The Saratoga Springs City Council tabled a pilot program to introduce paid parking in municipal lots until more details on the administration of the program could be hashed out.
Commissioner of Public Works Thomas McTygue and Commissioner of Finance Matthew McCabe had a plan to charge $5 to $8 a day for parking at the Putnam Street municipal deck, but outcry from area business owners and an idea from Commissioner of Public Safety Ronald Kim sidelined their pilot in favor of exploring a new program.
The Putnam Street lot is entered by way of Phila Street, where a number of businesses are located.
Several Phila Street merchants spoke out against the fee plan at the council’s Tuesday, June 19, meeting, saying customers will go to where the parking is free and patronize the businesses that surround those lots.
Access to reasonable parking is the fertile soil that allows my business to grow, said Richard Frank of Four Season Natural Foods. `I am opposed to any make-a-buck schemes. Burden my employees and customers with hodge-podge fees, and my business will suffer.`
Joshua Hiebel, owner of Saratoga Wine Exchange on Phila Street, said he was in favor of creating revenue from parking as long as it wasn’t punitive to certain business owners. `Paid parking I have no problem with,` he said. `I do object, however, to the way that it is being proposed.`
`This really is a pilot,` McTygue said. `We have to move ahead, and this is the beginning of moving ahead. This is the right way to go, the smart way to go, and the beginning of getting something done.`
Some people at the meeting said they were not opposed to paid parking.
Resident Kyle York said the city has many parking laws on the books but has ignored the fundamental law of supply and demand.
`In this town, demand for parking exceeds supply,` said York. `The free-market response is that you sell it. You put a price on it.`
York said he wouldn’t encourage parking meters, but instead a system of kiosks where attendants would issue timed permits for parking in all of the municipal lots.
Kim took this idea a step further by saying his department could issue all-day passes for city residents to park in two-hour lots so employees would not have to move their cars during the workday.
He said his department already has the technology to issue the permits ` it would use the same hand-held devices that it uses to issue tickets. Kim also said the city would be better able to track parking trends in the city if cars were `tagged` with the permits.
Commissioner of Accounts John Franck was not convinced. Franck said he could not support municipal paid parking in any form from a revenue-generating perspective. The net revenue, he said, would not justify the administrative costs.
McCabe and Kim will revise the pilot, research costs and expected revenue, and have another proposal at the next City Council meeting.
McTygue also suggested the city attempt to purchase the Saratogian’s property across the street from City Hall to generate 70 parking spaces. He said Kim could alleviate his department’s space issues by putting jails in the building, arraigning prisoners there and sending them to the county jail.
Kim said there are very stringent regulations as to how large those facilities must be, and noted that attempts to talk with the Saratogian’s parent company, the Journal Register Company, have been fruitless.
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