BANGOR, Maine — City Councilor Ben Sprague announced Monday he opposes a paid-parking plan designed to end the practice of “car shuffling” and free up spaces for patrons of downtown businesses.
Sprague, who is not a member of the Downtown Parking Advisory Committee, which is proposing the installation of meter kiosks to charge $1 per hour for 179 on-street spaces, said he has heard from several constituents on both sides of the issue.
The majority are opposed to the plan, he said.
“I just don’t think we’re there yet,” said Sprague, calling for the city to try other options before introducing fee-based parking.
In a proposal shared with the Bangor Daily News, Sprague listed five alternative plans he hopes the city will try first. They are as follows:
— Increase the signage and publicity to existing parking garages and parking lots so people from out of town can find them more easily.
— Increase the parking ticket amount. If the risk of a $15 fine doesn’t alter behavior, maybe $30 would.
— Mix up the walking routes of the parking enforcement personnel. If people are shuffling cars because they know and can time their exact routes, throw a twist into things. Even just doing this a few times would change people’s behavior.
— Put every business and organization on notice that if they keep allowing employees to park and shuffle cars all day long that paid parking is coming. Fortunately, the public discussion so far on this topic is already accomplishing this.
— Businesses could organize incentives like coupons or discounts for people to use the parking garage in particular during busy times. This would help acclimate people to using the garages, which many seem reluctant to do.
“If these don’t improve things, then maybe we’ll need to go to paid parking downtown, but not until we’ve exhausted every other option,” Sprague said of his proposal. “I’m open to paid parking, but I do have some concerns with it.”
City Councilor Gibran Graham, who chairs the parking committee, was not immediately available for comment Monday.
However, he has supported the metered-parking proposal in the past as a good option to stop car shuffling.
According to Graham, car shuffling is the practice in which employees of downtown businesses leave their cars in on-street spaces for the allotted time and then re-park before receiving a ticket.
The practice occupies downtown spaces for a full day when they are meant for short-term use by business patrons.
The City Council’s Business and Economic Development Committee is slated to discuss the meter proposal during its next meeting at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.
Economic Development Officer Jason Bird, liaison to the parking committee, said they had anticipated asking the Business and Economic Development Committee for a favorable recommendation on the meter proposal during that meeting.
However, he added, city officials are aware that there is discussion at the council level regarding alternative proposals, referencing Sprague’s proposal.
Bird said city officials will let the Business and Economic Development Committee “flesh out” any new issues regarding the proposal.
He said he considers it “quite possible” the meter proposal will be sent back to the Downtown Parking Advisory Committee for further review before consideration by the Business and Economic Development Committee.
“It really depends on whether there is a clear path forward,” he said.
Sprague, who is not a member of the Business and Economic Development Committee, said he plans to attend the meeting to discuss his ideas.
City officials estimate startup costs for the meter system at $114,915, which they project they will make back in six to seven months.
In the first year, they project a net revenue of $155,000 followed by an annual net revenue of $270,000 in the following years. That compares to a budgeted net loss of $77,000 currently.
City officials hope to use the projected revenue to pay for future parking structures and lots downtown, fearing there will eventually be too few spaces to meet the needs of the growing downtown area.
Sprague argued there are plenty of parking spaces in the downtown area that “are generally open and would only require people to walk a little further.”
“We should encourage people to use those spots and walk a little further,” he said.
The committee recommendation leaves 748 free spaces in the outskirts of the downtown area.
Follow Evan Belanger on Twitter at @evenbelanger.