Roswell staff recommend dynamic pricing for new Green Street parking deck, discourage resident-only free parking

City staff told the City Council that the newly built Green Street parking deck, scheduled to open in May 2026, should be managed under a dynamic pricing model rather than a resident-only free scheme that has been informally promised in the past.

Deputy City Administrator Jeff Leatherman, who led the parking briefing, said the city controls roughly 837 parking spaces in the downtown core and that the model used to fund construction did not include operations. "We have about 837 spaces in and around the downtown area that are under direct city ownership," Leatherman said. He added that operating costs for the deck are significant, estimating approximately $800,000 a year of maintenance and operating expenses that are not payable with the construction bond: "When we say residents do not pay for parking, they in fact are paying for parking—they're just paying for it in a different way," Leatherman said.

Why it matters: the city's $20 million taxable bond covered construction but, by state law and bond rules, cannot be used for ongoing operations. That leaves the general fund or user fees as the available sources for maintenance, staff, technology, elevator repairs and other recurring costs. Staff warned a full general-fund subsidy would reduce the ability to fund other priorities.

Administrative feasibility and equity: staff described major operational complexity in distinguishing residents from non-residents at scale. Leatherman told the council the technology exists but handling credentials for a base of roughly 94,000 residents — lost cards, delegated access, misuse and edge cases — would create a substantial new administrative program and ongoing cost that staff estimated could be roughly $100,000 per year. For that reason, the staff recommendation was to avoid a resident/non-resident distinction.

Revenue scenarios: staff presented multiple modeled options. Partial free-hour policies for residents (one to three hours) slightly improved convenience but materially reduced projected revenue; premium weekend and evening rates produced better revenue performance in models. Staff emphasized the need for early measurement and real-time flexibility: "We need to see the performance of the Green Street deck so that we can validate our assumptions or change our tactics," Leatherman said.

Technology and enforcement: for the constrained layout of the Green Street deck, staff recommended a ticket-in/ticket-out model (physical ticket + pay station) as the primary approach, with app or license-plate options available where feasible. The city prioritized customer ease and education-first enforcement rather than punitive initial penalties.

Support for downtown businesses: recognizing downtown lunchtime turnover and small storefronts, staff proposed weekday daytime free windows (recommended Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–4 p.m.) to keep short-term parking available for customers and to avoid creating a daytime barrier for small businesses. To address employee parking needs, staff suggested converting the Green Street gravel lot to a monthly-pass model for downtown employees.

Peer-city context and next steps: staff compared Roswell to Woodstock, Alpharetta and Sandy Springs, which have used paid parking to increase turnover and support storefront vitality. The council was told staff would return with a formal policy recommendation at the first March council meeting so technology and operations can be implemented before the deck opens.

What’s next: staff will refine rates, implement ticketing and attendant workflows, stand up monitoring and KPIs (utilization, revenue, enforcement outcomes) and begin a near-real-time monitoring cadence after opening to adapt pricing and enforcement. No formal policy was adopted during the working session.