Raleigh considers nixing free two-hour parking downtown
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A proposal from city staff to the Raleigh City Council to raise rates for parking decks and on-street parking is drawing concern from business groups in downtown.
Why it matters: The city's facing an $8 million shortfall in its parking operations, which has grown since office use slowed after the pandemic.
- In reaction, the staff has proposed raising rates, reducing the amount of free hours of parking in decks and increasing the number of days parking is enforced.
Driving the news: The proposal came up at Monday's work session. Options included:
- Cutting the free two-hour parking program in decks down to one hour.
- Increasing on-street rates from $1.25 to $2.50 per hour, and monthly parking fees for off-street parking from $125 to $135.
- Charging in decks all day on Saturdays, a day that is currently free.
- Start charging $60 per month for the small business employee parking program, which is currently free.
State of play: Some city council members seemed hesitant to adopt all the proposals, especially reducing the free two-hour parking program.
- City Council member Megan Patton referred to the changes as "nuclear options."
What they're saying: Bill King, the CEO of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, says he believes such drastic changes will hurt businesses in downtown, which have been complaining about parking for years.
- His organization helped lead the charge for the two-hour free parking program, but King says the alliance was not consulted on the proposed changes.
Zoom in: King says a survey of parking-deck users found that 31% of visitors cited the free parking as a draw, and that he believes only offering one hour free would discourage people from visiting restaurants.
- "It's a 180 in direction on parking policy," King tells Axios. "We did a lot of work on the two-hour parking in the decks, and we found it had a $3.8 million economic impact."
- He adds that the changes could make it harder for businesses to convince both workers and shoppers to come downtown.