ADA TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Ada Township officials are launching a strategic effort to gather public input on downtown parking through a consultant-led study that includes community feedback opportunities.
The township is collecting resident experiences through a seven-question online survey and will host a public open house on Sept. 2 at the Amy Van Andel Library from 5:00 to 7:00 PM.
"Local government initiatives are only truly serving people when they're involved in those decisions," said John Said, Director of Planning, and Kevin Austin, DDA Director for Ada Township.
Both Kevin and John Said, the Director of Planning for Ada, emphasized the importance of public feedback to make improvements within the township.
The township has hired consultant Fishbeck, which is working with sub-consultant Mckenna, to work on a parking plan for the township. As part of the process, they are seeking answers to key questions about resident experiences.
According to said and Austin, questions include, "What does that look like? How does that work for them? Are there things that they find to be good, or other things that they find to be challenging?" Said and Austin said.
The open house will feature interactive workstations where residents can discuss their downtown experiences, including where they park and visit. Both Said and Austin say that this will be an opportunity for people to not only gather information from consultants and officials but also be able to share their own feedback.
Feedback is not limited to drivers. Anyone who has had any sort of interaction with the downtown area is welcome to share. Austin and Said emphasize the importance of attending the open house in person saying that human interaction is important and feedback shared live holds a higher value than tracking down social media feedback.
"Coming to the meeting, expressing kind of how you experience the downtown, because that meeting is really about workstations and stations of interactive kind of opportunities to talk about where you park, where you know, where you visit, things like that. You know, if you're not doing that, then you're not really investing in the community in the way that can really translate into substantive change," the officials said.
A local business employee has noticed parking challenges during busy periods.
"When there are events, it definitely gets very packed. People will start parking on the sides of the roads and stuff, because there are so many people. It definitely affects businesses, too. There are a lot of people who can't come in on those busier nights because they just can't find parking," said Macy Schram, who works at Luna in Ada.
The survey will remain available for several weeks and can be accessed through the township's social media channels.
"This survey will be going on for at least several weeks, so people can access it, I believe, through our social media and be able to share with us their opinions," Said and Austin said.
To access the survey directly from this story you can visit: https://mckenna.mysocialpinpoint.com/ada-parking-studies?fbclid=IwdGRjcAMdyK5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHgqyOBZyeQI-3xMy45KogzypCBQ3rUjLjSWu5Wv65jiZdh4w8rPs6jK8ziet_aem_eJ7vDi541wbLtKn3xhypuQ
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