Council approves new parking enforcement system, keeps on‑street limit at three hours

The Blowing Rock Town Council voted June 10 to modernize parking enforcement by purchasing new handheld enforcement devices and backend software, increasing selected fines, and changing enforcement hours — but it declined to shorten the on-street maximum from three hours to two.

What the council approved: Council voted to move forward with the purchase of parking-enforcement equipment and software, authorize an implementation plan, raise selected citation amounts (time violation fines and subsequent penalties), and set regulated enforcement hours to 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday–Saturday and 1 p.m.–5 p.m. Sundays. Maple Street’s lot remains a three-hour monitored lot under the adopted plan. The vote was unanimous.

Why it matters: Staff presented recommendations from a consultant study that included consistent enforcement, shorter on-street time limits and use of license-plate recognition and handheld devices. Two vendors were discussed: Passport and a T2 Systems / Lubb Safety deployment. Council chose to proceed with acquiring equipment and software but responded to business and community feedback by retaining the three-hour on-street limit rather than the staff-recommended reduction to two hours.

Details: Staff said the recommended system would replace manual “chalk” methods with handheld devices that scan license plates, capture photos of vehicles and print waterproof citations. Proposed fine changes included: time offense from $10 to $20; overtime from $15 to $30; subsequent violations from $20 to $60; and failure to pay within 30 days from $25 to $30. Staff estimated year‑one costs for a chosen vendor (T2 Systems) at roughly $15,440 (device/licenses/data plans) with annual recurring costs thereafter; Passport’s quoted costs were higher when including data plans and merchant fees. Staff recommended funding the purchase via a budget amendment in next year’s budget cycle because the expense was not included in FY 2024–25.

Public input and council response: The Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce and several businesses asked the council to delay shortening the on-street limit from three to two hours while new enforcement technology is implemented and businesses recover from storm-related losses. Councilmembers said they heard those concerns and decided to adopt technology and consistent enforcement first, keep the three-hour curb limit, adjust enforcement hours, and revisit duration or dynamic pricing later with better wayfinding and outreach. Council directed staff to include revenues and expenses in future budget amendments so the program is revenue‑aware.

Implementation notes: Staff said handheld devices can operate offline and upload citations when connected to town Wi‑Fi or cellular service; the chosen vendor offers hot-swappable batteries, a patron portal for online payment and dispute management, and call-center support. Staff also noted signage updates will be needed to reflect the new hours and rules. Council approved purchase authorization and ordinance changes, subject to a budget amendment to purchase devices in the next fiscal year.

Ending: The council’s action moves Blowing Rock from intermittent, manual enforcement toward a vendor‑supported digital enforcement model while keeping more generous curb time limits at businesses’ request.