Poulsbo council weighs hybrid paid-parking plan after years of study

Council members spent the longest portion of their Feb. 12 workshop debating a proposed downtown paid-parking program that staff said could be implemented in phases as early as summer 2025 or deferred to 2026. Planning and parking staff summarized two years of committee work with Walker Consultants, outreach to downtown businesses and the historic-downtown association, and preliminary enforcement and signage plans.

"The number of spaces proposed for paid parking are 274 or 44% of the total of the city owned spaces," Heather (planning staff) told the council, laying out the scale of the proposal and the consultant's occupancy findings. Council members repeatedly returned to enforcement as the linchpin: whether to rely on existing police enforcement, hire a contracted technology-driven enforcement service, or use in-person attendants. Public comment at the start of the meeting urged enforcement of existing time limits rather than immediate rollout of paid parking.

Supporters argued that a modest charge (the draft model used $2 per hour) and technology-based enforcement would free up short-term spaces, create turnover for visitors and customers, and generate modest revenue to fund future parking capacity. Critics warned about harming small businesses and asked for exemptions or grace periods for seniors and low-income residents. Several council members said they favored moving a staff resolution forward so specific details—days, hours, grace rules, employee-permit numbers and enforcement contracts—could be resolved at a subsequent meeting.

Staff will return with a draft resolution and additional modeling and outreach results for council consideration at an upcoming meeting, with Feb. 19 and March 5 discussed as candidate dates.