A longtime West Seattle restaurant is concerned planned road work could negatively impact business.
John Bennett owns Luna Park Café on SW Avalon Way. It’s a popular breakfast spot near the bustling West Seattle bridge.
“It is a lot of labor and a lot of love,” Bennett said.
He said during the morning rush hour, SW Avalon Way can be busy, and his customers compete for parking.
“You see it all the time, especially when the bus lane is closed [to parking],” said Bennett.
Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) plans to repave the street as soon as 2019, adding protected bike lanes and removing the center turn lane.
In the 30% project update posted in June, it also said it would remove 12 street parking spaces near Luna Park Café and add morning time restrictions to 23 more for the a.m. transit lane.
“When we started in 1989, we had over 70 parking spaces. And with the new design for Avalon Way, it’s going down to about 14,” he said, referring to the design posted in June. “So we’re obviously very concerned about that.”
In a 60% update posted last week, SDOT noted it is updating the design to add more parking near Luna Park. Bennett said he was told that would mean some short-term parking spots nearby and more up the block.
“I don’t want to have to close Monday through Friday for breakfast, but that might be the bottom line,” he said.
SDOT’s plan notes: “We can monitor parking data post-implementation to see if there is a parking shortage.”
It also noted it's working to update parking numbers and will share them on the project website.
