Wichita unveils more options for paid parking downtown. Here are the details
Visitors to downtown Wichita could soon pay 75 cents an hour for parking during certain hours, with some free parking time up front.
Or they might continue to pay nothing for most public parking spaces, depending on how the City Council votes on several new options.
The city unveiled four options for the future of parking in the downtown area, Old Town and Delano this week.
Three options implement paid parking with different variations, while the fourth leaves parking as it is now.
Hours and rates for the three options include:
Paid parking Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Sundays would be free.
Metered parking would start at $0.75 an hour, with daily rates at $5 for surface lots and $10 for covered lots. Monthly rates start at $35 for surface lots and $70 for covered.
One option would allow for free parking up to 15 minutes. Another option would allow up to an hour of free parking. A third calls for no paid parking in the Old Town area.
Other exceptions include accessibility parking, loading and rideshare parking, and event parking – like at the Old Town Farm and Art Market.
The city has been pursuing paid parking downtown, saying it needs more money to maintain existing parking spaces. City budget documents show that the downtown parking fund has been operating at a loss for years.
An initial plan, which would have charged for parking across downtown, drew an outcry from residents and business owners earlier this year.
The city heard feedback on the parking plan at nearly a dozen public meetings in August.
Implementation of paid parking downtown would have begun Jan. 1, according to a contract the city signed with Idaho-based private management company The Car Park. But officials said that is unlikely to happen after the City Council moved to delay purchasing the equipment necessary to implement the plan.
City officials have now come back with the four options presented Monday.
The first option, which calls for 15 minutes of free parking, allows the city to capture the most money after paying off parking equipment needed to enforce paid parking, according to Assistant City Manager Troy Anderson.
“If we’re not recovering $400 per space per year, we’re not recovering our operations and maintenance,” he said.
A second option would give users up to an hour of free parking.
“This was a suggestion that came out of some of the community meetings,” Anderson said. “So we kind of put pen to paper and we tried to figure out whether or not that was sustainable.”
Nearly a third of downtown visitors park for up to an hour when visiting the area, according to the city.
But the city contends that allowing up to an hour of free parking would cause it to lose a substantial amount of money it needs to maintain city lots.
Parking in Old Town would be free if the council decides to go with another option presented by the city.
In exchange, the city would either implement a one percent community improvement district sales tax in the area or increase rates for Old Town businesses that already pay for parking for their employees and visitors.
The City Council could also vote to not implement paid parking at all in the coming year, according to the city’s presentation.
“We entertained it, right?” Anderson said. “We can continue to maintain the status quo.”
All the options allow the city to adjust rates after a year. Any rate change would go before the city council for a vote.
The city will host another public forum on downtown parking at 6 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Kansas Leadership Center.
The council will vote on which plan it wants to implement at its Nov. 19 meeting at 6 p.m. in City Hall. Residents can speak about the parking plan during public comment on the item.
It’s unclear when paid parking would begin, according to a city spokesperson.