Charlottesville council hears detailed briefing on new Metropolis parking system as residents raise privacy concerns

City officials on Tuesday defended a recent switch to a license-plate-based parking management system run by Metropolis (implemented via the city's contractor SP Plus), while residents and council members pressed staff for clearer privacy safeguards and procurement details.

Chris Engel, the city’s director of economic development, told the Charlottesville City Council that the new computer-vision system replaces a ticket-based workflow and requires a web‑based start/stop flow tied to license plates and a phone number. Engel said the capital cost for the Metropolis computer-vision rollout was about $85,000 — markedly lower than a $350,000 equipment upgrade the city purchased in 2018 — and that staff expect modest operating savings over time. “The data that they’re capturing is only used to facilitate the parking process,” Engel said, adding the deployment does not include facial recognition and captures only a small, rear-license-plate view.

Council members and speakers raised a series of concerns during a multi-hour Q&A. One councilor said bluntly, “I think it’s a bad system,” citing surveillance and consolidation risks as Metropolis expands nationally. Members asked whether alternative platforms (for example, ParkMobile) were considered, how long vendors retain data, whether vendor policies permit resale or aggregation of records, and what local remedies are available to residents when the system misidentifies a plate and overcharges a customer.

Staff responded that the contract remains with SP Plus, that Metropolis/SP Plus must comply with federal and state laws and PCI‑DSS payment-card standards, and that the vendor provides opt‑out and data‑deletion processes. On retention staff said written policy language is framed around the parking session and that vendor representatives told staff data is typically kept only as long as necessary (staff reported hearing “90 days” in some responses), but acknowledged policy language can be ambiguous. Engel also noted that SP Plus/Metropolis is not contracted to issue fines, tow vehicles or place boots — doing so would require a change in state law.

Councilors asked for clearer answers about data storage and access; Engel indicated data is likely hosted in commercial cloud services (the vendor’s security materials reference Amazon Web Services) and affirmed staff will continue to press the vendor for explicit deletion and opt‑out procedures. He also said two class‑action lawsuits involving Metropolis‑branded deployments in other states are being monitored, and that the city’s contract limits the vendor’s enforcement powers under Virginia law.

Mayor Juan Diego Wade and other members said they want improved outreach for small businesses and people without phones; staff said two cash/card kiosks will be installed within about 4–6 weeks to provide a non‑phone payment option. Engel reported about 8,000 sign‑ups and engagement from some 56 enterprise/validation accounts during the first two weeks of operation, while acknowledging launch and outreach missteps and promising follow‑up communications.

Next steps: council asked staff to return with clarified vendor policies on data retention, an accounting of refunds issued so far and written opt‑out procedures; several members said they want procurement and contract questions reviewed before any larger policy changes.