More parking and crosswalk proposed for city park

An improved park in Grand Coulee may need a couple more improvements because of increased usage, a city council member proposes.

The chair of the city council’s safety committee wants the city to take another look at installing a few more parking spaces next to Grand Coulee City Park, perhaps in the adjacent alley running parallel to Grand Coulee Ave. and Roosevelt Drive. 

At the council’s June 25 meeting Councilmember Tom Poplawski also proposed petitioning the state Department of Transportation to install a crosswalk with button-activated flashing lights across Highway 174 on account of increased park visitor traffic. 

“I doubt very much that we could get the state to reduce the [highway] speed for such a short period there, to slow it down,” Poplawski told the council. “I just don’t think that would happen. But what we could do is improve the signage. Coming in from the east, I could not find a sign that even said there was a park within a mile of that place.”

If the city petitioned DOT for the crosswalk, the department would look at usage and traffic patterns, he said, though the city may incur some of the cost.

Grand Coulee resident Kim Christiansen asked the council to consider placing signage with parking time limits. 

“We’ve had a lot of folks that are parking, you know, in the alley now and not really wanting to move,” said Christiansen, who lives on Roosevelt Drive. “I can understand because they’re [unloading], but there definitely, in my opinion, needs to be some signage, like, how long they can park there, what time the park is closed, what the sound should be.”

No one on council made a formal motion on next steps, but Poplawski said the Safety Committee (himself, Councilmember Mark Nash) will continue to explore the issue and bring any proposals through newly-appointed Public Works Director Ruth Olmstead. 

“I mean, it’s common sense, if you put that playground there,” he said.