Councilmember Solveig Spjeldnes, D-1st Ward, introduced an ordinance to the City Council that would suspend parking fees and allow continuous parking in the Athens City Parking Garage, 7 E. Washington St., from Dec. 15 to Jan. 12, 2025.
The Council will vote on the ordinance at its regular meeting on March 4.
Spjeldnes said an ordinance to suspend parking fees is not new for the council to vote on, and it’s been in effect in previous years.
The parking fee suspension takes place during Ohio University’s winter break, which is deliberate, she said.
“The point of this is that because so many students leave their cars or people go on vacation during the various holidays in December that we thought that it was fairer to not ticket people for sitting … for too long a period of time,” Spjeldnes said.
Although the legislation mainly pertains to OU’s winter break, it can also affect those who plan to leave their cars in the garage while they go on vacation or visit family and don’t want to worry about their car being towed or ticketed, she said.
Dan Gordillo, OU Student Senate’s governmental affairs commissioner, said at the Senate meeting Feb. 21 that he supports Spjeldnes’ initiative to suspend parking fees during the university’s winter break.
“(The ordinance) is 100% with every student's interest; therefore, this body is interested that we support … the councilmembers' initiative,” Gordillo said.
Gordillo also expressed the importance of building a connection between the Student Senate and the City Council, and he alluded to supporting the ordinance as a way to do that.
“It is important that the Student Senate supports this initiative because we want to foster relations between this body and the council,” Gordillo said.
Another ordinance introduced by Spjeldnes is to suspend parking meter fees on Court Street during the holiday season to encourage holiday shopping in Athens’ uptown business area.
“The purpose of that is to encourage people to come uptown and shop for the holidays so that the stores uptown can make more money, and that's better for the city,” she said. “It's better for our shop owners and restaurants and good for everybody.”
Parking fees would be suspended Dec. 6, 12, and 19 after 5 p.m., and free all day Dec. 7, 14, 21, 23 and 24.
Tim Martin, owner and designer of the local business Ohio is Home, 43 S. Court St., said his business does not usually advertise the suspended parking because it can confuse customers.
However, Martin said he noticed people still take advantage of the suspended parking fees, but people may abuse the extended free parking rates.
“People will just park a car uptown for the day, and then you can never get any turnover with parking,” Martin said. “It's definitely kind of a tricky thing.”
While Martin said he does not think the suspended parking fees are a perfect solution, he said he sees more customers during the holiday shopping season.
“I think any little bit helps,” Martin said. “The fact that the city is even looking at it and trying to figure out something to help support businesses uptown is definitely a win. I do appreciate that.”
