Roswell council approves first reading to enable enforcement of paid downtown parking

The Roswell City Council on Monday approved on first reading changes to the city code that will let the city enforce paid parking at designated on-street and lot spaces in the downtown area.

The ordinance amends Chapter 22 (Traffic and Motor Vehicles) to authorize paid parking in specific areas of downtown — including Canton Street, Elizabeth Way and East Alley — and sets a maximum citation of $20 for failure to pay. The related resolutions give the city administrator authority to set hourly rates up to a $5-per-hour cap and add Old Mill Park to a list of locations that could, in the future, be designated paid parking; city leaders said Roswell residents would not be charged at city parks, including Old Mill Park, under the intended policy.

City senior vice president Jeff Leatherman described the change as an enforcement fix for parking the city already authorized in 2019 but lacked the ordinance language to police. "We are establishing a maximum citation amount of $20 for a failure to pay for the parking," Leatherman said during the presentation. Leatherman told council the ordinance does not finalize a long-term Green Street parking deck policy and that the broader parking strategy, including use of technology such as license-plate recognition to differentiate residents from visitors, will be developed later and discussed with business owners and residents.

Residents who spoke at the meeting urged more public outreach before enforcement begins. Courtney Rozier, who lives on Hembree Road, asked the council to publish a full parking policy, hold a formal comment period and host a town-hall before citywide implementation. "Publish a full formal parking policy, hold a comment period, host a publicized public meeting," Rozier said, adding that the absence of a published policy makes enforcement feel premature.

Council members and staff said the immediate change is narrow: it provides the authority to enforce parking in the limited areas already on the books and to plan for the Green Street parking deck later. Leatherman and the mayor said they have met repeatedly with Canton Street business owners and intend to use demand-based (dynamic) pricing to encourage turnover in front-of-store spaces. "We want people to pay for parking, to not violate our parking requirements," Leatherman said; "we will continue to work with our businesses and residents to set appropriate fee schedules based on demand."

The ordinance passed first reading after a motion by Council Member Will Mortland, seconded by Council Member David Johnson. The council vote on the first reading was recorded as unanimous (6-0). The second reading and vote on final adoption are scheduled at a later meeting; staff said several technical items, including citation frequency and how hourly resets are handled, remain under discussion and could be adjusted before final adoption.

The council and staff emphasized that parks and City Hall will not be converted to paid parking as part of this action; officials said the Old Mill Park designation is to allow future targeted solutions once resident-exemption technology is available. Officials also said the city will monitor impacts and work with businesses on rate and enforcement choices moving forward.

Questions that remain for the public include the final dynamic-rate settings, the enforcement cadence (how repeat nonpayment will be handled), and the exact schedule for roll-out and resident exemptions for selected sites. The council framed the ordinance as an enforcement and administrative step to enable policies already contemplated for downtown parking.