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Oct 30, 2024

City approves summer test of free parking in one garage - The Electric

Parking will be free in the city’s North Garage this summer. City Commissioners unanimously approved a pilot with free two-hour parking in the North Garage from June 1 through Aug. 31. The North

Parking will be free in the city’s North Garage this summer.

City Commissioners unanimously approved a pilot with free two-hour parking in the North Garage from June 1 through Aug. 31.

The North Garage is located at the corner of 1st Avenue North and 4th Street.

The city owns and operates two public parking garages, in addition to multiple surface lots and meters downtown.

The north garage isn’t performing as well as city staff would like and it has the infrastructure to monitor the free two-hour parking which is why the city selected that garage for the test, which they hope will reduce strain on metered street parking. Currently the south garage is only open to monthly permit holders during normal operating hours, which are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Parking in the North Garage is 50 cents per hour and capped at $5 per day, or $51 per month. Monthly permits are also available.

The on-street metered rate is $1 per hour and isn’t capped through the day.

Downtown parking is free on weekends and after 5 p.m. on weekdays.

City staff proposing two hours of free parking in garage for summer test

The City Commission passed an ordinance in September 1947 to install meters in downtown Great Falls.

Then during a public vote during the 1949 general election, the majority of voters supported keeping parking meters after a 18-month test run and the meters remained ever since.

The 1947 ordinance also established two-hour parking time limits and set parking rates at 1 cent for 12 minutes; 2 cents for 24 minutes; 3 cents for 36 minutes; 4 cents for 48 minutes and 5 cents for an hour. Meters were enforced between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. except Sundays and legal holidays.

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The city’s Parking Advisory Commission unanimously voted to recommend the pilot during their April meeting.

Mayor Cory Reeves approached staff about potential improvements to downtown parking.

One of those ideas was a “parking holiday” for metered street parking, but “after reviewing the significant revenues associated with metered curb parking and recognizing the need for parking turnover so that commercial retail and service providers can be more effective, it was decided that significant changes to the metered curb parking should not be addressed at this time,” according to the staff report.

Metered street parking generates about $300,000 annually for the parking fund, which is an enterprise fund that generates revenue through fees for service and fines and is not supported by the general fund.

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With the exception of some COVID relief funds to replace lost revenue when the city suspended paid parking during pandemic shutdowns and some tax increment financing funds for garage repairs, the parking fund is not subsidized by property tax revenues.

City staff looked at the North Garage, which generates about $12,000 in revenue annually.

Staff determined the North Garage was functioning as budgeted, but didn’t generate significant revenue and had historically been underutilized with an average occupancy rate of 43.75 percent between January 2023 and March 2024.

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Brock Cherry, city planning director, said that the pilot for the garage was the idea of Chuck Anderson, deputy city manager.

During the free-parking trial in the North Garage, city staff will record and analyze data, to include garage capacity, availability of metered street parking and downtown activity, according to city staff, who will also present potential further recommendations for parking at a future work session.

City staff said they’d work with the parking board and SP+, the city’s parking contractor, as well as the Great Falls Downtown Business Improvement District, Great Falls Tourism and downtown businesses to communicate the garage’s free parking for the summer; administer a survey for downtown businesses and customers; and gathering and analyzing parking data.

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Staff estimates that with the pilot, the free-two hours of parking for the summer will loose about $4,000 in parking revenue.

Staff intends to use the existing parking budget for temporary banners, flyers and other marketing materials.

Brock Cherry, city planning director, said during the May 7 meeting that the city won’t make everyone happy when it comes to parking, but they can try to make it a little bit better.

He said they’re experimenting with the free summer parking in the garage but “staff believes that fruits of this trial could ultimately help.”

Cherry said it’s an opportunity to educate the public on the downtown parking system, since during the April PAC meeting, several new members said they didn’t know the city owned parking garages or that they were open to the public.

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The city still has thousands of dollars in deferred maintenance in the parking garages and Cherry said he didn’t like the idea of investing in something that’s not being fully used.

“I don’t think we have anything to lose,” Cherry said of the pilot.

Commissioner Rick Tryon asked whether the county paid for jury duty parking.

Cherry said that historically that’s been a complimentary service from the city for those called for jury duty at the county courthouse.

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Commissioner Susan Wolff said that occupancy was lower in the South Garage.

Cherry said they were starting with the North Garage since the other facility didn’t have the equipment to be able to measure the pilot’s effectiveness.

He said the hope is that the North Garage will get more popular and staff will be able to figure out a similar trial at the South Garage in the future.

Reeves said he’s hoping this “really takes off” and people use the garage. He said he thinks many citizens don’t realize the two city garages are available for public parking.

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Commissioner Rick Tryon said parking has been an ongoing issue.

He said the downtown business owners don’t want free parking since in that case, employees, residents and others park all day, blocking parking spaces for customers.

Tryon said that lawyers working downtown especially would take advantage of free parking and park all day in the same spot.

Tryon said other communities have offered free parking but had to return to metered parking.

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He said he more frequently hears complaints about people having to walk to the pay stations on Central Avenue and hopes the parking board can look at that concern.

The kiosks were installed in March 2021 on Central Avenue. They take payment via smartphone app, credit card, cash and coin. Their purchase was approved by commissioners in November 2020.

The old meters remain on the side streets in the downtown district that take coins and can also be paid via the smartphone app.