Travel Salem is on the move again. The City's published a Notice for a change in use on the old bank building on Center Street at Church Street.
 |
| Travel Salem moving to old bank on Center at Church |
 |
| Notice for "change in use" |
They've had a peripatetic existence. They had been in the Livesley Tower until a recent move to temporary space in the Grand Hotel lobby, and had before that been in the Central Stage Terminal and Hotel annex to the Grand Theater. Now they look to be moving again. Maybe this will be more permanent.
As a tourist agency, they are in a position to promote walking and biking, and their location will affect how well they are able to do that.
Though this new building might lack a bit in ambience, especially as it is sundered from the Historic District downtown as well as the hotels, there are several ways this might be an improvement on their previous sites. On a good bike lane on Church Street and just a block from the lower-traffic route on Chemeketa Street, this location of Travel Salem is the best for any bicycling. When they were on High Street, there was no bike lane, and the site on State and Liberty as well as the Grand Hotel site are not bike-friendly at all. They'll also be adding new bike racks right at the main entry of this new building. Even though this is not at the center of downtown, it is very near the transit mall. If the rental bike system gets back up, this is an easy bike ride from the Amtrak depot with docking stations at each end. And it will have its own parking lot for the reality of driving visitors. Given the current state and constraints of Salem transportation, this seems like a better location for modal flexibility and pointing out choices. Though, again, it's not exactly at the center of things. Hopefully it will lure people to walk through downtown from the hotels, and not seem too distant from them.
But in the Notice, there is some absurdity, as it includes
one adjustment to retain the existing number of parking spaces on site, resulting in a 31% reduction in required parking spaces...
Shouldn't maintaining or decreasing parking stalls be the default, and the adjustment instead be to increase them? Having the maintain/decrease be the exception means our default framework still is to increase parking. In the next round of parking reform we should think more about what we consider default or by-right change, and what conditions and change truly should be the exception and require process.
In absolute terms where Travel Salem is located is not that big a deal, but it has been interesting to note how they do and do not effectively promote non-auto tourism. Hopefully this move onto a good city bike lane will prompt more. (See previous notes on the Travel Salem bike routes and maps from 2016: here, here, and here.)
4 comments:
Travel Salem bought the old Chase Bank Building so this should be their last move.
Are they outside of the no-parking-needed downtown zone there?
Sorry, the post might have been slightly unclear. The application includes "one adjustment to retain the existing number of parking spaces on site, resulting in a 31% reduction in required parking spaces." They are not proposing to add any new parking stalls. The absurdity is that our current scheme would call for adding parking stalls with this change in use.
I have not followed closely the details of code. So I am not 100% sure on the following. But as I understand it: This is just outside the Downtown Parking District, and the "no parking needed" was for residential development inside the Downtown Parking District. It is, however, very near the core transit network, but again that was for housing, not offices or retail.
I am taking this notice at face value, and I assume that this site is not exempted from some kind of parking requirement. Perhaps the City has made an error, but that does not seem likely.
The eastern boundary of the downtown parking district is Church Street(https://www.cityofsalem.net/community/neighborhoods/parking/where-to-park/find-free-parking-in-downtown-salem). If they were on the other side of Church Street, they would pay the Downtown Parking Tax and not have to provide any parking on site.
Post a Comment