Courtney O'Donnell, interim assistant city manager, asked the Downtown Parking Advisory Committee on behalf of city staff to consider reconfiguring parking near Bangor City Hall to improve accessibility for the public and people attending meetings.

O'Donnell said the proposal would move about half of the roughly dozen staff-designated spaces from the lower Center Street hill to spaces closer to the top of Center Street and evaluate five nearby short-term (currently 90-minute) spaces for City Hall access. “The intent is, instead of that being designated parking for staff, that that be open to members of the public to create more spaces closer to the building with a shorter walk,” O'Donnell said.

The recommendation matters because current walking routes from nearby street parking require navigating stairs or a steep ramp; staff said the reconfiguration would be implemented only during business hours. Committee members pressed staff about enforceability and duration. Park Llements, who oversees parking enforcement through PCI Municipal Services, explained enforcement relies on routing and randomized patrols rather than fixed spot policing, and said enforcing a City-Hall-only designation would be impractical.

After discussion, the committee recommended moving the staff-designated red spaces up the hill, leaving the green 2-hour spaces as shown on the map, and converting the questioned blue spaces to one-hour public spaces (rather than the 30-minute alternative suggested by a councilor). Committee chair (unnamed) also suggested a pilot and review period. “I personally would like to see, before cementing anything, maybe do a 6-month review with a pilot to see just how it goes,” the chair said.

The committee took a formal motion to adopt the recommendation. A roll-call vote recorded Anne Krieg, Kelsey Hobbs, Sarah Luciano and Vincent as voting yes; the motion carried.

Implementation details remain to be decided by staff. Committee members asked staff to include usage metrics and to run a pilot during the summer to gather data on turnover and enforcement costs before the City Council considers any ordinance changes or signage conversions.