MONROE - The time on the city's parking meters may be running out.
Whether to keep the downtown Monroe parking meters has been a recurring issue for years, and the meters have withstood every round. Now they may have met their match. The new Downtown and Beyond conceptual image of Monroe includes flower pots, trees and street dining. It does not include individual parking meters.
"The ground floor is that every two or three years we address this issue, and it takes time and effort and money," Mayor Ron Marsh told the Monroe Main Street Design Committee on Monday.
"Input from the community is important, but now is the time to take steps, so we don't have to come back to readdress the issue," he said.
With the downtown Square renovations coming up for bid as early as next spring, parking arrangements need to be settled so contractors know what has to be done.
Police Chief Fred Kelley presented the current practices and future options for parking on the Square to the committee Monday.
According to Kelley, the meters have been operating at a loss since the 1980s, and overtime parking fines have not been a deterrent. Increasing the parking fee to a quarter per hour would bring in about $125,000 in meter fee revenues, five times the current revenue.
Free parking lots generate no revenue; are generally overused by employees and underused by customers and visitors; and the cost of upkeep on those lots falls to the taxpayer. Enforcement of time-limit parking would require staff to visit cars twice, once to mark and once to follow up, and beat officers often do not have time to do the job. Currently, the city police has one parking enforcement officer and one meter repair person.
Kelley said one vendor told him meters that take pennies, nickels and dimes are "prone to jam," and recommended "quarters only" upgrades, which cost less to repair and have parts available.
Upgrading to quarter-only mechanical meters would cost $50,000, or $90,000 for electronic meters, for downtown spaces and parking lots.
But the posts for the meters would remain, and it is the posts that the Downtown and Beyond design is trying to eliminate.
The options for getting rid of meters are "pay-per-space" or "pay-and-display" machines. Both types would require an increase in parking rates. Pay-per-space machines cost about $3,500 each.
To replace meters with the multi-use machines costs about $83,000, raises five times the revenue, and transfers the costs to the user rather than taxpayers.
Pay-and-display would require drivers to purchase time at a machine and return to the vehicle to place the receipt on the dash. Machines would be located at corners on the Square.
Pay-for-space may require some kind of designation, a post or painted numbering system, for drivers to find the space for which they paid. But maps on machines, showing the location of the space, could eliminate posts or painted numbers, Kelley said. Drivers would have to count spaces to find their paid space, but with eight spaces on either side of a midblock crossing, counting may not be a problem.
Kelley said to use the machines, the public would need to be educated or trained to use them.
Whether to keep the downtown Monroe parking meters has been a recurring issue for years, and the meters have withstood every round. Now they may have met their match. The new Downtown and Beyond conceptual image of Monroe includes flower pots, trees and street dining. It does not include individual parking meters.
"The ground floor is that every two or three years we address this issue, and it takes time and effort and money," Mayor Ron Marsh told the Monroe Main Street Design Committee on Monday.
"Input from the community is important, but now is the time to take steps, so we don't have to come back to readdress the issue," he said.
With the downtown Square renovations coming up for bid as early as next spring, parking arrangements need to be settled so contractors know what has to be done.
Police Chief Fred Kelley presented the current practices and future options for parking on the Square to the committee Monday.
According to Kelley, the meters have been operating at a loss since the 1980s, and overtime parking fines have not been a deterrent. Increasing the parking fee to a quarter per hour would bring in about $125,000 in meter fee revenues, five times the current revenue.
Free parking lots generate no revenue; are generally overused by employees and underused by customers and visitors; and the cost of upkeep on those lots falls to the taxpayer. Enforcement of time-limit parking would require staff to visit cars twice, once to mark and once to follow up, and beat officers often do not have time to do the job. Currently, the city police has one parking enforcement officer and one meter repair person.
Kelley said one vendor told him meters that take pennies, nickels and dimes are "prone to jam," and recommended "quarters only" upgrades, which cost less to repair and have parts available.
Upgrading to quarter-only mechanical meters would cost $50,000, or $90,000 for electronic meters, for downtown spaces and parking lots.
But the posts for the meters would remain, and it is the posts that the Downtown and Beyond design is trying to eliminate.
The options for getting rid of meters are "pay-per-space" or "pay-and-display" machines. Both types would require an increase in parking rates. Pay-per-space machines cost about $3,500 each.
To replace meters with the multi-use machines costs about $83,000, raises five times the revenue, and transfers the costs to the user rather than taxpayers.
Pay-and-display would require drivers to purchase time at a machine and return to the vehicle to place the receipt on the dash. Machines would be located at corners on the Square.
Pay-for-space may require some kind of designation, a post or painted numbering system, for drivers to find the space for which they paid. But maps on machines, showing the location of the space, could eliminate posts or painted numbers, Kelley said. Drivers would have to count spaces to find their paid space, but with eight spaces on either side of a midblock crossing, counting may not be a problem.
Kelley said to use the machines, the public would need to be educated or trained to use them.