Spokane City Council considering parking changes throughout downtown

Erin Robinson by Erin Robinson

Copyright 2019 KXLY.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without prior permission. The Spokane City Council is considering changes to downtown parking.

Parking changes could soon be coming to downtown Spokane.

The Spokane City Council has been working with a company studying parking in the city. Some of the possible changes include cost increases and additional enforcement on maximum time allowed at a meter. Currently, people can park for up to two hours.

Some of the more popular areas, like Riverfront Park, could see an increase, while less populated meters could become cheaper to promote more use.

The city of Spokane may also look at adding additional license plate readers, which would show whether a car has been parked on a block for more than two hours.

Councilman Breean Beggs said the goal is to create more parking availability throughout downtown. Beggs did not specify how much of a cost increase could be coming.

“I think what we’re going to do is we’re going to start adjusting rates based on how much a place is used, so the places in the city where the meters aren’t used they’re going to lower rates so more people park there. The places right in front of Riverpark Square those will probably go up some,” Beggs said.

Beggs says they want to utilize technology as much as possible as well.

I also just had a convo with an out-of-town visitor, and he said it wasn’t too difficult to find the parking, but it’s inconvenient to have just a two-hour limit. pic.twitter.com/mhqb0dmQsU

— Maher Kawash (@MaherKXLY) July 25, 2019

Beggs said, right now, the only punishment for staying too long at a meter is a $15 fine. He said many people are deciding to pay and stay in the spot for the full day, instead of finding another place to park.

Beggs said the city wants to utilize technology as much as possible.

No changes will officially happen until 2020 and until approved by the City Council.

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