There is plenty of parking in downtown Langley, according to a Community Planning study conducted earlier this year.

Planning intern Doug Yormick presented his report to the Langley City Council on Dec. 7. He divided the downtown core, between Anthes and Cascade avenues and from Third to First streets, into zones and tallied filled spots throughout the day during June and July. June represented the non-tourist season, and July the tourist season.

“Langley has sufficient parking capacity to accommodate demand,” Yormick said to the council. “It’s merely a perception problem.”

The report came as no shock to the council members. For years, they have rebuffed complaints about a lack of parking downtown.

“It’s the same conclusion,” Councilwoman Rene Neff said at the meeting.

Yormick’s study included a few action plans. One was finding a way to spread out parking along First Street instead of its dense clustering between Wharf Street and Anthes Avenue. Getting people to utilize the spaces past Anthes would help.

Another way of improving parking along the main roads was to improve usage of public lots on the outskirts. Lots at the Island Church of Whidbey on Sixth Street/Cascade Avenue and the Langley United Methodist Church on Third Street/Anthes Avenue have lots of capacity but little use during the average day, the study showed. Improving signage that those lots are indeed public parking every day except Sunday could improve the perception of a lack of parking in Langley, city leaders said.