Concord
However, if the City Council approves a series of recommendations from the Parking Committee to update the city’s parking plan, drivers can pay that extra quarter to a smart meter using their cellphone.
Those are just some of the sweeping changes the Parking Committee recommended during their Monday meeting. If approved, the changes would be implemented over the course of several years.
Some of the biggest recommendations include changing downtown parking rates from 75 cents to $1 an hour, allowing a maximum time span of three hours of parking instead of two, and adding new metered areas on several downtown streets.
The increased parking fee is a long way from where the committee started: In 2016, the city was considering spiking rates to $1.75, a 130 percent increase over the current rate.
The committee also is recommending enforcement hours change from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday. That’s in line with weekday enforcement hours in Nashua and Dover, and not too far from Manchester, which enforces parking from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in limited areas on Saturday. Portsmouth enforcement hours are from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, according to the committee’s report.
Additional meter coverage would be installed on high-demand areas with 50 meters to be added in fiscal year 2019, with another 258 added in fiscal year 2020.
Committee member and Ward 4 Councilor Bryon Champlin said he anticipates some of the recommendations to be unpopular. “I know some people will be upset and concerned that we’re taking away something free,” he said.
But Champlin said the city’s parking should be viewed as an “economic development asset,” one that is critical to keeping the downtown business scene vibrant and viable.
That means ensuring there is healthy turnover in the downtown parking area, something he said merchants have complained about.
And then there’s the issue of the parking fund: Without any changes, the parking fund would go bankrupt — specifically, it would be $153,000 in the red — by the end of fiscal year 2018 and need to borrow money from the general fund, according to the Parking Committee’s draft report to the council. On the flip side, if the committee’s recommendations are adopted, the parking fund would grow to $1.3 million by fiscal year 2018, according to the report.
Mark Coen, at-large city councilor and chairman of the Parking Committee, was confident the recommendations could end the three years of discussion around how to restore the parking fund.
Other monetary recommendations include increasing parking tickets for expired meters from $10 to $15.
Linda Kenison, Ward 6 city councilor and Parking Committee member, said the increased penalty was recommended to up the stakes for those who would rather pay a fine than feed the meter, noting a $10 ticket would be cheaper than paying for parking all day.
Other fees also would see an increase: parking in a reserved space would go from $20 to $25; parking in a “No Parking” area would go from $15 to $20; an encumbered meter ticket would go from $10 to $15; parking outside the lines would go from $5 to $10; and parking where a residential permit is required would go from $10 to $15.
Parking in the city’s garages would remain 50 cents an hour to incentivize their use, Champlin said. Rates for the city’s open air lots would be reduced from 75 cents to 50 cents. Garages would remain free on Saturdays.
Other proposed changes include investing in technology to make paying for parking easier and a website that would include parking hours, rates and locations. There also would be an option to pay parking tickets online; currently, tickets must be paid in person or mailed to the city’s police department.
Dedicated neighborhood parking enforcement six days per week also is on the table. According to the report, neighborhood parking complaints have grown since repeal of the overnight parking ban in 2008.
The committee is also recommending changes in how parking money is used. Kenison said any non-meter ticket revenue, such as fines for parking over the line or in an illegal spot, would no longer be transferred to the general fund, keeping about $100,000 annually in the parking fund.