Riverfront condo owners balk at plan to charge visitors for parking

Riverfront Tower condominium owners are fighting a plan that would force visitors to pay for parking.

In July, residents received a letter from property manager Peggy Evans stating that a plan to implement paid parking for visitors. According to the letter, the first 30 minutes would be free, $1 would be charged per 30 minutes with a maximum charge of $10 daily. Lost tickets would be charged $40.

The plan is in place already for apartment tenants in the 100 and 200 towers at the complex.

But condo owners in the 300 Tower balked at the plan.

A mediation hearing was held Wednesday in the office of attorney Eugene Driker over the issue without an agreement being reached.

According to an e-mail sent by Carmen Stiger, community manager, a restraining order is in effect until the next hearing, which is set for Oct. 3 before Wayne County Circuit Judge David Allen.

Stiger declined to comment about the situation.

Dr. JuJuan C. Taylor, who lives in the 300 Tower, has been outspoken about the issue.

“It is unfair and unethical,’’ she said.

Melvin Jefferson, board president for the 300 Tower and resident since 1994, described it as a “money grab’’ by the New York owners of the property.

“The primary owners are in New York and they see other lots charging for visitors and they try to put us in that same situation,’’ he said. “They try to use the lofts on Woodward as an example. That place isn’t a self-contained situation like ours is that has its own parking. They try to compare the Millender Center, but you really can't.’’

Jefferson said the property company is "getting almost $20,000 from the 300 Tower as it is now towards parking.

“We’re entitled to 302 spaces and we pay for 302 spaces for resident parking on a monthly basis,’’ he said.

The mediation has been fruitless, said Jefferson.

“Guests have never had to pay and what they’re asking now is astronomical,’’ he said. “It’s embarrassing to have to ask your friends to pay when they come to visit you, or family. So people end up paying it themselves. It not just hits your property value, but your quality of life.’’

Contact Perry A. Farrell: pafarrell@freepress.com