Parking meters to be installed at Butler Shores Ball Fields

Residents will soon have to feed a meter when parking at the Butler Shores Ball Fields after Austin City Council on Dec. 12 approved the installation of pay stations in an effort to encourage turnover in the area.

"If we were not to control parking in this parking lot, what that means is this parking would never be available to park users at all at any price, because those spaces would be full," Councilman Chris Riley said.

Council approved the installation 6-1 with Councilwoman Kathie Tovo voting no. The city plans to install six parking meters throughout the ball field parking area in conjunction with meters being installed by the Austin Transportation Department along Toomey Road. The rate for parking in the ball field lots will be $1 per hour from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

David King, a resident of the Zilker neighborhood, spoke out against the meter because he believes the measure benefits those visiting nearby businesses more than the park.

"There's little doubt that the business customers using the parking lots will displace the softball field and park users," King said.

Tovo also expressed reservations about installing meters at the park.

"If we have businesses in the area that don't have enough parking, they need to figure out some other ways to do that that within the code," Tovo said. "It distresses me to see us take a parking lot that's been available to park users and making them pay for that."

Riley pressed that metering in the area is already going on and leaving the lot parking unmetered would cause those spaces to be constantly full.