PENDLETON — The idea of adding parklets to downtown Pendleton has been floating around for years, but the Pendleton Downtown Association is making another go at it.

Angela Thompson, the president of the association, told the Pendleton Development Commission at a Tuesday, Aug. 18, meeting that the nonprofit is interested in adding parklets — wooden platforms that cover on-street parking spots to create more public seating for dining or relaxing — throughout downtown Pendleton.

Thompson said parklets could be a pedestrian-friendly way to increase visitors’ ability to “hang out” in the downtown area. She said four Main Street businesses have already expressed interest in getting parklets in front of their storefronts — Great Pacific Wine & Coffee Co., Joe’s Fiesta Mexican Restaurant, Sister’s Cafe and Virgil’s at Cimmiyotti’s.

But this is far from the first time the city has looked at adding parklets to downtown streets.

The city held meetings in 2015 to gauge interest in the idea, but Charles Denight, the development commission’s associate director, said he never heard enough support from local business owners to pursue that idea. Previous to 2015, Denight said the concept advanced far enough that city staff drew up schematics, but it never went further.

Denight said the main opposition to parklets has often revolved around business owners concerned about how taking away on-street parking might affect customer traffic.

Although he understood businesses’ concerns, Denight’s own studies show that the downtown area doesn’t lack for parking.

In 2017, Denight and a downtown association employee observed the 311 public parking spaces and the 339 on-street parking spaces between Southeast First Street and Southwest First Street, Umatilla River to the railroad, twice a day for 10 days straight in the spring and summer.

They found that the overall average of vacant parking spaces never dipped below halfway empty.

The six public parking lots near Main Street were especially empty — those lots averaged nearly 3 in 4 vacant spaces.

Denight said the difference in the downtown association’s latest attempt has a base of merchants supporting the idea. Additionally, the gap between then and now has shown that other rural communities like La Grande, The Dalles and Walla Walla, Washington, have been able to successfully implement parklets into their downtown areas.

Thompson, a co-owner of Pendleton Music Co., said she hadn’t heard of any of her fellow business owners opposed to the idea.

The proposal is in its early stages and Thompson told the commission that there’s still some details to be worked out, like who will buy and maintain the parklets, which cost about $2,500 per parking space.

Thompson said if the idea moves forward, she would like to form a parklet committee that will help implement the concept and address any concerns.

“They’re public spaces, public right-of-ways, so we have to engage the public in this,” she said.

Thompson said she plans to speak with more city officials to hash out some of the proposals details and return to a commission meeting next month.