Annapolis committee hears mixed reviews of new parking platforms; favors two parking-related ordinances for council

The Annapolis Transportation Committee on a rainy meeting day heard operational briefings from the city’s parking vendors and then voted to forward two parking-related measures to the full City Council.

John Kemp, regional manager for Metropolis, described a plate-recognition platform now live at Grot’s Court, Knighton and Park Place garages. “If they’re a monthly parker, they’ll exit without having to do anything,” Kemp said, explaining that customers who register a vehicle and payment method receive a welcome text on entry and then are charged for time used. He told the committee that validations for Park, Shop & Dine and resident two-hour validations are already in use; Kemp said “364 residents” had engaged the resident validation product and that the three garages recorded “almost 600 uses” of those validations in a recent 45-day window.

Kemp and committee members discussed customer experience and staffing. He said staff are on-site during busy ingress and egress periods and are equipped with iPads to view garage activity; he added that full 24-hour physical staffing at every location is not the model. Committee members raised multiple concerns: lack of cell coverage on lower garage levels, limited camera coverage on some levels, difficulty for customers who lack a phone or credit card, and perception that Hillman Garage enforcement treats garage spaces like on-street meters.

Jason Perola, market president for Premium Parking, reported operational results for Hillman Garage and the concession. He said the concession outperformed in fiscal 2024 on volumes and revenues, and noted that the city received $2.4 million from an escrow release earlier than expected. Perola described a “start-stop” payment option available since June 2023 that allows a parker to begin and then stop a session to be charged only for time used. He said platform improvements planned for 2025 should allow parking logic that recognizes resident permit groups and apply back-end exceptions before citation fees are assessed.

Committee members pressed on enforcement logic, the $50 overstay or nonpayment fee and whether the concessionaire has authority to levy that charge. Alderman Omid Savage said he could not find authority in the concession agreement for a $50 overstay penalty and asked the city attorney to review. Premium Parking said the $50 amount appears in the municipal code as a citation fee table; city staff and the committee indicated that the code, the adopted fee schedule for Hillman daily rates, and the concession agreement would be reviewed together to resolve authority and implementation questions.

Data provided by Premium Parking showed about 759,000 year-to-date parking transactions across the system (with the city expected to reach roughly 800,000 by year end), Hillman monthly parking with about 312 monthly parkers and a 404-request waitlist for monthly spots, and cumulative Park, Shop & Dine QR codes rising from roughly 200 in 2023 to about 904 year-to-date in 2024.

On formal business, the committee voted unanimously to give a favorable recommendation to O-23-24, which would remove the requirement that towing companies be located within the city. The committee also voted unanimously to give a favorable recommendation to O-28-24 (as amended), a police property-and-contraband disposal bill; the amendment would allow the police department to donate confiscated bicycles to area nonprofits for residents in need. Both measures were forwarded to the full City Council for consideration.

Why it matters: the rollout of camera- and plate-based garage systems affects resident convenience and enforcement practices in downtown Annapolis. Committee members emphasized the need to reconcile municipal code, the concession agreement and vendor platform settings so that resident validations, enforcement thresholds and accessibility for people without phones are clear and consistently applied.