CRITICAL MASS

the city could pay for a Bishop Arts parking garage, perhaps with bond funding. The city then could try to recoup the money by charging a fee to park during peak times. Conley says the people who make the most money from Bishop Arts — landlords and business owners — should pool to pay for a garage.

2. Density and strategy. Creating more density in north Oak Cliff is another way to ease parking clusters. When there are more attractions than just Bishop Arts — for example, the Jefferson Tower, the Tyler/ Davis area and the Oak Cliff Gateway— that spreads people and cars around the neighborhood. Add to that some parking strategy. The city could stripe spaces in Bishop Arts a little tighter, Spence says. And in Bishop Arts and the surrounding neighborhood, where so much of the overflow parking winds up, parking time limits could help. Putting two-hour or fourhour limits on parking allows enough time to eat and shop but turns over parking spaces faster. That also prevents Bishop Arts workers from parking in spaces that would be better used by customers. Employees could park farther off site, and business owners could strategize on how to get employees to and from their cars safely.

HOW WILL PARKING BE ADDRESSED IN THE GATEWAY?

SO FAR, THE GATEWAY PROPOSAL suggests parking reductions for legacy buildings.

Unlike the Bishop/Davis ordinance, the Gateway proposal defines specific standards for a legacy building. Under the proposal, a legacy building must have been constructed before 1957; have a front facade within 15 feet of the sidewalk; have a main entrance that faces Colorado, Zang, Jefferson, Marsalis, Eighth or Ballard; have windows and doors that take up at least 20 percent of the front facade; and have no parking lot in front. Buildings meeting those standards still would be required to provide some off-street parking — the details of that are still being hashed out — but not as much as would be required for a new building.