Downtown Parking Pilot Study

Vicinity map for proposed Parking Pilot Study Area, as of February 10, 2025

DOWNTOWN Parking Management ON HOLD

Project UPDATE: March 17, 2025

In the March 17 Regular Meeting of City Council, Council decided to stop all work related to the parking pilot program. The project does not currently have a timeline or plan for when parking management will be taken up again by Council or slated for a future Workplan.

You can learn more about this decision by listening to the Council meeting during the Presiding Officer's Report.

The discussion on parking begins at 2:59 in the recording and you can jump to the section from the Agenda. 

PROJECT Background: 

In 2004 the City hired Kittelson & Associates, Inc. to develop a Downtown Parking Management Plan. While the plan was not implemented, it did precipitate a 2016 parking inventory and inclusion of Parking in the 2016 Comprehensive Plan. You can find these source documents linked below.  

Through the years City Council and City staff have heard continuously from the community about downtown parking with a variety of perspectives and desired outcomes, from building a parking garage to eliminating cars from downtown entirely to better parking management to promote turnover in parking stalls and encourage transit use and active transportation options. In particular, the City has heard from downtown businesses and their desire to implement a fee program as recommended in the 2004 study, prior to performing another study. 

On September 9, 2024, City Council workshopped a possible parking pilot to explore inclusion of the work in the 2025 Budget and Workplan. You can watch and listen to the workshop by clicking on City Council Archives 2024 and go to the September 9, 2024 Agenda for the presentation on parking management options, and you will find the presentation PDF linked below.

City Council has been requesting the development of a parking management program for a number of years and limited staff resources have been a barrier. (See staff resource intensity options, listed below). The City Council recommended Option 3 (Low Resource) as a pilot (trial) fee program to be implemented in 2025 as Step 1 of moving parking management forward. Other options were considered as outlined in the September 9, 2024 presentation:

Option 1 (High Resource): Perform a follow up Parking Management Study (previous was 2004, full document linked below) and Implement Strategic Parking Initiatives with long-term Parking Advisory Committee

Option 2 (Medium Resource): Parking Fee and Enforcement with Task Force or Ad Hoc Parking Advisory Committee

Option 3 (Low Resource): Pilot Parking Fees and Enforcement

Option 4 (No change): Null Alternative – Wait until after Comprehensive Plan Periodic Review

Key Takeaway:

Effective parking management programs can deliver strategic community objectives and outcomes, but parking management is resource intensive. Given public interest in this topic, a study would likely be needed following the implementation of a pilot (18-month trial) fee program to get the outcomes the community desires. Determining what the community desires overall requires bringing multiple and diverse stakeholders to the table as well as a tremendous amount of public engagement. Outcomes cannot be obtained without cost.

February 2025 Proposal 

On February 10, 2025, a proposal came before City Council, developed by staff with the help of parking management companies. The proposal was in line with thier request of a "Low-Resource Pilot" (see above) and was intended to gather data on a short term basis in order to inform a wider parking management study. The proposal raised public awareness and was meant to provide City Council with the ability to make a decision on implementing a pilot program. 

The first element of any effective parking management program is effective enforcement and data analysis. A parking fee pilot program would have provided the opportunity to pay for parking enforcement and to collect parking usage data. There is a lot to consider in designing a parking management program. Demand management, climate change, public transit, active transportation, pedestrian and cyclist safety, economic development, supply, turnover, customers, deliveries, residents, employees, enforcement, and so on. Data from a pilot study can help inform the community around a variety of these factors.

Modern parking fee programs provide many options. The parking lot behind 1st Security Bank uses a modern parking fee approach with a QR code or text to pay option. Depending on the vendor a phone call option may also be offered. These automated tools collect fees, provide for effective enforcement, and collect data such as time of day demand, duration of parking stays, and violation data.

A public parking fee of $2.00 an hour between the hours of 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM was recommended for the 18-month pilot. As an effort to promote more activity downtown at slower times of the week, staff recommended free parking on Monday and/or Tuesday. The current parking fine is $15 per violation. An effective enforcement program needs a violation fee significantly higher. Staff recommended a minimum fee amount of $65 per violation. Parking fines in Seattle (public and private) range from $69 to $85. It has been shown that without enforcement and focused data collection, parking management fails. 

Revenue generated by parking fees would have paid for parking management and a future study. It is not currently possible to resource parking management without fees to pay for enforcement. There is no longer capacity (volunteer or otherwise) to chalk tires or monitor parking limits without a modern tracking and enforcement system, which is costly.

The study period was anticipated to be 18 months. Staff anticipated that after the 18-months of collecting and analyzing data, and improving parking compliance through reduced violations, effective parking management strategies could be developed. 
 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES