Alexandria staff report pilot increased parking enforcement and recommend measured expansion
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Summary
City staff said a contractor pilot focused on King Street increased citation volume and sped 311 response times; staff proposed three options and recommended making the pilot permanent with a limited expansion. Councilmembers generally favored keeping the contractor and exploring narrow geographic and time expansions.
City staff told the Alexandria City Council on Oct. 28 that a 20-month pilot using a contractor to assist parking enforcement in Old Town has produced more consistent enforcement and faster responses to parking-related service requests.
Jan Lambert, deputy city manager, said the pilot — which began in December 2023 — was intended to address high vacancy rates among Alexandria Police Department parking enforcement officers and to test whether a contractor could improve weekday enforcement on King Street and free APD staff for higher-priority duties. "We have seen more consistent enforcement and better compliance with posted parking rules," Lambert said.
Eli Smith of the Office of Performance Analytics walked the council through the metrics staff used to evaluate the program. Comparing two equal 18-month periods before and during the pilot, staff reported a roughly 61% increase in average monthly citations citywide (from just under 5,000 to just under 8,000), including about 2,200 citations issued by the contractor in the pilot area. City staff's enforcement volume also rose outside the pilot area, where staff could refocus efforts. Paid on-street parking transactions rose about 16% (from an average of 120,000 to 139,000 monthly), driven by increased use of the ParkMobile app.
Staff also reported improved responsiveness: average response time to nonemergency parking calls fell about 16% (from 43 to 36 minutes), and the average days to close 3-1-1 parking complaints declined by 45% (from six days to 3.3 days). Safety-related citations (bike-lane parking, obstruction of crosswalks, parking near fire hydrants) increased roughly 34% citywide; staff said APD issued more of those citations after contractor coverage freed officer time.
Lambert described three paths forward: end the pilot and return all enforcement to APD; continue the program at status quo; or accept staff's recommendation to make the contractor arrangement permanent with a measured expansion of hours (weekends) and limited geographic expansion to high-demand areas in Old Town and other locations. He said the city has consulted Old Town businesses and that concerns raised early in the pilot have largely diminished as people grew accustomed to enforcement.
Councilmembers generally expressed support for option three. Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley and Councilman Chapman said they favor a measured expansion, conditioned on clearer outreach and additional data on impacts. Councilman El Newby and others asked staff to return with more granular information on which beats and neighborhoods benefited outside Old Town, whether enforcement schedules changed, and whether the increased citation counts reflected durable compliance improvements rather than transient effects. Councilwoman May Green asked staff to enforce contractor uniform standards where necessary. Councilman McPike urged staff to include metrics on safety outcomes (for example, declines in illegal parking that block visibility or increase pedestrian conflicts) and patterns of repeat offending.
Staff said contractors in the pilot are focused on a narrow set of violations (meter and loading-zone violations, handicap placard violations) while APD officers handle more complex and safety-related enforcement; there are six contracted parking enforcement staff assigned in the pilot area at times, increasing enforcement density compared with other parts of the city.
Lambert said staff will return with a more detailed recommendation, additional outreach documentation and refined safety metrics to help the council set expansion criteria. No final policy change was enacted Oct. 28; council members asked staff to bring forward a proposal for action with clearer geographic criteria and additional safety data.
