rough layout) but we expect this is in the ballpark. An architect might indeed get the projected 26 spaces in there. But as we’ve said, based on expected patronage, that’s not enough.
Also consider that our layout assumed standard 9 by 19 feet spaces. There will be even fewer space’s available when handicapped spaces are added.
The City is planning to build a remote parking lot approximately 150 feet southwest of the building. There is also city owned property that could serve as remote parking 100+ feet to the north of the proposed building. Neither of these lots will be well-suited for seniors because of the distance they’ll be required to walk in all kinds of weather.
As we said before, the parking situation is even more grim than what the City Council described in the July 18 & 19 meetings. Here are some untold facts:
The Seniors Tree has a critical root zone that circles the tree at minimum 64 feet from the trunk. if the tree is to have any chance of surviving, no more than 50% of this zone can be compromised with buildings, impermeable surfaces, trenching or other disturbances. In the July 19 City Council meeting they announced plans to widen Vine Street if Senior Center attendance meets future expectations. Widening Vine Street near the tree will exceed the 50% threshhold for root zone disturbance.
The parking lot can’t be treated with salt or chemicals in snowy and icy conditions. Salt will kill the tree.
While the parking on the north of the building will be uphill, the remote parking will be downhill. This is not optimal in 105 degree weather or when the remote path is icy.
We don’t know where the HVAC units, dumpster and the garbage truck access lane will be. The Senior Center Advisory Board should verify that the plans for these items don’t further compromise the parking situation.
The remote parking lot to the southwest of the building is the old Oncor lot at the corner of Floral and Mason Street. The City recently acquired this property. Oncor has up to 12 months to vacate it. What’s the plan for overflow parking in the interim?
The City plans to excavate for a new main sewer line in the proposed parking area north of the building. This construction project is planned for sometime in the near future. Senior Citizens will have to navigate around this construction activity and/or find other places to park while it’s ongoing.
Given all these issues and unknowns, senior citizens and their Advisory Board need to insist on seeing the detailed plot plan of the parking situation, sidewalks, conflicting construction, dumpster plan, etc. before they give the Council any kind of blessing on the Vine Street location
The anticipated parking problems at the proposed Senior Center location on N. Vine Street may be a showstopper. Parking could be the difference between a successful Senior Center and a total failure. It’s easy to foresee a scenario where attendance dwindles to a handful of diehard patrons who frequent low volume activities. Attendance at the most popular activities may decline as patrons give up because of traffic congestion and remote parking issues.
