Parking wars close to a resolution at Vinsetta Garage - but residents reactions mixed

BERKLEY, Mich. (FOX 2) - Since the Vinsetta Garage owner first bought the property in Berkley, it wanted to get more parking and bought some of the property behind it. 

The effort to turn that area into parking has been tied up in litigation. Now the city says it is ready to make a resolution tonight about the four housing lots.

But during Monday night's city council meeting it was decided without a court decision - parking will be coming to Berkley. 

Vinsetta Garage is known for its food, atmosphere, its wait time and lack of parking. The way it stands now it’s either street parking or valet.  Some customers say that's part of the deal. 

"I'll walk 100 yards or more with my 2-year-old kid no problem because it's part of the charm of having a restaurant here," said Travis Wright.
  
For 40 years Elmira Thompson has lived three homes away from Woodward on Eaton Street. She's learned to live with the street parkers clamoring for a table at the popular eatery. 

"Everything is fine the way it is," she said.

And she isn't excited for new neighbors.

"I mean you don't want to live next to a parking lot and your property value ..." she said.

She just recently found out the city of Berkley had settled an ongoing battle over parking with the owners Vinsetta Garage. Back in 2012 when it first opened, owners immediately saw parking problem and attempted their own remedy. 

"They wanted to buy all of us - they wanted me too - and I refused," Thompson said.

Her two neighbors on Eaton Street closer to Woodward, sold their property to Vinsetta. The conversion to a parking lot been tied up with council and courts ever since. 

"He bought the houses," said Brad Cocklin who lives nearby. "He bought the houses, obviously these people sold them to him. If he wants to convert it into a parking lot, why not let him do it."

Cocklin lives a little further down Eaton and says street parking has its own drawbacks. 

"I had to turn off the motion sensor on my Ring doorbell because it was going off all day every day," he said.