City Scrutinizes Parking System at Thursday Budget Session

West Dearborn’s public parking system was the subject of governmental scrutiny at the Thursday, May 19, budget session held at .

Recommendations were made on behalf of Republic Parking and the city’s Parking Commission, who have met several times recently, to raise parking rates in a tiered fashion, based on what the group believes is evidence that the system will best serve the public if it provides them with more options.

Currently, parking rates range from 25 cents per hour at the metered, discount Lot G to 50 cents per hour at most metered and cashiered lots. The first 30 minutes are free at all cashiered lots in the city, and a flat fee option of $3–payable by the Parkmobile cell phone application­–is available in the evenings.

The lost ticket maximum is currently $6, and the special events maximum is $1.

Monthly permit parking ranges from $25-60 per month, depending on location.

Proposed changes would raise the rates nearly across the board.

Hourly rates would be tiered depending on the parking spot’s accessibility to businesses. Premium rates would be $1 per hour; standard rates would be 75 cents per hour; discounted spots would be 50 cents per hour.

Parking permits would run from $40-60 per month, depending on location, and “reserved” spots would be available on a daily, weekly or monthly basis for $10, $50 or $200, respectively.

The lost ticket maximum would be raised to $9, while the special event maximum and evening flat fee would go up to $5.

Sundays and holidays would remain free.

City Development Director Barry Murray said the goal was to reach a 75-cent-per-hour average among all lots, but that the proposal was a starting point­–not the only possible solution.

Currently, the parking system has a $500,000 subsidy from the general fund, “and we’re trying to eliminate that,” explained councilman Mark Shooshanian, who sits on the Parking Commission.

“This model we’ve just described here generates the $500,000,” added Murray, “assuming that the system is used at the same level it’s used at today.”

Mark Lyons of Republic Parking explained that the goal is to make the system more valuable, sustainable and convenient for users.

“We’ve taken our experience in other cities and looked at rated structures and how you build a sustainable system that–there generally has to be some value in a parking system,” he said. “What we do need to look at is how is it going to be sustainable, how will it make sense for a customer to come down and when they see a price that doesn’t make sense to them or that they don’t believe is a true value, what options are they provided?

“When you build options in a parking rate structure, then there’s more value that’s developed in that product.”

That was the basis upon which Republic Parking and the commission built their proposed tiered rate program.

But not all of the Dearborn City Council members bought into the plan, with several suggesting that a flat rate of $1 per hour across the board would be sustainable and less confusing. Others, like Mayor Jack O’Reilly, agreed that it was better to give shoppers a choice.

“Some people will say, ‘I’ll walk further to get a better rate,’” he said, “and some people say, ‘I don’t want to walk at all, so I’ll pay the higher rate.’”

“And some people will just go to another city,” councilman Robert Abraham added.

But almost across the board, government officials agreed that maintaining the 30-minute free “grace period” was crucial, especially given charts provided by the commission showing that in the lot off of Garrison Street behind and (one of the city’s busiest), up to 40 percent of users stay under that 30-minute limit–mainly due to the fact that they are getting a carryout food order or making a short shopping trip at Merchant of Vino.

“If we drive 50 percent of that carryout away, fundamentally, have we hurt ourselves more?” asked councilman David Bazzy. “I don’t have the answer. I just know that you’re in difficult economic times here. Dearborn is a unique city in a variety of areas. We’re not Royal Oak. We’re not Ann Arbor.

“We have to do what works for Dearborn.”

And, added Mayor O’Reilly, the city is looking at the sustainability of providing a convenient parking system to visitors as a service­–not turning it into a profitable venture.

“Nobody’s going to ever come and park just to park in our lots,” he said. “They park in our lots to go somewhere. … The customer went in and did business with a business, which is why we provide the parking. We’re just trying to figure out how to pay for it, but it’s not a business.”