As of Tuesday, the city of Sumner is designating the south portion of the downtown Red Apple lot as open parking and the portion closer to City Hall as city employee parking only.
Prior to this switch, both parts of the lot were open and Sounder commuters frequently parked there, along with city staff, said Carmen Palmer, city communications director. But to help keep city vehicles and employee cars closer to City Hall and commuters closer to the Sounder station, city officials chose to make a change.
“Everyone was walking an extra block,” Palmer said. “It just made more sense to switch them.”
Now the lot off Kincaid Avenue just south of the Red Apple building is open for anyone to park in, and the lot off Maple Street and Alder Avenue east of the Red Apple is for city employees and city vehicles only.
Any cars parked in the city’s portion of the lot can now be ticketed.
Though the lot off Kincaid is not officially Sounder parking, it’s close enough to the station that commuters utilize it, Palmer said. But it’s more convenient to have commuters using the side closer to the station, she added.
Plus, city staff can keep better watch on their vehicles because they’re closer to City Hall, and it’s a shorter walk if a meeting gets out late and it’s dark outside, Palmer said.
The city has owned the Red Apple property and both portions of the parking lot since 1998. Each section of the parking lot has the same number of spaces.
The mixed-use plan for the property is still underway.
“It’s moving along,” Palmer said. “This process is slow. Even though you can’t see anything, it is still going along.”
Last spring, Sumner officials selected developers Heyer and Morris for the project. At a meeting with Heyer and Morris last fall, the developers updated the public on plans for first-floor retail, condo units and parking.
Once construction for that project begins, parking at the Red Apple lot will no longer be an option.
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