Business owners are petitioning the city to crack down on store employees in Winslow — and commuters who take the ferry to Seattle — who are using parking spaces in front of downtown shops and leaving no room for shoppers.

Sixty business owners have signed a petition that calls for new time limits on downtown parking spaces, as well as an ordinance that would give tickets and fines to downtown employees who park on Winslow Way.

Downtown business say customers have been having trouble finding places to park, and the parking problems have been brewing for months.

Many merchants are asking the city to cut the allowance for three-hour parking down to two hours only.

Marcia C. Wicktom, a downtown property owner, sent the petition to the city of Bainbridge Island in September, and included a survey on the offending cars of employees and commuters, complete with license plate numbers, who have been clogging up downtown parking spaces.

Wicktom said downtown employees are currently moving their cars before they hit the three-hour limit, but just to other spots on Winslow Way.

Downtown merchants have also noticed people parking downtown, then heading to the ferry terminal to catch a boat to Seattle.

Wicktom, who owns two downtown properties, said she contacted elected officials before the election last year about the problem.

“Then the election finished and nothing was done,” she said.

Wicktom said the problem stems from the loss of some downtown parking from the Winslow Way makeover, parking by Avalara employees and other downtown workers, and people catching the ferry to Seattle but not paying for parking at the ferry terminal.

At Avalara, she said, workers don’t have enough room for parking at their Winslow Way building. Despite attempts by Avalara management and the downtown association to solve the problem, the trouble still persists. A suggestion to have employees park on the other side of downtown, by Eagle Harbor Congregational Church, proved unworkable.

All but one of the downtown merchants surveyed want parking restricted to two hours, with the sole merchant who disagreed instead advocating a one-hour limit.

Parking has also been reduced because of the Winslow Way reconstruction project, Wicktom noted.

“I have assumed through all of this that they did want to maintain Winslow Way businesses as viable,” she said of city hall.

“And you really can’t do that if people can’t park and come into your business,” Wicktom said. “The business is going to suffer and close and leave. And who is going to be a tenant on Winslow if there isn’t enough parking and that isn’t controlled?”

The city council will be briefed on the parking troubles at its meeting Monday.

According to city staff, the problems are real, and “a significant number of employees of downtown businesses are parking on-street and moving cars during the day to avoid parking citations.”

City officials said parking alternatives need to be provided to make enforcement of reducing parking times feasible.

The city is proposing that 40 parking spaces at the police station be devoted to employee parking as a temporary solution to the problem.

On-street parking between Highway 305 and Ericksen Avenue will also be cut from three hours to one hour, and three spaces on each side of Winslow Way between Ericksen Avenue and Madison Avenue will be reduced to one-hour parking.

The city has vowed to make the changes as soon as possible.

The council meets this week on Monday, Nov. 10 instead of the usual Tuesday night because of the Veterans Day holiday. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at city hall.