Paid parking set for January decision

The city is inching toward the implementation of a parking management program for the downtown area that would include paid on-street parking. 

At a work session meeting last week, the San Marcos City Council heard a presentation from Kevin Burke, economic development and downtown administrator for the city, and Dennis Burns, parking specialist from Kimley-Horn, on implementing a parking plan.

The next steps toward putting the parking plan in place include hiring a parking manager who lives — and parks — in San Marcos.

“Having a parking manager will really allow you to not have to go out to consultants every time,” Burns said. “... Having someone who lives the experience of San Marcos parking every day will help create some sensitivity and build a program that’s right for you.”

Kimley-Horn, the firm the city contracted with to research different approaches to a parking management plan, also recommends the creation of a parking advisory board before procuring meters and other technology needed to implement paid on-street parking. 

Kimley-Horn also has recommendations for reducing the parking violation rate. The firm’s research showed that there is currently about a 10 percent violation rate — people who stay in a parking space for longer than the current two-hour minimum.

“We would typically like to see that in the 3-5 percent range,” Burns said.

Burke noted that the number of citations — 2,000 for a six-month period, he said — shows that parking enforcement officers are going out and writing tickets. Potential measures to cut down on the violation rate could include an increasing fine schedule for repeat offenders and/or potentially boots. 

Kimley-Horn is recommending that when paid parking begins, the city keep the current 2-hour time limit and charge about $1 an hour. The goal is to encourage turnover in downtown parking spots.

“Some of the resistance to paid parking has been the two-hour time limit — that you can’t go have lunch, shop, or in my case I couldn’t have lunch and get my hair done in two hours,” Mayor Jane Hughson pointed out.

The Downtown Association is recommending a three-hour parking time limit with a higher price for the third hour.

“I think that’s a reasonable compromise,” Burns said.

Council member Lisa Prewitt asked if city staff has talked to the businesses whose customers often need more than two hours — hair salons, tattoo parlors and the like.

“We’ve heard the recommendations and requests from a variety of businesses downtown,” Burke said. 

With the focus on turnover, Burke said, the city is working to find solutions for employees and patrons of some businesses downtown, such as pricing for off-street parking. Burke said there are several lots available downtown, such as the lot owned by Endeavor at the corner of Guadalupe and Hutchison, 66 spaces in the old Frost Bank lot that is now owned by the Methodist Church, and other one- or two-space areas that could be used. 

Although the city is looking at technology that would allow parking customers to pay by cell phone, Hughson made a point that there should be options available for people who don’t have smart phones and possibly don’t have credit cards, either. Accessibility to payment kiosks for parking customers with physical impairments is another factor council wants taken into consideration. 

City staff had been working to get a resolution ready for council to approve on Dec. 4 to begin moving forward with the parking management plan, but some members of council wanted to wait. Council member Ed Mihalkanin said he could not support on-street paid parking at all unless there is a provision for off-street parking provided by the city — such as a parking garage — and that is not part of the plan.

“Plus we’re not a full council,” Mihalkanin said. “We’re going to have two new members of our group in December.”

He proposed waiting until January to hold a vote on a resolution. 

Council member Lisa Prewitt said that a lot of businesses had said they could support paid parking if the city enforces current policies and if money were to be set aside for structured parking.

“I’m ready to move forward with paid parking like next week, because we’ve been talking about it for two years,” Prewitt said, but she wanted to make sure that the city kept its commitments to businesses. “I want to make sure we do it right so when we do it, everybody has the opportunity to review it and ask questions.”

Burke said that paid parking will generate revenue, but not likely enough to build a parking garage, and he did not want to put the council in a position of promising something that could not be delivered. He said the city’s efforts to expand off-street parking could eventually include a parking structure, and rather than try to take the project on itself, the city could enter a partnership with a private company. However, that measure would come somewhere down the line. 

Hughson and council members Melissa Derrick and Saul Gonzales all agreed that the council should wait to vote until stakeholders have had more time to review the plan and the council is made complete after the Dec. 11 runoff election.

“I think we’re waiting until January,” Hughson said.