Feed the meter until 9 p.m.? Big Columbia parking changes could start in Five Points
A major change to how Columbia drivers make their parking decisions could be coming to the city’s curbs.
Columbia’s parking services department recommended city council expand the hours when parking meters are enforced in the Five Points area, and potentially expand those stricter rules across the city.
Parking services director Elle Matney is recommending that meter enforcement be extended in Five Points from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., an expansion from the current policy where police only ticket drivers who don’t pay for their spots between 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Matney told the city council on Monday the change is in response to complaints from business owners in the district that long-term parking in the area is filling up spaces and stopping customers from being able to park and reach their shops. The city already extended meter enforcement in Five Points to Saturdays in 2016 for similar reasons.
If the changes work out well, they could be extended to other popular parking areas like downtown or the Vista. On Main Street, students or hotel guests often use street parking for extended periods instead of parking in long-term garages, the parking services director said.
The changes could include upgraded technology that could make it more costly to park during peak hours, a change that would require the city to install more advanced meters.
“Maybe we don’t determine the 1600 block of Main Street is going to cost $3 each and every day, but at 6 o’clock, it might cost you $3 until 12 midnight,” Matney said.
Still, some city council members were hesitant to move forward with the proposal citywide.
“Really?” Benjamin can be heard saying in response to the idea on the recording of Monday’s city council work session.
“I’m willing to do the whole city, but let’s walk, then run, maybe with the clear intention that if it works, it will go everywhere,” Benjamin told the council meeting. “That’s going to be a huge psychological change, a paradigm shift in the way we park. Let’s see if we can get some type of useful data, including opinions, before that.”
The goal is to move drivers along more quickly, and keep spaces open for new traffic coming behind them. In some cases, workers in Five Points might be taking up space during their work hours that could be used for customers. An employee working nights in the district can park at 5 p.m., pay for an hour, and stay parked in a prime space for the rest of the night, Matney said.
“We’ve had a lot of requests from merchants asking for enforcement to be increased to encourage turnover,” Councilman Daniel Rickenmann told The State.
“We hear complaints from local businesses that no one has a place to park,” Matney said. “’No one can run into my business, pick up food at my restaurant.’”
Instead, the city is encouraging long-term parkers to take advantage of publicly available spaces at a former state-owned property at 2221 Devine St., which is also planned for improvements. Rickenmann said the facility has 151 spaces open to the public, even as the city shops the building around as the future site for a hotel.
“Whether it’s lighting or sidewalks, we’re enhancing the connectivity, walkability between Five Points in general and the Devine Street facility,” said Matney, who encouraged employees to check with parking services for other long-term parking options in the area.
City council didn’t agree on when to roll out the changes this week. Rickenmann told The State the changes likely won’t come until “springtime at the earliest.”
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