City Council Meeting Date: June 16, 2026
To: Mayor and Members of Council
City Administrator
From: David E. Bennett, Public Works Director/City Engineer
Title
Consider Resolution Modifying Central Business District Short Term Parking and Handicap Accessible Parking.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council approves Resolution Modifying Central Business District Short Term Parking and Handicap Accessible Parking.
Summary Report:
At the May 12, 2026 City Council meeting, staff shared a summary of the central business district parking regulations. From that discussion, Council wanted a more uniform approach to the short term 20-minute parking and handicap parking on Division Street.
Short term 20-minute parking locations were established in 2014 based on specific business locations. Since then, many downtown business locations have changed while food pickup services such as Grubhub, Uber Eats, Doordash, etc have grown in popularity. However, there have been very few updates or adjustments to the short term 20-minute parking locations in the past 12 years. The proposed approach is to center the short term 20-minute parking in each block, this will allow short travel distances to reach businesses, regardless of future business changes. It will also provide consistent and predictable locations on each block for drivers and visitors to Northfield. A summary of the proposed changes is below.
|
Division Street 20-Minute Parking |
|
|
West Side Angled Parking |
East Side Parallel Parking |
|
Existing 20-Minute Stalls |
7 |
3 |
|
Proposed 20-Minute Stalls |
10 |
5 |
|
Net Increase |
3 |
2 |
An additional proposal is to go to a more uniform approach to handicap parking. The proposal on Division Street will increase the total handicap supply from Second Street to Seventh Street by 6 stalls. On the west side of Division St. handicap stalls have been placed on the end of each block where the accessible ramp is located. On the east side of Division Street, 1-stall per block is proposed and it will be the first stall northbound on each block, except on the 600 block of Division St., that stall has been located on the south side of Sixth Street near Division St., as this is the more accessible location due to the landscape beds on that block.
|
Division Street Handicap Parking |
|
|
West Side Angled Parking |
East Side Parallel Parking |
|
Existing Handicap Stalls |
7 |
2 |
|
Proposed Handicap Stalls |
10 |
5 |
|
Net Increase |
3 |
3 |
Staff are discussing the proposed changes with impacted businesses in order to share feedback with Council as part of the presentation.
City Plans & Policies Relevance:
NA
Alternative Options:
NA
Financial Impacts:
NA
Tentative Timelines:
Staff will install and relocate signage in the summer of 2026.