City Council approves plan to raise parking rates Rates could vary by neighborhood, time of day

Seattle, get ready to pay more to park on city streets.

The City Council budget committee on Friday voted unanimously to allow rates to increase by up to $4 an hour (the current maximum is $2.50 downtown). But the increases won't take effect immediately. The Council directed the Department of Transportation to conduct a study of all neighborhoods that have paid parking and report back with recommendations in January.

The goal of the Council's parking rate hikes is to come up with a plan that makes sense for businesses and residents, Councilmember Tim Burgess said. The parking situation in neighborhoods would be frequently monitored and adjustments could be made to rates - perhaps with people paying more to park during certain times of the day whe demand is great and less when traffic decreases.

"Rates will go up and down on based on demand," Burgess said. "We are not voting to today to raise parking rates to four dollars."

Council President Richard Conlin said "we want to make sure these changes..are implemented with enough time so people have a chance to adjust to them."

Mayor Mike McGinn had proposed increasing hourly downtown parking rates by $1.50 - to $4 an hour. Rates would go up 50 cents an hour in other parts of the city. McGinn's proposed increases were controversial; businesses complained that increased rates would hurt them during this down economy, discouraging people from shopping and going to restaurants.

The Council did reject McGinn's plan to extend paid parking to Sundays, which are currently free days city-wide. The mayor also wanted to extend paid parking to 8 p.m. (it's now 6 p.m.). The Council took no action on that proposal, though city's transportation director holds the authority to extend paid parking hours.

McGinn had said the new fees would still be below what private parking lots charge people.

Seattle's transportation budget - like all city budgets - is facing pressure because of declining tax revenues.