Does it strike anyone else as ridiculous that strip malls adjacent to each other often have parking so separate that big signs warn of imminent towing if you dare leave your car there EVEN WHEN THEIR STORES ARE CLOSED? Such "planning" ensures that a community ends up with more blacktop parking than it needs, taking away space from landscaping, buffers and additional retail.
For example, Imperial China's parking lot can't always accommodate peak Saturday night dinner demand. Right next door is a strip mall where pretty much every store is closed on Saturday night -- but signs warn not to park there if you're not a customer of one of those stores. Now, I understand why those stores want to preserve parking for their own customers first. But shouldn't the town encourage ways to have adjacent businesses share parking if their peak demands are at different times? In fact, that should be allowed in parking calculations for new development.
I agree with you on this. I understand that liability is the main reason other than preservation of parking spaces that property owners post these signs. If we can over the liability issue, shared parking will help the over-parking issue tremendously.
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