Parking report: Colonial says revenue up; committee discusses short-term rental permits and validation

Colonial Parking told the West Chester Parking Committee that overall parking revenues are holding and transient parking revenue rose from last year, while staff and committee members pressed the contractor to deliver clearer validation and monthly-parker data.

The parking management report, presented by Jed Hatfield of Colonial Parking, showed growth in transient revenue for February and a rise in registered monthly parkers. “Transient activity is, doing well,” Hatfield said. He said the system shows 980 monthly parkers in total and that “we are, over budget by $9,400, which is good, and we are, favorable the prior year by $6,837 for the month.”

Why it matters: Parking revenue and permit systems fund operational budgets and enforcement; committee members said clearer, discrete tracking of validations and monthly-parker registrations is needed to enforce rules and protect revenue.

Details from the report and committee discussion

- Colonial reported 980 monthly parkers in the borough’s garages; Hatfield gave a garage breakdown as 303 registered at the Bicentennial Garage and 677 registered at Chestnut Street. “Between both garages, we have 980 monthly parkers registered as of today,” Hatfield said.

- Hatfield said the contractor and borough staff are still reconciling contract monthly customers into Colonial’s system and expect improved budget comparisons in future reports.

- Committee members pressed Colonial to show validation uses separately from transient sales. Hatfield acknowledged the current exports mix validation and transient counts and said Colonial will “break those out to show them discreetly.”

- Short-term rental use of monthly permits was a major operational concern. Committee members and staff described cases where short-term rental occupants turn over frequently, forcing repeated license-plate updates in the monthly-parker system. Hatfield said the system currently uses a license plate credential and that frequent tenant turnover is “a nightmare” operationally; the company is exploring alternatives such as access cards or QR codes and a validation workflow to reduce plate changes.

- The borough’s license-plate reader has been installed and staff reported officers are using it and enforcing app-only meters in a test block on Linden Street. The director’s report noted the borough removed meters on a block being tested as an “app-only” zone and that enforcement appears consistent.

- Other operational notes: Public Works designated the High Street lot by the United Methodist Church for paving this year; the borough will reissue the garage membrane bid with clearer phases; staff plan a fee-schedule update for street patio permits to charge by linear foot rather than by parking space.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to approve February 2024 Parking Committee meeting minutes — approved (motion and second not specified in transcript).

- Motion to table discussion of special event fees in borough surface lots — tabled for later (no vote tally recorded).

- Motion to approve lease renewal for Westchester Growers Market — approved (motion and second not specified).

- Motion to approve lease for Westchester Food Co‑op — approved (motion and second not specified).

- Motion to table discussion of the 2025 Christmas parade — tabled until April (no vote tally recorded).

Follow-ups and open items

- Colonial and borough staff to deliver a simplified management report showing validations separately from transient revenue and a clearer comparison to budget.

- Staff and Colonial to explore access cards, QR codes, or a validation code workflow to manage short-term rental turnover without repeatedly changing license-plate entries.

- Public Works/finance staff will bring a purchase-order request to the finance committee to provide working capital for the garages (payroll, insurance) — noted in the director’s report but not voted on at this meeting.

Ending

Committee members asked staff to return with written agreements for any longstanding arrangements (for example, BID parking use) and to bring back clarified data in the next meeting so the committee can make informed decisions about fee changes and enforcement.