Significant changes in Truckee’s downtown paid parking district will launch Nov. 1, giving motorists the option to park in a free lot downtown and simplifying the meter rates.
The paid parking changes reflect the work of a 22-member committee of downtown business owners and residents who were commissioned by the Town of Truckee to analyze downtown parking.
On Nov. 1, motorists will be able to park in the 55-space parking lot behind downtown Truckee’s Beacon gas station free of charge. A two-hour parking time limit between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. will be enforced.
The parking rates will also change. Meters along Commercial Row will charge motorists $1.50 per hour, and meters on Jibboom Street and West River Street will charge $1 per hour. The parking district previously had a tiered rate structure, where the first hour cost $1, but charged as much as $3 per hour if you stayed parked for multiple hours.
Parking meters will also accept credit card payments as low as $0.15. Previously, credit cards had a minimum payment of $2.
Other changes to the parking area include the elimination of the lease on the old Catholic church parking lot east of downtown off of Church Street. Employees of downtown businesses used that lot, but instead will now be able to park in the lot behind the Beacon gas station for extended periods with an employee-parking pass.
Lynn Saunders, president of the Truckee Donner Chamber of Commerce, said that the changes to the district will go hand-in-hand with a public education effort that will highlight the benefits of the parking district.
‘It’s safe, friendly, convenient, and it supports economic vitality,’ said Saunders.
Downtown businesses are considering programs that will make the parking program even more user friendly, said Saunders. One idea is a parking ‘angel’ program that would pay parking tickets for motorists.
‘In the short term the system is here and we are trying to make it the best we can,’ said Saunders.
One of the committee’s goals was to find ways for the parking district to fund itself. The parking district has been losing money and is subsidized by the town’s general fund.
‘We believe that [the paid parking changes] will create a modest increase in overall revenue,’ said Dan Wilkins, the Town of Truckee’s director of public works. ‘We believe that by implementing those changes we will basically be at a break-even point.’
The town will also work with the downtown merchants association and the chamber of commerce to create and market a more comprehensive parking validation program that is easy for people to understand and take advantage of.
Finally, the committee recommended a long-term goal: elimination of paid parking altogether. The elimination of meters would only occur if downtown businesses voted in an assessment district that would fund downtown parking maintenance and the enforcement of a two-hour parking time limit. Wilkins said that downtown businesses do not currently support such an assessment, but it will likely be discussed again in a couple years when the economy becomes more stable.
‘It did not look like the time was right, right now,’ said Wilkins.
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