Munjoy Hill does not have a parking problem. This might come as news to the people who have circled blocks seeking a space near a restaurant, or to residents nervously watching new buildings spring up, bringing with them more people and more cars.

But what looks like a parking problem is really a transportation problem, and driving is just one of the ways to move people through the densely settled neighborhood. Stopping development or building garages are not the only ways to react to a shortage of parking, and they are not the least expensive or most desirable, either.

Additional Images

Use of Metro buses like this one on Congress Street in Portland could enable the expansion of the St. Lawrence Arts Center without requiring the creation of more parking on Munjoy Hill to accommodate theater patrons. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

The Friends of the St. Lawrence Arts Center has made a small change in its plans for a new, larger theater on the site of the landmark church that was demolished in 2008, but it’s one that could make a big difference in the city’s future. Faced with a parking problem, the group has proposed a transportation solution.

FORMER CHURCH GROWS

The St. Lawrence, on the eastern end of Congress Street, houses a 100-seat theater that is used year-round. Its supporters have proposed a 400-seat venue that could be used for musical performances. It has no parking of its own, and its original plan proposed shuttling patrons to off-site parking areas.

The new plan calls for the theater to pay for improvements to the city’s Metro bus service, potentially increasing the frequency of bus service to once every 15 minutes during the evening hours and extending trips later into the night.

This is an idea that could make mass transit practical – not just for theatergoers but also for anybody who lives along the route, which also serves some of the city’s biggest employers, including Mercy Hospital and Maine Medical Center.

The improved bus service would operate whether there was a show or not. It would be funded by a $5 surcharge on tickets, so even the people who drive to the theater would be contributing to a service that would keep other vehicles off the streets.

Neighbors are skeptical, and they have a right to be. Parking has never been easy on the Hill, and it has become tighter in recent years as three restaurants, two grocers and a coffee shop have opened on Congress Street along with the theater.

“With this situation we might be reaching a tipping point,” Munjoy Hill resident Ralph Carmona told the Planning Board on Wednesday.

He might be right, but it could be tipping in the right direction.

POSITIVE TRENDS

The Portland peninsula has the population density and good pedestrian access make a public transportation system work. According to a study published this year by the TransitCenter, a transportation-focused nonprofit, public transportation use is at a 50-year high nationally. And while baby boomers are still wedded to their cars even when good public transit is available, people under 30 are much more willing than their elders to hop on a bus or train, in some cases choosing to live without cars or driver’s licenses.

With these trends in mind, an enhanced transit service in Portland would give people visiting the St. Lawrence a viable alternative to driving. Would it be the choice of every theatergoer? Probably not, but it could transport enough of them to relieve the concerns of neighbors who fear that the proposed theater is too big.

There is ample evidence that shows that building more parking attracts more cars. Making it easier for people to use public transportation could do more to fix the parking shortage than building a garage.

This is a forward-thinking approach that the city should be using more often when making land-use decisions. And it’s one that the Planning Board should endorse.

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