GAINESVILLE, FL (352today.com) – Parking rates in downtown Gainesville will be changing starting this fall.
The Gainesville City Commission unanimously approved the changes to downtown Gainesville parking rates on March 21 based on recommendations from a recent study and feedback from downtown stakeholders.
The changes include converting free parking spaces in the center of downtown into paid, time-limited spaces on weekdays to 50 cents an hour with a 2-hour time limit. Parking spaces outside of the downtown core will decrease to either 25 cents an hour or free with no time limit on weekdays, said the city in a news release. Parking downtown will still be free on weekends and on city-observed holidays except for the spaces in the SW Parking Garage on SW 3rd Street.
Despite having more than 2,000 parking spaces in downtown, drivers are often frustrated having to circle the city blocks searching for a place to park.
The city says the study done by SP+, a consulting firm specializing in parking management, shows that a majority of survey respondents expect to find parking readily available and within five minutes or less. City officials say the study also showed they were willing to pay more than 50 cents per hour for the most convenient spaces. When parking is free, the majority of respondents were willing to walk 3-5 minutes or more to their destinations said the city.
“The parking study highlighted a great point about the perceived lack of parking,” said Mike Palmer of Go Downtown, a group of downtown business owners, landlords and residents. “Many of the complaints we hear about the distances people walk downtown are easily dispelled when you think about how far you actually walk at places like Butler Plaza or The Oaks Mall.”
Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward told 352today that multiple years of discussion led the city to make the changes and that they’ve done so in an affordable way for citizens and customers.
“We have done literally years of conversation and research and what we’re doing is best practices except for the fact that we’re charging less than what’s recommended. Parking is not free. There’s no such thing as free parking. Somebody’s paying for it,” said Ward. “It costs money to maintain parking spaces and they are a scarce resource.”
Ward says the Gainesville isn’t charging nearly as much as surrounding cities including Ocala, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Daytona, Pensacola, and Tallahassee.
He added that the changes are designed to help businesses bring in more customers by stimulating turnover of high-demand spaces in the heart of downtown.
“The thing that you want to try to achieve is that people don’t park in front of businesses or other entities and just leave their car there for hours and hours and hours and go do their business elsewhere,” said Ward. “You want to turn those spaces over. You don’t want someone to just park there and walk away and do other things. That’s the basis behind the downtown parking theory.
“This is creating the infrastructure that allows us to figure out how to price things correctly so there is parking that’s paid where it needs to be, and free parking where there needs to be,” said Gainesville City Commissioner Bryan Eastman. “We’ll keep building on this so that people are finding the spots that they need open when they want to get there, and we’re helping turn over those spots for those downtown businesses.”
The city says new pay stations will accept coins and credit cards. Ward says they plan to make it as convenient as possible to pay including a text to pay option. They also plan to increase the number of pay stations from two to as many as five. They’ll be installed in the next few months.
The mayor says the changes will go into effect in August and undergo a trial month.
Once the changes take effect, parking enforcement hours will be adjusted to 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday.
City staff will also be reaching out to public agencies downtown to suggest opening up their parking lots after business hours to provide more parking spaces.