Public Parking Management

PUBLIC PARKING MANAGEMENT

Public parking is composed of on-street parking as well as publicly owned surface parking lots and garages.

Premium Parking Spaces in a Downtown The most valuable and high demand parking spaces in a downtown area are typically on-street spaces located directly in front of popular businesses and offices. Businesses in particular depend on these spaces to provide access to customers, and these spaces should have significant turnover throughout the day.

If these spaces are occupied for significant periods of time by office workers or business employees, they preclude customers from convenient access to the businesses. This will eventually lead to a public perception of a “lack of parking” and should be avoided. The most successful method to manage this issue is to discourage long term parking through metering or time restrictions.

For example, on-street parking spaces directly in front of businesses may have a $.25/hour charge or are restricted to 2-hour parking only. Additionally, parking spaces directly in front of a coffee shop or short term retail business may be free, but have a 30-minute limit. In all cases of metering or time restrictions, periodic enforcement will likely be required.

Mobile Parking Applications Many communities are now using mobile “apps” to manage public parking metering. This is a convenient and effective way for the community to manage parking demand through a format that visitors are already accustomed to using. Balancing Parking Demand and Historic Preservation

Residents and downtown businesses will often ask for additional parking spaces near existing destinations. If the downtown has vacant historic buildings, a solution to this issue has often been to demolish the vacant structure and create a surface parking lot. This solution is often repeated several times until the downtown becomes predominantly surface parking lots.

While this solution may resolve a short-term problem, in the long term it will erode the unique qualities and vitality of the downtown. This pattern can be seen in many Ohio downtown areas in which only a few blocks of buildings remain, and these are surrounded by surface parking lots. These downtowns typically feel ‘dead’ and barren, and often struggle to regain any momentum or economic activity.

A better solution to this common problem is to manage premium parking spaces (on-street parking) through meters or parking apps, and to fully use the capacity of existing off-street parking areas (surface lots, parking garages) through wayfinding, awareness campaigns, and other strategies.