City makes adjustments to downtown parking for the summer

A summer shuffle is on tap for parking in Downtown Lawrence.

City commissioners on Tuesday received an update on plans to alter some parking in downtown to adjust for the Tuesday afternoon Lawrence Farmers’ Market that will take place in the long-term parking lot that borders the 800 block of Rhode Island and New Hampshire streets. The farmers’ market will occupy 17 spaces in the long-term lot.

Here’s a look at some of the adjustments approved by commissioners:

• U.S. Bank will allow its parking lot at the northeast corner of Ninth and Rhode Island streets for public parking Tuesdays during the Farmers’ Market season. The lot will add 27 public parking spaces to downtown during those Tuesdays.

• Public parking signs will be added to 23 parking spaces on the east edge of the Hobbs Taylor Lofts building at Eighth and New Hampshire streets. The spaces have been designated as public parking spots since the time the building was developed last decade, but the spaces never have been well-marked as public spaces, City Manager David Corliss said. The new signs will allow anyone with one of the city’s long-term parking permits to park in the spaces.

• The two hour parking lot on the west side of the 800 block of New Hampshire Street — Lot No. 4 — will be open to motorists with a city-issued long-term parking permit on Tuesdays during farmers’ market season. Two-hour, free parking also will be allowed during those times.

The long-term parking passes — which allows motorists to park at any 10-hour meter in downtown or at other designated locations — can be purchased from City Hall for $192 per year.

In addition to the farmers’ market, the closure of the parking lot for the Lawrence Public Library expansion has reduced parking in the downtown area. A nearly 300-space parking garage is being built as part of the library project, but the garage won’t be ready to open until later this summer.

The city had thought a portion of the garage might be open near Memorial Day to accommodate the adjacent outdoor aquatics center, but Corliss said weather delays have caused that timetable to be pushed back.