Raleigh to reconsider parking deck fees

At the urging of downtown business owners, city leaders on Tuesday are expected to consider revising a plan to charge people who park in downtown decks at night and on weekends.

The Raleigh City Council this summer voted to end free night and weekend parking and to charge a $5 parking fee for the decks, beginning Dec. 31.

Council members who backed the idea said the fee could help with efforts to clean the decks that nightlife crowds sometimes trash. But downtown business owners – including prominent restaurateurs Ashley Christensen and David Meeker, the son of former Raleigh mayor Charles Meeker – said the fee would deter visitors, hurting shops and dining spots in a downtown lacking enough residents within walking or cycling distance to support the businesses on their own.

Some say they’re already losing money after the council in August approved new rules that limit dining on downtown sidewalks. The council later asked city staff to seek a sidewalk service compromise with business owners .

And on Tuesday, the council is expected to review several options that aim to keep downtown parking decks cleaner while minimizing the blow to businesses.

“This is why we didn’t implement the plan immediately: we wanted to hear feedback from the community in order to review and consider (the $5 fee) fully,” Councilman Wayne Maiorano said.

Under the council’s current plan, night and weekend access to the decks would be $5 after 7 p.m. starting Dec. 31. The fee would generate $1.42 million, enough money, city officials said, to repair some equipment and pay for contracted deck cleaning services six nights a week.

Raleigh doesn’t contract with a cleaning service. Maintenance crews clean the decks as needed.

Each of the six alternatives crafted by city staff offer varying fee hours, but would keep night parking free Monday through Wednesday and generate enough revenue to pay for cleaning services at least four nights a week.

One option reduces the fee to $4. Another increases it to $6 but keeps parking free on Sundays.

But the business group, led by Meeker, isn’t happy with any of the options, he said. City staff rejected the group’s suggestion to charge $5 for parking only after 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

“It’s when downtown is the busiest and when you’ve got all the problems,” said Meeker, who co-owns Busy Bee Cafe, Trophy Brewing and State of Beer.

“Charging during the day on Saturday is just going to kill downtown retail,” he said. “Nobody pays to park at Cameron Village or North Hills. Why would they pay to park downtown?”

The proposal brought forth by Meeker and others would generate enough revenue for one night of cleanup service – well below what’s needed, said Tansy Hayward, an assistant city manager.

“We needed to make a recommendation that was revenue-neutral,” Hayward said.

The city administration’s recommendation would start the $5 fee at 5 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday nights, while offering fee discounts to employees of downtown businesses. Employees of downtown businesses could pay $30 for a monthlong pass.

It would generate $1.17 million, enough to pay for some repairs and five nights of cleaning each week.

“If we don’t do enough to increase the (cleanup efforts), we’ll continue to have maintenance crews focusing on those activities,” Hayward said.

Meeker’s group has some support on the council. Council members Mary-Ann Baldwin and Kay Crowder voted against the fee when it was approved this summer. While Maiorano said he’s undecided and Crowder couldn’t be reached for comment, Baldwin and Councilman John Odom said they support Meeker’s plan.

“We can make up the rest of the (cleanup) funding ourselves,” Odom said.

Meanwhile, councilman Bonner Gaylord said he favors a compromise that’s somewhere between the staff’s recommendation and Meeker’s proposal. He has no problem charging for access at night Thursday through Saturday. But he doesn’t want to charge for daytime access on Saturday or Sunday. And, he said he’s undecided on whether the $5 fee is too high.

“Whatever we do will be subject to change based on what we learn after implementing whatever is next,” Gaylord said.

Most downtown shops hope the council adopts a fee structure that does a better job of helping their customers slowly adjust to the change, said Jennifer Martin, executive director of Shop Local Raleigh, a business advocate. She supports Meeker’s proposal.

“We’re still a growing city and are heavily dependent on people driving in from outside the area,” Martin said. “I don’t know that we’re there yet in terms of stability. We still don’t have retail down pat.”

This story was originally published October 19, 2015 at 8:59 PM with the headline "Raleigh to reconsider parking deck fees."