Council members announced Monday night that they would probably not be allowing free parking in the East Washington Street parking garage during any of Uptown festivals.
Though Athens City Council spent most of its session Monday evening planning and organizing summer festivities, discussion always seemed to turn to the same issue: the city’s parking garage on East Washington Street.
Council members announced Monday that they would probably not be allowing free parking in parking garage during any of Uptown summer festivals, including Ohio Brew Week, Boogie on the Bricks and Bounty on the Bricks.
Formerly, council members offered free parking during 11 annual events, Deputy Service Safety Director Ron Lucas said during the Monday night meeting.
The decision largely came from the issue of funding repairs for the parking garage, which are slotted to start this summer.
“Considering that we’re entering into major renovation, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for people to pitch in a few quarters to help deal with that project,” Councilwoman Jennifer Cochran, D-At Large, said.
The project is estimated to cost about $2 million and could take the city roughly 15 years to pay off.
Council members have already voted to increase the meter fee by 25 cents starting in May. Council members are hoping the higher rates, in combination with disallowing free event parking in the garage, will help to fund the project.
“I believe one of the reasons that we … offered the free parking was to help out the programs,” Councilman Jeff Risner, D-2nd ward said. “We can say, ‘Look we’ve done our job,’ and stop that.”
Members voiced that the allure of Uptown festivals like Boogie on the Bricks, Bounty on the Bricks and Ohio Brew Week would overcome any issues with paying for parking.
“Most of our families will be willing to pay for parking to enjoy these events,” Cochran said.
Councilman Steve Patterson, D-At Large, said that programs should also remain unaffected.
“I don’t think by taking this away it will cause any undue hardship on any program,” Patterson said.
Lucas also announced the city has chosen a management system for a developing app.
“We thought our web presence needed a little reinvigorating,” Lucas said.
The app would allow Athens residents to interact more with city officials by sending in pictures or complaints about issues that arise within the city.
“A person can download it and they will be able to get all the city press releases off of our website,” Lucas said.
Lucas said the start-up fee for the app would be about $6,900.
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