City officials conducted a first reading of similar agreement late last month. However, that agreement called for an amount not to exceed $610,490.
City officials told the News-Sun that they have been looking at ways to make downtown parking more coordinated over the past three to five years. With a public parking garage slated to be open in April, they hope to have a plan in place in the coming months.
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The downtown Springfield parking garage project cost roughly $7 million and will offer 305 parking spaces. The garage will be a paid one. However, those rates have not been determined. City officials are also in talks regarding the implementation of metered parking in the area as well as potentially turning free public parking lots into paid ones.
“As we continue to revitalize an increase activity in downtown, we need to have a better and more coordinated parking system,” Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck told the News-Sun last month.
He said that means “bringing public parking lots, parking garages as well as the on street spaces into continuity and coordinated in a manner that it all works together.”
That can include adding metered parking downtown as city officials say that street parking is usually meant for shorter trips whereas parking lots and the garage is designed for more long term stays.
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“We are trying to encourage that behavior and those habits in parking in downtown. We are looking at the parking meters specifically and that there would be a limited amount of time when it would be free,” Heck told the News-Sun.
Republic Parking System LLC is part of the Chattanooga-based Reef Parking network and if the ordinance passes, they would work with the city in determining which areas of the downtown would have paid parking. The company would also manage those services and would be in charge of collection and enforcement.
“They will do an analysis and look at the downtown and how parking is being utilized and the usage of those on street spots compared to the parking lots and the soon to be garage and make determinations on where those meters make the most sense,” Heck said.
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