City Eases Restrictions on Parking Lot Use for Local Businesses
The City of Corvallis is implementing new measures to ease parking restrictions for businesses to help shift some operations outdoors and better accomplish physical distancing requirements.
The announcement came via a Notice of Enforcement Direction from Community Development Director Paul Bilotta. In the notice, Bilotta outlined a temporary moratorium on the enforcement of minimum parking requirements on private property to help the local business community during this period of cautious reopening of the Corvallis economy.
“We’ve heard from our business community about the need to use outdoor space creatively to achieve physical distancing requirements,” Bilotta said. “I’m pleased that the City was able to move quickly to bring some much-needed flexibility for businesses in Corvallis.”
Under the new measure, businesses can use vehicle storage space for outdoor operations, such as dining or merchandising, so long as 50% of the required spaces remain available for vehicle parking. This permission doesn’t include parking spaces in the public right of way, such as those in downtown Corvallis. In addition, drive aisles, fire access areas, and ADA-accessible spaces must remain unobstructed.
The City is developing additional guidance for downtown businesses interested in using the public right of way for business operations. That guidance is expected to be finalized in the coming days.
Special permits or other administrative approvals are not required; businesses can start using their parking spaces immediately under this new program. The program is expected to be in effect until physical distancing requirements on businesses are removed or the City of Corvallis ends its emergency declaration, whichever comes first.
For questions about the implementation of this notice, please contact Community Development Director Paul Bilotta at paul.bilotta@corvallisoregon.gov or 541-766-6571.
