CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Unlimited free parking for West Side Market shoppers might be coming to an end, as part of a larger proposal to relieve congestion in Cleveland's growing Ohio City neighborhood.

But the parking plan, pitched by neighborhood group Ohio City Inc. and endorsed by the city of Cleveland, could be a hard sell with tenants at the public market.

The proposal, presented to the tenants' board Wednesday night, calls for merging two city-owned lots just east of the market, adding ticketing equipment and hiring a professional operator. To park, people might pay $2 an hour, or a $5 flat rate after 4 p.m. Market shoppers would get 90 minutes for free, but some vendors say that isn't enough.

<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/6383542/">Would you pay to park at the West Side Market?</a>

"I want two hours," Vince Bertonaschi, owner of Vince's Meats and head of the tenants' association, said Wednesday night. "I feel my customers deserve two hours, whether they use it or not."

The vendors, who rent their stalls at the city-owned market, have the power to block a deal. Their lease on the West Side Market lot stretches into 2014. So the tone of the parking negotiations could be a bellwether for talks about the market, a 100-year-old Cleveland institution, and its changing surroundings.

The backdrop is a comprehensive planning effort for the Market District, the several-block area around the historic market hall at West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue.

Ohio City Inc. is putting up better signs to direct drivers to attractions and parking facilities. The group wants to see more bike lanes and measures to slow traffic and protect pedestrians. As more businesses pop up, community leaders also are considering a permit system for residential streets. And they're evaluating the need to add parking meters or tweak hours and rates to make better use of on-street spaces.

But fixing parking at the market, a long-running gripe among vendors, is the crux of the strategy.

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"We've got to move forward on this," said Don Whitaker, owner of the D.W. Whitaker meat stand. "We can't just let it stall. I always say, 'Don't fix what's not broken.' But we've gotta fix this."

Surging apartment occupancy and an influx of small businesses and restaurants are driving up demand for parking. To keep close-lying spaces open, market tenants and bar owners are shifting their employees' cars to the fringes of the district. But people still park for hours in the free lots behind the market, blocking off spaces that otherwise would turn over several times a day. Impatient drivers use the market's parking lot as a cut-through. On weekends, traffic backs up as cars search for the closest space.

"I hear from people who come down to the market on a Saturday morning, drive around, and can't find a parking spot," said Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman, whose ward includes the market. "People who say they're never coming back. And we know that there are people who are parking at the market but not shopping at the market. That's fine when the market is closed. But you shouldn't be parking at the market and walking across the bridge to the game."

Research by Integrity Parking Systems, a consultant based in Chagrin Falls, shows that parking behind the West Side Market is tight between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturdays - the peak time for the vendors. At most other times, the neighborhood offers plenty of parking.

Still, the pressures are likely to increase.

With funding from the Cleveland Foundation, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority is considering development plans for little-used land along the district's eastern edge. Developer MRN Ltd. still has office and retail space to fill in its Marketplace development, southwest of West 25th and Lorain. Property owners and builders are considering other projects nearby. And St. Ignatius High School just launched a 12- to 18-month master-planning process, after donors approached the school about building an athletic stadium on campus.

The two-part proposal floated by Ohio City Inc. and endorsed by the city would add 145 spaces east of the market, by combining the 312-space West Side Market lot and the 195 space Hicks Lot and eliminating part of West 24th Street. Eventually, a 400- to 500-space garage could be built in the neighborhood, most likely on a West 28th Street surface lot owned by St. Ignatius.

Proponents say the plan would ease the neighborhood's growing pains and spread 350 new spaces across the district, preventing institutions from knocking down buildings to serve their parking needs. In the reconfigured West Side Market lot, market shoppers could get their tickets validated to cover 90 minutes of parking.

"You've got to give up something to get something," said Melissa DeCaro, who runs her family's produce stand. "I understand that. Adding more surface spaces will be good for everybody."

But, she added, "I would prefer two hours. I don't know if 90 minutes is enough."

Ohio City Inc. counters with research showing that 82 percent of market customers spend less than 90 minutes in the market lot. Giving two hours of free parking to shoppers makes reconfiguring the parking, a $1.1 million project, difficult to finance because it would cut into potential parking revenues, said Eric Wobser, the neighborhood group's executive director.

At first, Ohio City Inc. lobbied for 60 minutes of free parking. But tenants pushed back. At 90 minutes, the projected parking profits are cut in half, to between $290,000 and $370,000 a year.

"We stand by the fact that $300,000 is critical to creating sustainable infrastructure for the market itself and the neighborhood," Wobser said. "Yes, there should be some net revenue in doing this. And, yes, we think it's worth having some level of paid parking for the neighborhood to implement those improvements."

Ken Silliman, chief of staff to Mayor Frank Jackson, said the city is ready to move on the parking plan, with hopes of reconfiguring the lot by spring of 2013. But nothing will happen without the vendors' support.

"If they don't want to do that, then we're not going to go forward," Silliman said.

Neighborhood restaurateurs believe their patrons are willing to pay to park. But Sam McNulty, who owns several bars on West 25th, said parking must be affordable - perhaps $3 in the evenings, instead of $5. Alex Nosse, of Joy Machines Bike Shop, said he appreciates efforts to make the district more navigable for cyclists and pedestrians. He would support construction of a parking garage, though, if it prevented businesses and institutions from using land for surface parking.

When Ladd Leder and his wife, Phyllis, visit the West Side Market on Friday mornings, they park in the market lot and pick up fish, bread, meat, fruits and vegetables. Then the Leders walk to a nearby restaurant for an early lunch. Leder, a 64-year-old retiree living in Avon Lake, said those twice-monthly market trips usually last two hours. Getting charged for parking wouldn't stop him from coming.

"Sometimes you've got to pay," he said. "Sometimes, you don't."

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