A Douglas business owner urged the Juneau Assembly to make city parking rules more business friendly during Monday night’s meeting.
“I’ve talked to other Douglas residents and they’re facing the same problem I am,” Mark Dundore, owner of The Douglas Outpost, told the Assembly during the public comment portion of the meeting.
A city law requires his new downtown Douglas market to have three off-street parking spaces in order to operate.
“I’m here not only on my behalf but on behalf of other people I’ve talked to,” he said.
Dundore asked the Assembly to change the city land use code, which dictates parking requirements, to make downtown Douglas more like downtown Juneau, where businesses aren’t required to have off-street parking spaces.
Though this is ultimately a decision that will have to be taken up first by the city’s Planning Commission, Dundore’s testimony struck a chord with several Assembly members.
“When my family first came to Juneau, we lived in Douglas,” White said, explaining that she is familiar with the problems Douglas residents face. “The one thing that is sadly lacking in Douglas and affects the livability is there isn’t a place to get the basic necessities.”
Douglas does not have a grocery store, and the only place to buy amenities on the island is the Douglas Breeze In. Businesses like Dundore’s need to be allowed to thrive, White said. She asked for the support of the Assembly in order to get the city to work on changing the parking code. There wasn’t a formal vote, but White generally got the support that she needed. City Manager Rorie Watt and City Attorney Amy Mead said they would get started.
The members of the Assembly aren’t the only people who support changing the city parking code. Juneau resident Mitch Leggett is currently circulating a petition on change.org in support of The Douglas Outpost.
More than 100 people have signed the petition. Leggett’s goal, according to the change.org webpage, is 200 signatures.
“The Outpost would benefit our neighborhood immensely,” one signee wrote in a comment supporting the petition.
Though the petition asks the city to make “an exception to the parking clause,” for The Douglas Outpost, Dundore is hoping for broader change.
“I can probably find the off-street parking for my business, but that’s not going to help the next guy and the next guy,” he told the Assembly. “We need to solve this problem for everyone.”
• Contact reporter Sam DeGrave at 523-2279 or sam.degrave@juneauempire.com.
