City considers new off-street parking standards

Parking spaces may soon get a little bit tighter in Sidney.

The city took steps toward narrowing the minimum required off-street parking space width at last week’s meeting. Sidney now requires 10 foot width on 90 and 60 degree parking spaces. Public services director John Hehnke did some research and found that many other communities have a 9 foot minimum.

“This was an issue that was brought to us by the private sector,” said city manager Gary Person. “When you have national franchise companies that do projects throughout the United States, they pretty much design their projects using national standards.”

The 9 foot width is typical of industry standards, said councilman Mark Nienhueser.

This change would not affect public parking controlled or owned by the city, Person explained.

“This is an issue for Marriott, for instance,” Person said. “They design to a standard that’s 9 foot parking stalls, and that’s what they build in other communities and other states and so forth. And when they come here and present their plans, it’s not uniform and there’s costs involved in changing plans.”

Mayor Wendall Gaston wondered if the larger amount of big trucks in Sidney compared to other areas might be a problem. These larger trucks with extended mirrors might reach 9 feet from mirror to mirror, Hehnke said.

All parking at the 13th Ave. Cabela’s office as well as the corporate office is 9 feet wide, Nienhueser said.

Lowering the minimum width would maximize space and the number of spots the business can fit in a lot, Person said.

“Our standard exceeds the minimum standard that’s used nationally,” Person said.

Typically the city attempts to make public spaces around the 10 foot mark.

The council designated the ordinance to make this change and will read it again at the next meeting.

The city is generally most concerned that businesses have the adequate number of spaces for their customers, Person said.