Citywide parking study recommends consolidated management, technology upgrades and phased parking‑minimums approach
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Summary
Staff presented a citywide parking study recommending consolidation of parking management under Transportation Services, a parking manager and dedicated fund, technology‑driven enforcement, residential permit pilots and phased removal of parking minimums only in 'parking‑ready' districts; small business and affordable‑housing advocates urged faster action and direct outreach.
City of Denton staff presented their long‑awaited citywide parking study to the Mobility Committee on Feb. 25, recommending centralized management, upgraded enforcement technology and a phased approach to reducing parking minimums in areas with multimodal alternatives.
Farhan (Deputy Director, Transportation Services Division) told the committee that the study found fragmented management across multiple departments, outdated manual citation processes and recurring spillover parking around UNT and TWU campuses. Staff recommended consolidating parking functions within Transportation Services, appointing a parking program manager and two additional planners, and adopting automated technology such as license‑plate recognition or radar‑based systems where privacy issues make LPR impractical.
Key recommendations included establishing parking districts (downtown, university and residential protection zones), piloting residential permit programs, launching a downtown EV shuttle and exploring transit wallets or reinvesting parking revenues into transit subsidies. The study also recommended implementing an app‑based parking information portal, upgrading citation recovery through outsourcing or public‑private partnerships, and conducting targeted pilots before any citywide elimination of parking minimums.
Public commenters and committee members emphasized business and housing impacts. Carrie Baugus, executive director of Denton Affordable Housing Corporation, told the committee that an 84‑unit supportive housing project is being asked to provide about 80 parking spaces even though very few residents there own cars: "Out of those 60 individuals, 4 of them have a vehicle. But I'm being required to put in 80 parking spots for this development," she said, arguing that parking mandates increase costs, destroy tree canopy and disadvantage small, local developers.
Local business owner Ken Curran also urged predictability: "The main thing that I would like to see is consistency... The requirements have changed dramatically since I started," he said, adding that reliable rules help businesses plan.
Staff said they will launch a scalable pilot project and finalize preferred parking‑management technology through procurement; paid parking and concert management were listed as pilot candidates. Several council members urged staff to accelerate outreach to small businesses and to return with specific proposed projects the city will apply for under the region’s trip funding program.
The committee did not adopt any policy changes at the meeting; staff said additional public engagement and coordination with universities would precede any changes to minimums or enforcement approaches.