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As Tim Davis walks down Gaithers Alley off South Bentz Street, he sees a row of garages on one side and a row of cars on the other.

But more importantly, he sees a successful city project ripe for duplication.

It has been more than four years since the City of Frederick developed a new alley as a means of access to downtown homeowners and perhaps more importantly, off-street parking behind their homes.

Acknowledging the challenge of getting residents to donate part of their land in return for an alley, Davis, the city's traffic planner, said it is time for Frederick to take a fresh look at creating the smaller passages to make some big impacts on the city.

As for location, unanimous resident approval is a must, Davis said.

"The scope of our work is to find two or three we think will work and get that vetted to one we can build," he said. "If there is a block where two people want it and 11 are opposed, it's too much trouble. We'll pass."

Over the next several months, the city and the Downtown Frederick Partnership are taking a renewed look at how to successfully build the narrower-than-city-street alleys to provide off-street parking for residents while also freeing up on-street spaces for visitors and downtown customers.

From a transportation standpoint, Davis said the alleys could provide better circulation in the city, helping improve traffic flow but not creating "cut-throughs" at the same time.

Having worked as an engineer for Gaithers Alley, Mayor W. Jeff Holtzinger (R) experienced the challenges of alley building firsthand, from working with mortgage companies for land rights to boundary issues with downtown properties. While time-consuming, the mayor has high hopes for the new endeavor to complement the city's parking deck projects.

"You need to be realistic in terms of a timeframe with all the work to be done," Holtzinger said. "So it is important to listen to residents and get everyone on board before moving forward."

While compiling resident buy-in, Davis said one successful project can also create a template for future endeavors, with the hopes to make alleys a regular part of the city's annual construction budget.

For the last few years, the Downtown Frederick Partnership has had its own alleys committee, according to Executive Director Kara Norman. More on-street parking helps businesses and residents, she said, creating a "win-win" for greater success and health of Frederick.

Norman, who has an alley behind her Frederick home, said she has seen the benefits firsthand as another way to connect with neighbors, plus an added value to her property.

"In my neighborhood [near Hood College], the alley has created a sense of community and interaction," she said. "…It is a place for us to talk and a place for kids to play in a traditionally low-traffic area vs. the high-traffic street."

In August, the Frederick Board of Aldermen approved a $54,000 contract with East 2nd Street planning firm Daft McCune Walker Inc., with the price tag covered through city funds and a state grant secured by the Downtown Frederick Partnership.

Davis said the firm's role is to help the city with everything from a creating a brochure for residents that explains the alleys program to legal, engineering and planning work.

"We will offer [the city] a variety of options for brainstorming to let them decide and another part of our role will be to get as much public input as we can," said Jerry Muir, vice president of the firm.

The firm will also explore "green" alley options, Muir said, from encouraging rain gardens and redirected gutters to limit water runoff to exploring pavement that redirects more moisture and reflects less heat.

Helping Daft McCune Walker is Alan Feinberg of Frederick, a planner and architect. Feinberg has worked tirelessly to not only identify consulting partners, including the Illinois-based Hitchcock Group which has helped Chicago with a green alleys project, but will also be at the forefront of neighbor relations.

"I'll walk, talk and mainly listen to better understand people's needs," he said. "…[Off-street] parking is like doing laundry at a Laundromat versus doing it at home. One can take a lot of time and effort and the other, not so much."