The third area, shown on this page, starts near the intersection of Sommerheim Drive and W 8th Street and ends near the western end of Colony Plaza near Lowell Avenue.

Green infrastructure should be considered throughout the corridor and district and, specifically, this area would provide an opportunity to develop green infrastructure features near Colony Plaza. Planted areas within the right-of-way include larger areas that could include rain gardens and bioswales to help improve stormwater runoff from the parking areas.

Approximately 98 parking spaces at Colony Plaza currently encroach into the public right-of-way for W 8th Street. This right-of-way should be reclaimed and used for public use, such as tree lawns, sidewalks and green infrastructure. To offset this loss in parking, back in angled parking is recommended to provide the largest number of on-street parking spaces to serve Colony Plaza customers and other members of the general public. This will provide approximately 85 new on-street spaces, resulting in an estimated net loss of 13 spaces.

If back in angled parking is determined to be infeasible during detailed design phases, Millcreek should consider parallel on-street parking. This also would allow for additional space to provide for more green infrastructure features. However, parallel parking will result in fewer spaces.

A midblock crossing could be worked into this area, however, the back in angled parking complicates any potential crossing. A mid-block crossing should be considered during the design phase.

Continuous 5' sidewalk on both sides of the street

Crossings should be included in key locations. This should include midblock crossings at strategic locations.