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The road, and the development that lines it,should frame the City,both physically by providing a straight and picturesque drive into the downtown and thematically giving drivers and pedestrians a taste of the character they will experience in the Downtown. This needs to be offset and designed so as to be visible and appealing from the highway clearly indicating to the driver that a unique place is waiting down this short corridor. The bobber water tower,which should be able to be seen from the intersection,should remain unobstructed as it is a unique curiosity that will draw people's attention. The roadway improvements needed to create a memorable boulevard and gateway to the City may be beyond what would be provided for or allowed by Crow Wing County in their maintenance and potential reconstruction of this corridor. The City may need to assume responsibility for this short stretch of road if it becomes necessary to create this critical element of the Downtown gateway. In addition to these improvements,the City must regulate construction along the highway corridor to ensure that it does not detract from creating the sense of destination. This stretch will be unique as most of the highway from Baxter north will be lined with development while this area will be largely forested. The forested gateway, as described in the Comprehensive Plan, helps to give context to Pequot's destination downtown. It is essential that this be maintained. Parking Strategy Pequot Lakes currently has roughly 390 public parking spaces in the downtown area. On street parking represents 334 of the spaces. The public off street parking is located in three lots: the Pequot Visitors Center(27 spaces),the Cole Memorial Building(14 spaces)and the lot south of Sibley Street on W Front Street(12 spaces). The proposed plan will offer a total of roughly 675 spaces. 625 of the spaces will be on street public parking spaces,with a bulk of the spaces coming from defining parking spaces along Sibley, Butler,and Oriole Streets and making more efficient use of current parking spaces. For instance the number of parking spaces currently available along Government Drive is roughly 114. Through better design and expansion of the parking locations the proposed plan will increase the number of spaces by over 8o spaces,resulting in nearly 200 parking spaces along Government Drive. The proposed plan also reflects the loss of over loo parking spaces. Seventy of the spaces that will be lost are along Main Street. Whether or not Crow Wing County reconstructs County Road 11,Main Street,to accommodate the projected increase in demand over the next ten years,these parking spaces will likely need to be eliminated both to expand sidewalks and improve traffic flow. The remainder of the lost spaces is the result of removing the parking along Washington Avenue. The proposed plan is to remove all automobile traffic from Washington Avenue to create a pedestrian mall. More details on Washington Avenue can be found in Section XX of this plan. The proposed parking increases will only satisfy the current demand in downtown and as the number of downtown businesses increase so will the demand for parking. The City will need to explore methods to provide additional parking in an efficient manner.The following strategies are offered: Pequot Lakes Staff Report February 20,2014 2