RULE 65 | PROVIDE ANGLE PARKING TO FILL UP EXCESS STREET WIDTH

WALKABLE WICHITA: LESSONS FROM JEFF SPECK

BY RAMI STUCKY

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Ray Rancuret was on a mission to fix Delano. And, although he probably did not know it, angled parking would be the perfect tool. The neighborhood was succumbing to what the Wichita Eagle in 2002 was calling “dumb growth.” Suburban sprawl was increasing. “Bland, characterless developments” were cropping up. Ugly strip malls and endless parking lots were being constructed, impacting farmland and water quality across the county. [1] Core neighborhoods such as Delano suffered as a result.

In 1999, there were more than 100 vacant lots in the neighborhood, a situation created by middle-class residents leaving for the fringes. [2] Rancuret realized that his neighborhood “was dying.” [3] His wife, concerned about safety, wanted to move from their home on 232 South Millwood. But Rancuret would not budge. “I’m a firm believer that you take care of your neighborhood rather than move to the suburbs,” he proclaimed. [4] He walked the talk, launching a neighborhood-wide cleanup and crime watch program. Alongside residents and storeowners like Jack Kellogg, Larry Brown, Wayne M. Wells, Mary Lou Rivers, and Joan Dodds, he worked to revitalize the neighborhood’s resident and business associations. And, in conjunction with the city, he helped craft the Delano Neighborhood Plan. In 2003, the plan was put into action, and the city devoted around $3 million to infrastructure improvements. Now, more than twenty years later, the neighborhood is a “hot spot.” Delano is a “desirable destination.” It’s a “sexy place to be.” [5]

The improvements were relatively modest. The city added a roundabout with a 30-foot brick tower at Douglas and Sycamore. It converted Douglas Avenue between McLean and Seneca from four lanes into two lanes. And, in doing so, they were able to include one of the features vital to Delano’s revitalization: angled parking.

“Angle parking increases the parking supply and slows traffic, both of which are great for urban retail,” notes urban planner Jeff Speck in Walkable City Rules: 101 Steps to Making Better Places. [6] Nowhere in Wichita did the positives shine brighter than in Delano. Prior to the 2000s, traffic moved quickly through the district. Four lanes and parallel parking made the neighborhood “someplace to travel through on their way elsewhere,” as opposed to a destination, Jim Martinson, former president of Delano’s Business Association, remarked. [7] This does not mean that Douglas was necessarily a busy thoroughfare. In 2000, the Eagle lamented that “one can cross the street at 5 pm on a weekday without breaking a sweat.” [8] The streets were both vast and desolate.

Angled parking would help change that. It did not necessarily bring more traffic to the area. In fact, it tends to lower traffic speeds. Unlike parallel parking, angled parking requires parked cars to jut out into the street and take up more of the lane. There is a positive to this, though. As Speck notes, “it is rare to see people speeding on streets with angled parking because the opportunities for conflict–– and finding a spot–– are so high.” [9] Angled parking encourages drivers to slow down and visit the area.

According to Steve Perry, an architect hired by the city to draw up the Delano project, such slower traffic would “benefit the businesses.” [10] Ron Holt, assistant county manager, agreed. In a comment made in 2006, Holt argued that “the whole idea of neighborhood development is to slow traffic down so that businesses … have a better opportunity for those people driving through to park and to shop.” [11]  Business owners in Delano were certainly on board with the idea. Toni Timpy, owner of West Side Flower & Gift Shop, felt that angled parking would “cause motorists to slow down and take note of the stores along Douglas.” [12] Although construction certainly inconvenienced shop owners, individuals like Michael Scanga (Bicycle X-Change) and Curt Melzer (Vagabound) believed the improved streetscape would be “wonderful when it’s done.” [13]

They were not disappointed. For one, angled parking created a small-town feel that made it look like an “old-fashioned town.” [14] Aesthetically, Kellogg noted how the streetscape improvements created a “more intimate appeal to our street. It tends to draw people to the area more.” [15] Angled parking also vitalized the businesses adjacent to Douglas, adding twice as many parking spaces as it previously had. According to the authors of Delano’s development plan, “each parking space would be worth $10,000 to each business.” [16] 

Assessing angled parking’s economic impact is difficult. Kellogg, who also owned Hatman Jack, could only speculate that “our traffic count has increased since angled parking was put in … that’s just my gut feeling, but I’ve been here about 25 years and I see it. ”[17] During a discussion in 2011 about the revitalization of Downtown, Les Ruthven, a Wichita businessman, cited Delano’s success. “I like the idea of slowing traffic down on Douglas,” he said. “It’s working in Delano,” Ruthven’s wife, Courtney, echoed. Nobody thought they’d want angled parking, “but it’s helping.” Speculations aside, Delano certainly contains some of the most prized, vibrant, and valuable parcels, subdivisions, and lots in the city. According to the Sedgwick County Appraiser Office, the City of Wichita’s parcels are valued at $2 per square foot on average. In Delano, the total values of the lots are $34 per square foot, more than 16 times the city’s. Such economic growth can be attributed to the initiative of everyday individuals like Rancuret. Where should Wichita put angled parking next?

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[1] Randy Schofield, “Is ‘Smart Growth’ for Wichita?,” Wichita Eagle, April 27, 2002, 11A.

[2] “Delano,” Wichita Eagle, June 3, 1999, 4D.

[3] Schofield, “Is ‘Smart Growth’ for Wichita?”

[4] “Public Art Projects in Delano,” Wichita Eagle, September 2, 2001, 12.

[5] Carrie Rengers, “There’s a Fast-Growing Area of Wichita That Is Proving ‘the Sexy Place to Be,’” Wichita Eagle, December 26, 2021.

[6] Jeff Speck, Walkable City Rules: 101 Steps to Making Better Places (Island Press, 2018), 154. 

[7] Jim Martinson, “A Very Welcome Change,” Wichita Eagle, September 1, 2002, 12.

[8] “Delano,” Wichita Eagle, June 19, 2000, 4A.

[9] Speck, Walkable City Rules: 101 Steps to Making Better Places, 154.154.

[10] “Delano,” June 19, 2000, 4A.

[11] Barbara J. Isenberg, “Angled Parking Stalled,” Wichita Eagle, December 11, 2006, 3A. 

[12] Lilian Zier Martell, “Delano,” Wichita Eagle, August 13, 2001, 8.

[13] Van Williams, “Delano,” Wichita Eagle, August 28, 2003, 8; Denise Neil, “Vagabond: An Oasis in the Chaos,” Wichita Eagle, June 6, 2003, 16C.

[14] “Old Part of Town to Get New Look,” Wichita Eagle, September 3, 2003, 7C.

[15] Isenberg, “Angled Parking Stalled,” 3A. 

[16] “Delano,” Wichita Eagle, October 13, 2003, 2B.

[17] Isenberg, “Angled Parking Stalled.”