News

Oct 17, 2024

City’s free garage parking pilot has slow start - The Electric

The first month of the city’s free parking pilot in the North Garage didn’t go as well as officials had hoped. The pilot began June 1 and runs through Aug. 31 in the city’s garade at the corner of 1st

The first month of the city’s free parking pilot in the North Garage didn’t go as well as officials had hoped.

The pilot began June 1 and runs through Aug. 31 in the city’s garade 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 wasn’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.

Free two-hour parking in city’s North Garage starts June 1

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.

Those with monthly permits won’t get a discount on parking in the garage this summer, according to city officials.

During the July 18 Parking Advisory Commission meeting, city staff reviewed the numbers for the city parking system during the month of June.

For June 2024, the daily revenue in the North Garage was $929.50, up from $900.50 in June 2023.

Daily users were 687, down from 1,111 in June 2023.

Monthly permits were also down to 183 at $10,355.50 in revenue, down from 205 permits at $11,486.50 in June 2023.

Parking numbers were down in June throughout the downtown parking system compared to the previous year.

City approves summer test of free parking in one garage

For June 2024, the standalone meters generated $10,298.69 in revenue; $5,030.10 for the Passport Parking app; and $4,890.24 for the kiosks on Central; down from $12,709.90; $5,242.90 and $6,233.95 respectively, according to city data.

Overall, the downtown parking system had 9,014 tracked users and generated $31,379.03 in revenue for June 2024, down from 11,085 users and $36,656.25 in June 2023.

Earlier this year, staff estimated that with the pilot, the free-two hours of parking for the summer would loose about $4,000 in parking revenue.

During the July 18 PAC meeting, Brock Cherry, city planning director, said he thought the downward trend was “fairly peculiar” and “interesting to see.”

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

He said there were a number of guesses as to why June might have seen lower numbers than the previous year, to include rainy weather, but that he thinks “we need to wait and see what happens.”

Cherry said that anecdotally, people were happy with the free garage parking pilot.

Katie Hanning, a parking board member, said that a lot of people park downtown after 5 p.m. when enforcement ends.

She said that the PAC has heard for years that free-two hour parking is favorable, but if people aren’t using it, perhaps it’s not effective.

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.

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The PAC also discussed ADA parking during their July 18 meeting.

Andrew Finch said that during a previous meeting, the group had questioned whether the city should enforce the two-hour parking limit for ADA parking, due to some complaints about people staying in those spots all day from Inge Buchholz, a PAC member and owner of Inge’s Fashions at the corner of Central Avenue and 6th Street.

Andrew Finch, city transportation planner said that the city has an ordinance exempting those with an approved ADA placard or license plate from the two hour limit in any metered space downtown.

After the kiosks were installed in March 2021 on Central Avenue, the city received complaints about the distance between them and marked ADA parking spaces.

The kiosks take payment via smartphone app, credit card, cash and coin and commissioners approved their purchase in November 2020.

City addressing parking complaints from meal delivery drivers [2022]

In response to those complaints, the PAC recommended to commissioners that metered parking be free for those displaying an approved ADA placard or license plate in a designated ADA space downtown.

Commissioners adopted that resolution in 2021.

The ADA marked spaces are where they are by design since they have to be near sidewalk ramps, which are located on the corners of city blocks.

Buchholz said during the July 18 meeting that she wanted the city to enforce the two-hour time limit for ADA parking.

Cherry said if that’s a change the PAC wants to make, they need to vote to make such a recommendation and the commission would have to consider that code change.

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Buchholz said she wanted the city to enforce the two-hour time limit on ADA spots because people from apartment buildings around her store park in those spots all weekend because it’s free.

Parking is already free on the weekend because the city doesn’t enforce parking rules from 5 p.m. Friday to 9 a.m. Monday.

Reminded that there’s no parking enforcement on the weekends, Buchholz said that “people lose business if people park in a spot all day.”

City considering free parking for ADA spots downtown [2021]

She said she wanted ADA parking to remain free but wanted the two-hour time limit enforced.

Buchholz asked how the ADA parking got to be what it was.

The time limit exception for ADA was adopted into the city code in 2018 and the PAC made the recommendation to make ADA parking free in market spots in May 2021 after Buchholz, among others, complained to the PAC that spring about the inconvenience of the kiosks for ADA customers, according to meeting minutes.

Hanning said, “It’s not a good look. I think it’s bad mojo. People are already unhappy about parking. I think you’re going to get a lot of kickback on that.”

Buchholz said that “in two hours you can do a lot of shopping” and that she’d ask other downtown business owners if they supported the idea of enforcing the two-hour limit for ADA parkers.

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Jayson Olthoff, PAC member, asked if the city’s downtown parking district was too large and whether the city had conducted a parking study.

The city did conduct a parking study in 2013, which is available on the city website.

He asked if people had complained about too many meters and why there were meters on the block by the Great Falls Rescue Mission.

City approves parking meter increase for downtown Great Falls [2019]

Hanning said that the city removed those meters several years ago and then the neighboring car mechanic shop took advantage of the lack of meters, parking his cars all along the street, taking up the block’s parking.

After about a year of ceasing parking enforcement on that block, Adam Hunt, who was then the Great Falls Police Department’s downtown officer, asked the PAC to restore parking enforcement to the area so it “wouldn’t be a dumping ground for cars.”

Buchholz asked why the the city quit Saturday enforcement, a change commissioners adopted in 2016, at the recommendation of city staff based on complaints from residents and businesses.

Cherry said that he’d ask city finance staff to attend a future PAC meeting to walk members, particularly the newer ones, through how city finances work and the parking budget in depth.

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He said that the group will have to look at options for increased fees and booting offenders since the city has what he thinks is “a kind and soft fine structure.”

The current fine structure and street parking meter rates were adopted in 2019 through a nearly two year strategic plan process.

Parking meters have existed in the city since the 1940s.

Commissioners 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 PAC voted unanimously in April to recommend the free garage parking pilot after 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 May 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.

Parking pain: key things to know about the city parking system as meter rate increases, garage repairs considered [2018]

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.

Parking meters could return to 2nd Avenue South after yearlong test [2017]

Cherry, city planning director, said earlier this year that the pilot for the garage was the idea of Chuck Anderson, former deputy city manager, who left the city earlier this month.

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 working to address continued parking woes [2017]

Cherry said earlier this year in public meetings that 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.

Parking board continues strategic planning effort [2017]

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.

Parking board beginning strategic planning process [2017]

Reeves said in May that 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.