Manitou Springs has opened the refurbished Hiawatha parking lot, delivering nearly 100 new parking spaces on the edge of downtown as part of a broader effort to ease one of the small city's most persistent visitor challenges.
Parking in Manitou Springs is a premium commodity, with close to 1,000 spaces serving between 2,000 and 3,000 vehicles per day — a ratio that city officials said left many visitors circling and leaving without stopping. "Parkers would go by town, drive one loop and then leave because there's no parking for them, which is the original problem," said Felipe Lopez, the city's Mobility and Parking Director.
The Hiawatha project is the result of a decade of planning and an investment in the range of $3 million. The site previously served as an overflow lot on cracked and crumbling pavement outside an old, unused building. City officials said the redesign was shaped directly by community input. "The main thing our community said was we want it to be aesthetic, we want it to feel like Manitou, we want it to be modern, we want to think of something other than just how many parking spots can we put into this," said Ben Schmitt, the city's Public Service Director.
Lower cost at Hiawatha is intended as an incentive to draw drivers to the lot so they can either walk or use the shuttle to reach other parts of town. The lot now includes bathrooms, electric vehicle charging stations, a water filling station, bike racks, a bike repair station, lockers, shade trees, and ample lighting. A stormwater drainage feature called rain gardens is also incorporated into the design.
"A big improvement as part of this project is we created stormwater infrastructure to help pre-treat all the water off the pavement before it ever goes into the creek," Schmitt said. The environmental feature reflects the city's stated goal of balancing visitor access with the character and ecological sensibility of the community.
The project came in on time and under budget, with savings of around $300,000. Paid parking in the lot supports the city's goal of consistent turnover for two of every 10 parking spaces across the system.
City officials have not yet indicated when, or whether, a follow-on phase of the broader parking strategy will be brought forward for public review.