Mayor Mitch Colvin said Monday that he plans to lobby council members to back off a plan that would subject people who park downtown on Saturdays to receive a ticket if they stay too long in an on-street space.

“I am going to be asking council members to reconsider that," Colvin said, "because that could potentially have impacts of discouraging people from spending time downtown."

Some business owners have similar concerns, but others said they had mixed feelings about the city's program that kicks off on July 15.

Currently, the city has hundreds of spaces in the downtown area that allow people to park for two to three hours free of charge, depending on the street, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Enforcement ends after that and there is none on weekends.

But that is about to change starting next Monday, unless the council has a change of position.

The new plan calls for enforcing the two- and three-hour time limitations from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

The rule change is proposed to be a temporary measure, as the city plans to implement paid parking for those on-street spaces at a proposed rate of $1 an hour starting in January.

The extended enforcement hours was designed to encourage people who want to park for more than a couple of hours to use city parking lots instead of valuable spaces in front of downtown businesses.

People attending Fayetteville Woodpeckers baseball games that often start at 7 p.m. have been regularly parking in the free on-street spaces instead of paying $5 to park during the game in the Franklin Street garage or other city lots. City Council members have said the extended hours of enforcement should discourage baseball patrons from parking in those on-street spaces.

“The people attending the games should park in the designated spaces that have the $5 fee,” Colvin said. “If you are coming downtown to spend the evening to have dinner with your family, you should not have to park in a paid spot to do that.”

Colvin said he is not opposed to extending the weekday enforcement of the timed spaces until 9 p.m. but he doesn't like the idea of ticketing people on weekends.

“The impact of enforcing parking on Saturday when most cities don't do it could be tremendous,” Colvin said. “I'm concerned about that.”

Councilman Dan Culliton, whose district includes the downtown area, said the council's unanimous vote to implement the plan was designed to encourage turnover of spaces in front of downtown businesses so other customers can use them.

“The Saturday issue in and of itself is something we'll have to again go back to council and see what the consensus is with that,” he said.

Culliton said the City Council is being responsive to businesses with parking.

“I don't think anybody expected the success that we've seen so far with the stadium,” he said. “And so with that there are going to be some growing pains of course, and part of that has been the parking issue.”

Business owners expressed mixed views about the proposal to extend the enforcement hours for parking in July.

Audriaunna Kitterman, owner of Prima Elements, a holistic wellness center on Anderson street, who heads up The Downtown Alliance, said that organization is “on the fence” about its position on the extended enforcement hours.

Kitterman said she understands the city is adopting the policy to open spaces for small businesses, but she pointed out that service businesses such as hers and hair salons and others have customers who stay more than two or three hours, so having a time limit on the parking can be a problem.

She also noted that in cities larger than Fayetteville, such as Raleigh, do not have extended hours of enforcement on Saturdays.

“We're just really in the baby steps of becoming a developed city,” she said. “It is still transitioning.”

The organization has a petition with about 4,000 signatures on change.org asking the city not to adopt paid parking for the on-street spaces after 5 p.m. and on weekends.

Daniel Fair, owner of Pierro's Italian Bistro on Hay Street, said he has mixed feelings about the city's plans to extend the hours of enforcement for the free spaces.

He said people have been parking in the spaces outside of that restaurant for a long time, especially during baseball games, and he hopes the new policy will help turn over the spaces. He said customers inhis restaurant spend on average about an hour and a half there.

“I think right now the city is looking for ways to adjust to the problem,” he said. “It is mixed feelings. In the end we want our customers and other businesses want them to be able to get in and out. I just hope that the intended effect is what happens.”

Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at jhenderson@fayoberver.com or 910-486-3596.