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DENVER -- Parking spots can already be hard to come by in Denver, but residents says construction along S. Broadway has taken their parking struggles to another level.
"The construction workers take all the spots early in the morning and then throughout the day, leaving no parking for residents and especially businesses here in the neighborhood," said John Bulger, who lives in the area.
He's talking about the construction taking place at 99 S. Broadway on a new apartment building called Neon Local. The construction has already taken away a number of metered spots surrounding the site and Bulger said the remaining spots are being taken over by construction crews.
“Starting at 6:30 in the morning they start arriving and they’re here all day long," Bulger said.
By the time businesses open, the manager of a nearby store said most of the spots in the area are already filled up.
“All the time, I have people coming in saying, 'Oh, I tried to come this weekend or yesterday and I left because I couldn’t find a parking spot," said Anna Norris, Manager and Buyer for Decade.
Norris said they have met with the developer in an attempt to reach a solution but she said the parking situation remains unchanged.
"They don’t seem to care that it’s affecting the businesses in the neighborhood," said Norris.
The City of Denver put a new policy in place this spring that requires developers of large projects to submit parking plans for their workers and subcontractors. Projects that cost more than $100,000 and last more than a week need to have a parking plan.
A spokesperson for the Department of Public Works said Holland Construction Inc. submitted a parking plan in September. She said parking enforcement is patrolling the area on a regular basis.
Bulger doesn't buy it and he takes issue with workers who seem to be saving spots with orange cones. While Denver7 was interviewing him, a worker pulled into a spot that was marked with one of those cones.
"The city has not come out and enforced it in any sort of way, parking enforcement has not enforced it in any sort of way," said Bulger.
