- April 29, 2024
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In 2018, city and county officials will consider significant changes to local parking management strategies, particularly in busy commercial districts — a development merchants are watching with trepidation.
Local governments are also taking steps toward creating new parking lots and garages in an effort to address parking shortages. Here’s an overview of the parking-related issues to keep track of this year:
After more than five years of conversation among city commissioners, staff and advisory boards, it’s still unclear what shape paid parking will take in Sarasota.
It’s definitely coming, in one form or another. In January, the city will begin charging for parking more than three hours at downtown garages. And the commission has already approved on-street paid parking on St. Armands Circle, part of a program to pay for a new parking garage in the area set to open in Dec. 2018.
But downtown, merchants and officials have hesitated to adopt staff’s recommendation to install parking meters in prime spots, including along Main Street. In October, the City Commission would not commit to on-street paid parking downtown — but the board would not rule the option out, either.
Faced with a deficit in the city’s parking management fund that has topped $500,000 annually, the commission asked staff to review the options available for generating more revenue. Based on outspoken opposition from merchants, the board also asked for more information on how parking meters might affect business downtown.
Parking Manager Mark Lyons said city staff is in the midst of preparing a report, which it hopes to bring back to the commission in the first quarter of 2018. Lyons said the city is sensitive to the concerns of merchants and residents, particularly given the high profile of previous failed efforts to implement paid parking downtown.
“The commission wants to do the right thing; they want to be careful,” Lyons said. “Our objective is making sure the commission gets the options they need.”
Lyons isn’t only focused on downtown. On St. Armands Circle, the garage project is still on schedule, set to begin construction in April. The city is also creating a residential parking permit program for St. Armands, which could expand to other neighborhoods around commercial districts.
As development continues in the Rosemary District, stakeholders in that neighborhood are working with the city on identifying ways to address the parking needs in years to come. Southside Village and the area around Ken Thompson Park are other segments of the city where Lyons believes parking could be improved.
Lyons believes creating a more efficient parking management system citywide could provide significant benefits, particularly when it comes to improving traffic.
“Understanding how we relate to mobility and transportation is very important,” Lyons said.
The County Commission decided in 2017 to explore options for creating more parking or alleviating traffic on Siesta Key, while always considering the tight budget its working with.
The first option the commission has taken action on is the prospect of building a new parking lot on Siesta Key at 6649 Midnight Pass Road. This property, formerly a sheriff’s office substation, could yield up to 39 parking spaces — but it would cost the county more than $500,000.
Instead, commissioners approved demolition of the existing structure on the lot for $25,000. In their effort to take what they call an “incremental approach,” this is the only concrete step commissioners have identified since the discussion began the summer of 2017.
The county is also considering implementing a paid parking system on Siesta Key, or finding off-Key parking and extending the Siesta Key Breeze trolley route to those areas. But each time an option is presented, the cost proves prohibitive.
In 2018, the commission will hear more information about paid parking systems and about bike sharing programs.
