News

Jun 26, 2023

Royal Oak commissioners unanimously seek changes to parking meters

Royal Oak Mayor Michael Fournier and six city commissioners voted Monday for

Royal Oak Mayor Michael Fournier and six city commissioners voted Monday for city officials to present key changes to the city's parking meter contract with its vendor.

"The system is not working and we need to make some changes," said Mayor Michael Fournier.

Talks are still underway with parking contractor Municipal Parking Services. Final negotiations are expected within weeks.

The MPS on-street parking system has brought a steady stream of complaints since MPS started mailing tickets late last year. The company owns 630 on-street meters it installed downtown in 2021 and splits ticket fines 50-50 with the city.

Residents and business owners for months have criticized the system for being ridden with glitches and difficult to navigate as it drives people away from visiting the downtown.

That sentiment continued at Monday night's City Commission meeting.

Resident Dietrich Knoer, who owns the Give Thanks Bakery on Main Street and has another bakery in Rochester, told officials his Royal Oak location is doing only about half the business of his other location.

"Uber Eats drivers will not come here," Knoer said, adding he believes it's because of the parking system.

Royal Oak negotiating with vendor for parking system changes

He urged officials to increase the existing five-minute grace period, which is the time a motorist can park and leave without being issued a ticket.

"Program (the system) to make it more friendly," Knoer said.

A Lyft driver said the parking system allows her no place to pick up or drop off passengers without risking a ticket.

Longtime resident Patricia Wall said there is a multi-page pamphlet on how to use the MPS system and make payments at a kiosk, which covers several on-street spaces.

"These parking kiosks are supposed to be friendly and easy to use," Wall said. "They are not friendly at all."

Resident and downtown landlord Bill Harrison said some other cities that have used the MPS system have not renewed their contracts with the parking vendor.

"Flint is in the fourth year of a five-year contract with MPS and they will not renew their contract," he said.

Talks between Royal Oak officials and MPS executives are ongoing. City commissioners Monday supported City Manager Paul Brake's recommendations to amend the contract with MPS based on a parking study the Downtown Development Authority commissioned with parking consultants Rich & Associates. City Commissioners also directed Aaron Leal, city attorney, to draft amendments to the contract, which commissioners will approve at a future meeting.

The parking study done for the DDA found 43 percent of motorists who use the new on-street meters end up getting a violation either because they failed to pay within the first 5-minute grace period or stayed beyond the two-hour time limit.

Many of the downtown's business owners have told the DDA their business revenues are down between 20 and 50 percent from prior years.

"People shouldn't be working around the parking system," Fournier said. "The system should be working around the people."

City Commissioner Brandon Kolo said Tuesday MPS has been working with the city in good faith and has been agreeable to suggested changes so far.

Among the modifications sought are increasing the grace period at meters from five to 15 minutes, and allowing the city the flexibility to increase maximum parking times at meters from two to three hours.

The system also has to be more accurate, Fournier has said. When the new parking system started issuing tickets the Royal Oak 44th District Court had to dismiss thousands of them.

It is unclear at this point whether the angled parking on Washington Ave that requires drivers to back will be changed or how. The back-in parking was necessary because MPS meters photograph license plates, which are required only on the rear of motor vehicles in Michigan.

One suggestion is to convert Washington Avenue to parallel parking, but that would reduce the number of parking spots and possibly create its own problems. The DDA has suggested allowing drivers to pull into the angled spots front-first and have some type of other enforcement beside the MPS cameras.

City commissioners feel the same frustration with the parking system that residents have expressed, Kolo said.

"We have been in meetings with businesses and residents and we know the system wasn't working," Kolo said. "Now we have the data to go back to the vendor and ask for changes" to the contract.

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