Hot Springs board limits paid parking to Central Avenue, lowers Central rate to $4; emergency clause set for March 1
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Summary
After extensive public comment and debate, the Hot Springs Board adopted an amended version of Ordinance O-26-04 that confines paid parking to Central Avenue and three lots, sets Central at $4 per hour (4-hour max) and Fountain/parking deck/Hill Wheatley at $2 per hour; an emergency clause makes the change effective March 1, 2026.
The Hot Springs Board of Directors voted Feb. 17 to adopt an amended paid-parking ordinance that narrows regulated paid parking to Central Avenue and three downtown lots and reduces the Central Avenue hourly rate to $4.
Deputy City Manager Lance Spicer presented “Option B,” a simplified two-zone plan that originally proposed a $5-per-hour priority zone on Central Avenue (4-hour maximum), a $2-per-hour secondary zone and elimination of employee permits. Spicer said staff planned to convert roughly 340 previously paid spaces into unregulated, free spaces and to introduce a ParkMobile app for mobile payments once rate and zone decisions are finalized.
The downtown merchants and employees mounted a sustained campaign against requiring employees to pay to park. Alan Spraggins of the Downtown Merchant Association told the board his group’s letter, signed by about 20 businesses, argued that employee parking costs would be “an unsustainable burden” and cited business declines since pay parking began. Resident Paul Hayes and others warned of economic impacts and privacy concerns with mobile-payment vendors.
Director Karen Garcia moved to remove all paid parking through 2026 and form an advisory committee; that amendment failed on a 3–4 roll call. The board then approved a Trustee motion to adopt Option B but limit regulated paid parking to Central Avenue and the Fountain Street/Exchange parking deck/Hill Wheatley Plaza areas. Directors later amended the ordinance to reduce Central Avenue to $4 per hour (4-hour cap); Fountain Street, the parking deck and Hill Wheatley were set at $2 per hour with no cap. The final roll call recorded Ayes from Garcia, Trustee, Holiday, Dobbs Smith and the Mayor; Webb and Beard voted no.
Finance staff told directors the full Option B revenue projection (before any parking-deck revenue) was about $1.2 million; staff cautioned that lowering the Central rate would reduce projected revenue (staff estimated a reduction in the hundreds of thousands of dollars if Central moved from $5 to $3). Board members said the changed footprint—opening more free spaces—was a deliberate trade-off to protect employees and merchants while preserving a revenue stream for possible future parking infrastructure.
The board also approved an emergency clause finding that removing paid-parking signage, kiosks and designating new free spaces would “improve the city’s economy” and declared parts of the ordinance effective March 1, 2026. Staff said implementing the emergency clause would require coordinated removal of kiosks and signage and rapid programming of any ParkMobile contract brought forward.
What happens next: staff will form an ad hoc advisory committee with downtown stakeholders to review processes, enforcement and resident-permit details and return recommendations to the board for further action before broader implementation in 2027. The ParkMobile contract and kiosk programming will be brought back to the board for formal approval.
