St. Joseph City Commissioners may be pumping the brakes on paid parking downtown.
At Monday’s regular meeting, commissioners considered some revisions to the already-approved downtown parking plan from the city’s parking subgroup. They were proposed to better accommodate the employees of downtown businesses, but the commission still heard an earful from business owners and residents who said the revisions aren’t enough. One downtown worker said having to pay to park while she’s at work would be unfair to both her and her employer.
“Why should I be treated like a tourist? I’m not a tourist. I’ve lived here and worked here all my life. Why should I have to pay as a tourist who’s coming in here to spend money in my city?”
Others said downtown residents whose buildings don’t include parking can’t can’t always be expected to park on the east side of Main Street and then walk all the way to their apartments on the west side.
City Manager Emily Hackworth said the paid parking proposal isn’t about punishing people.
“The whole goal of this, when people come downtown and they say, ‘Oh, I hate going downtown in the summer because there’s nowhere to park,’ it’s not that there’s nowhere to park,” Hackworth said. “It’s that everyone wants to park in the exact same space, which is right in front of where they’re going, and it creates congestion.”
That’s why the proposal is for paid parking only on the west side of Main Street, and only from May 1 to September 30 each year. The idea is to get more people parking on the east side of Main Street, where there are more spaces.
Hackworth said the city can establish a plan for downtown residents with income or mobility issues, but Commissioner Michael Sarola balked at moving ahead with full implementation of paid parking next summer with some of these questions still in the air. The commission then approved the revisions but cut in half the number of parking pay stations included. It also requested a plan for downtown residents and employees that could include passes for those individuals.
It’s looking like the city will start to implement paid parking next May, but only in select locations while more details are ironed out.
