Committee approves downtown parking code changes including nighttime voucher pilot for Ed Ball and Yates garages

The Transportation, Energy and Utilities Committee on June 17 voted 6‑0 to pass amended bill 20250384, which updates downtown parking code language, authorizes a nighttime voucher program in defined entertainment districts and adds a fee for removal of parking meter posts.

Councilmember Tyrone Clark Murray asked Laurie Boyer, chief executive officer of the Downtown Investment Authority, to explain the provision that would allow private restaurants and event venues to issue nighttime vouchers for patrons to use city garages. Boyer said the change formalizes a pilot already tested with the Lark event venue and the Ed Ball Garage, and “the idea with this, we, we did a pilot, we tested it out, figured out how it worked.”

Under the code changes described at the meeting, restaurants or venues in specified downtown districts could provide patrons with receipts or vouchers that would allow parking in the Ed Ball or Yates garages during defined nighttime hours. Boyer said the voucher program was contemplated in the CRA plan and arose from a 2019 parking study; the changes also update technical language to reflect new payment methods such as apps and kiosks.

The bill also adds a fee when a meter post is removed from concrete during construction or other work; previously the city charged to remove the meter head but not the post, and staff said full removal and reinstallation is more expensive.

The committee approved an amendment to the measure before voting, and the recorded vote on the final bill was 6 yeas, 0 nays.