What you need to know
Paid parking enforcement by Interstate Parking in select city parks would begin May 1, Jeff Jewell, director of economic and community development, said during a Feb. 24 City Council meeting. There are about 3,000 parking spaces in the downtown area, and about half of them are being used at any one time. Paid parking would also be enforced in parts of downtown that currently have two-hour parking time limits.
“The solution has always been to try and manage the existing supply in a more efficient fashion,” Jewell said.
Paid parking would be enforced at the following city parks this river season:
- Prince Solms Park
- Elizabeth Avenue
- Hinman Island Park
- River Acres Park
- Cypress Bend Park
Parking on small portions of East San Antonio and East Mill St. that are adjacent to Prince Solms Park and the small parking lot in front of Circle Arts Theatre on Elizabeth Avenue would also be included in paid river parking.
Diving in deeper
Interstate Parking would assume enforcement of paid river parking and downtown managed parking spaces—about 220 spots currently—beginning March 1, Jewell noted.
The city would pay a $265,672 lump sum annually for a three-year term for those management services with two one-year extensions, according to the meeting presentation. Jewell said they do not anticipate there to be any sort of fiscal impact because the anticipated revenue from the parking enforcement would cover the cost of the contract.
The city is also hoping that Interstate Parking will undertake management of the Resident River Parking Passes and the Parking by Permit processes.
The outlook
The city can either contract for services—which is the recommended approach—or hire additional staff and create a new division or department. The city can also add to its current parking supply, but adding supply, especially in the downtown area, is very expensive, Jewell said.
“We’ve looked at structured parking solutions that cost anywhere between $30,000-$50,000 per parking space so that particular supply is very expensive to add,” Jewell said.
Stay tuned
Mayor Neal Linnartz said there are a lot of details that still needed to be worked out.
“This will be coming back again as some of those details get worked out and there will be a big communications push within the community before there’s any kind of enforcement to make sure that everybody understands how this is [going to] work. We don’t want to throw any surprises out there and catch anybody off guard,” Linnzartz said.
Ordinance changes will be presented to the City Council in the coming months, and the city will begin working with Interstate Parking to implement new signage and an established web page, Jewell said.
