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Residents, council criticize downtown parking kiosk rollout; staff to revise signage and placement
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Summary
Business owners, residents and council members told the Waterloo City Council that new downtown parking kiosks are poorly placed and difficult for some users, particularly seniors. Council directed staff to adjust signage, review kiosk locations and improve public outreach.
Downtown Waterloo business owners and residents told the City Council on May 12 that the new parking kiosks and pay-by-phone system are poorly placed, hard for seniors to use and harming downtown foot traffic.
"This parking system is not convenient for the senior people," said Matthew Carpenter, who gave his address as 518 Jefferson Street and spoke as a downtown business owner. He told the council he had been told kiosks would appear on every block but found many are located on corners, leaving users to walk a block or more to pay.
Carpenter said the kiosks and text/pay system are convenient for many customers but urged the council to restore two-hour free parking for certain downtown spaces and to act faster than an annual review. "We need something done more sooner than annually," he said.
A council member who echoed Carpenter's concerns said kiosks are "not visible" and difficult to identify as parking kiosks, and added that parking-space markings are inconsistent. "An average parking space is 24 feet. We have areas that the parking space is 36 feet," the council member said, describing measurements taken on several blocks.
Mayor (City of Waterloo) said staff have already begun follow-up work. "I did have a meeting with staff, with traffic, public works, finance, with Reimagine Parking," the mayor said, and reported conversations with Main Street Waterloo about communications to businesses. "Public works is going to redo the current signs they have there as well, every one of them to make sure we include that portion on it," the mayor said, referring to adding wording to indicate free or time-limited parking.
Council and staff discussed several near-term actions: reviewing whether kiosks should be moved or added, improving signage to show two-hour free parking in parts of the district, adding visible markings for parallel parking spaces and producing clear marketing materials explaining how the app works (zone entry and license-plate payments rather than full-street addresses). The mayor said staff will continue to "tweak things" and pursue additional outreach to senior residents and downtown businesses.
The council did not take a formal vote on a parking ordinance at the meeting; council members said the changes would proceed through staff adjustments and additional public communication.
The discussion followed public comments from multiple downtown residents and business owners; the council closed public comment after hearing the concerns and instructed staff to follow up with additional signage and outreach.
