In an effort to appease some downtown Kent business owners city officials have created nine parking spaces designated as 10-minute spots throughout downtown.

Kent Safety Director William Lillich said several downtown businesses asked for such spaces specifically for their stores, but because the city couldn't designate spots for specific businesses the nine general spaces were added.

"They will be 10-minute only spaces, and we’ll keep an eye on that the next couple of months to see if they’re actually being used that way," Lillich said. "It would be temporary in this case. If we ultimately decide to have timed parking downtown we could accommodate a lot of this stuff very simply."

The spaces are located primarily in the central downtown district. Kent City Council voted unanimously earlier this month to approve designating the 10-minute parking spaces.

Councilwoman Heidi Shaffer, whose Ward 5 district includes downtown, liked the idea of the 10-minute spaces.

"I think this maybe will help some of these business owners who are a little nervous about what’s going on and all the (parking) congestion,” she said.