Charlottesville City Council's ambitious plan to stiffen parking laws in the Downtown Mall area has become a point of contention following complaints from businesses in the area.
In recent months, Council discussed reducing the amount of time a car could park on the Downtown Mall from two hours to 90 minutes and doubling fines for exceeding the limit from $5 to $10.
At a meeting held last Tuesday, however, City Council allowed the public to comment on the parking ordinance and local business owners expressed grave concerns over reducing the time to 90 minutes.
Many business owners said they felt customers who go to the Downtown Mall for a movie or shopping would no longer have enough time, Councilor Meredith Richards said. Richards said she agreed with the concern and was opposed to reducing parking times.
After considering the businesses' complaints, Council removed language about time reduction from the ordinance to allow for further discussion on the matter, Mayor Blake Caravati said.
Business owners also said they felt the city's planned ordinance was "punitive," Caravati said. The plan would not alleviate the main problem of a lack of adequate parking for workers, business owners said.
Many workers on the Downtown Mall now use public parking spaces for a full day, creating a parking shortage for shoppers. Some of the more cunning workers engage in the "two-hour shuffle," in which they trade spots with fellow employees every two hours to avoid fines. Originally, Council planned the parking ordinance to discourage this practice.
But local businesses said if the city does not create more parking for their workers, the problem will continue despite any new ordinance.
Council now is working on increasing the number of parking areas for city workers. A vote to approve work on three new city parking lots will be held soon, Caravati said. An additional lot now is being built on West Main Street.
Plans call for all of the lots to be constructed underground in order to avoid taking up costly commercial real estate space on the Downtown Mall, Richards said.
She added that fellow Councilor and University Architecture Prof. Maurice Cox is pushing for parking lots farther south, including areas like Monticello Avenue.
Council voted to move the ordinance to a final reading Feb. 5. Council now is divided on whether to increase the fine.
Richards said she could be open to doubling the fine since "it is the case that people who could afford garages use the streets."
Caravati also said he is "probably in favor [of increasing fines], but is deliberating the concerns brought forth at the meeting"
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