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Council hears update on downtown parking plan; staff pushes tech fixes while council urges faster capacity gains
Summary
Planning staff reviewed progress on 31 recommendations from the 2021 parking plan — including license-plate recognition, numbered parking stalls and a proposed digital parking guidance system — while council members pressed for faster action and short-term wayfinding solutions.
Cassie Bonegarner, planning manager for downtown development and preservation, updated the council on staff work to implement 31 recommendations from the 2021 Downtown Parking Action Plan, saying 10 recommendations are complete, seven are ongoing and four were tabled as not currently viable.
Bonegarner described enforcement improvements, including bringing license-plate recognition (LPR) software back online and plans to number three-hour parking stalls so LPR photos can show the numbered space and reduce GPS-related errors in violation evidence. "License plate recognition is gonna take a picture of that license plate, but it's also gonna have the ground... the picture of the spot number they're in," she said.
Staff emphasized several near-term priorities: upgrading downtown lighting to improve walkability (Johnson and Wood streets are at about 90% design and expected to start construction in spring) and procuring an app-based digital parking guidance system to help users find available spaces. Bonegarner said six recommendations remain outstanding and that the results of a 2026 downtown parking study will inform choices such as whether to pursue a separate parking authority or increase marshal staffing.
Council members urged faster deployment of capacity. One council member said the city already controls properties where parking capacity could be added and urged staff to move faster, while the city manager and other staff cautioned the council that multimillion-dollar investments need a data basis. "You can't ask us to make multimillion dollar decisions on anecdotes," the city manager said, arguing for data-driven analysis to guide capacity decisions.
Multiple council members and an Economic Development representative recommended quicker, lower-cost interventions: digital wayfinding, public-facing counts of available spaces, and roadside digital signs to direct incoming drivers. "A parking guidance system... where people can actually see, okay, well there is parking downtown, get that step 1 done," one council member said, noting the approach could be less costly and faster than constructing new decks.
Staff said the council has already authorized feasibility studies for an additional parking deck and will continue to pursue a mix of capacity and utilization tools; they agreed to accelerate work where feasible and to return with data that defines what 'success' looks like for downtown parking.
Next steps: staff will continue the 2026 downtown parking study, advance procurement planning for a parking guidance app and evaluate lighting and short-term wayfinding measures to mitigate disruptions from upcoming demolition of old City Hall lots.
