One of the bustling pubs in downtown Ferndale
One of the bustling pubs in downtown Ferndale.
Ferndale has become the hipper-than-Royal Oak suburb along the Woodward corridor in southern Oakland County.
But the popular downtown spot has a problem: Parking. It's tough finding parking spots.
City officials are holding off on approving new liquor licenses, Mike McConnell writes in The Oakland Press, while they consider a proposal that would require new or expanding downtown bars and restaurants to pay several thousands dollars into a fund for each on-site parking space they lack.
The paper reports:
A study shows bars and restaurants account for more than 50 percent of the commercial space in the downtown and put a strain on available parking during peak hours. The city is coming up with a plan for a parking deck and also trying to attract more retail and office spaces to the central business district.
The city’s Downtown Development Authority supports the pause on approving new liquor license requests.
Barry Hicks, executive director of the DDA, said downtown officials want the city to wait on license requests until after zoning amendments are made that will require new liquor-licensed businesses to pay into a parking fund that will ultimately help build more parking spaces.
The ordinance to make bars and restaurants with liquor license pay for off-site parking spaces goes next week before the Planning Commission, which will then make a recommendation for the city council, which has the final say.
-- Allan Lengel
