Update, 12:25 p.m. April 28: City Administrator Chris Searcy confirmed that that while the exact length of time the library lot will be closed, “the closure is not anticipated to continue into the evening. The advance posting is necessary for the Police Department to legally remove any vehicles that are left there on Friday.”
Downtown Enumclaw has really come alive these past few weekends, and parking spaces have been extremely limited.
It will be even harder to park tomorrow, April 29, as the local library parking lot will be closed all day so the city can cut down a small row of poplar trees.
The trees are coming down as part of two new deals with both KCLS and the Thunder Dome Car Museum to improve, and add, downtown parking over the next few months; both deals were finalized in July 2021.
The deal with KCLS simply gave Enumclaw back control of the library lot so the city can make some improvements — in this case, tearing down some trees that are outside the scope of the project deal Enumclaw struck with the Thunder Dome Car Museum.
According to the official agreement between the city and the museum, a new parking lot will be constructed over the field behind the library, which has been previously used as a community “pea patch” that has since become overgrown.
Design, permitting, and construction of the lot will be covered by the Thunder Dome; the city of Enumclaw will cover maintenance costs.
In return for covering the vast majority of the project cost, the museum will have some parking privileges.
For example, while the lot will mostly be used as overflow parking for visitors to the Thunder Dome and general public parking, the museum can close the lot to public parking for up to 48 hours at a time. This can only happen up to 12 times a year, and never no more than twice during a single month.
The Thunder Dome can also have exclusive access to the lot for a full seven consecutive days once per year.
Public parking will be restricted to 12 hours at a time, and overnight parking (2 to 6 a.m.) will not be allowed.
The deal also stipulates that Thunder Dome, or its parent company, Thundering Mountain, LLC, can build a commercial building on the lot sometime in the future.
Construction on the lot is expected soon; the Courier-Herald has reached out to the museum for more concrete details.
