City moves ahead with parking meter search

At today’s City Commission meeting, ten consecutive public speakers — comprised of both residents and merchants — painted a grim picture of downtown Sarasota following the installation of parking meters.

People just don’t want to pay for parking in Sarasota, they said. Shoppers would flock to other business districts without parking meters. The city would be deprived of its small town feel. The failure of a previous paid parking program in 2011 proves that it won’t work downtown. A $625,000 parking fund deficit could be addressed through other means, such as more stringent enforcement or a tax increase.

Above all, these speakers argued, businesses would suffer as the city experimented with a new parking management strategy.

“It seems like we’re making it harder and harder to shop, stroll and dine downtown,” said Ron Soto, president of the Sarasota Downtown Merchants Association.

Despite those comments, the City Commission voted 4-1 to move ahead with the pursuit of a paid parking system downtown. The vote authorizes staff to begin the process of searching for the meters that would ultimately be used in the city’s parking program.

Since May, Parking Manager Mark Lyons has been working with the city’s Parking Advisory Committee to refine the details of that parking plan. The group has drafted a preliminary footprint for the parking meters — confined largely to Main Street — and developed outlines for potential pricing and timing models.

Although paid parking could reduce the long-standing parking fund deficit, Lyons has presented the strategy as one that will benefit businesses and residents as well. At today’s commission meeting, he reiterated his belief that parking meters will increase turnover in downtown parking spaces and reduce congestion along Main Street as fewer drivers hunt for a spot.

He also argued the impact of a paid parking program would be relatively minimal, as only 11% of the parking spaces available in the downtown core would be metered under the current plan.

“It gives anyone the option to either go a block over for free parking, or to pay for parking,” Lyons said.

Soto, the owner of Soto’s Optical on Main Street, was one of several merchants who expressed strong opposition to the return of paid parking to downtown Sarasota. He suggested the meters would specifically harm downtown businesses, sending shoppers to other corners of the city without paid parking.

“This is going to cause an undue hardship for a lot of the businesses downtown.” — Ron Soto 

As a result, he suggested the merchants could pursue legal action against the city if the meters were installed.

“This is going to cause an undue hardship for a lot of the businesses downtown,” Soto said. “You attorneys understand the language I’m using, ‘undue hardship.’ The next question is — do we need to go ahead and hire counsel?”

Other merchants were not as strongly opposed to the theoretical implementation of paid parking, but said now is not the time to install meters. Speakers referenced issues associated with construction and homelessness, arguing paid parking would just be another factor discouraging visitors from going downtown.  

“I’m not saying don’t do it, but I think you need a better population to support it,” said Eileen Wallace, owner of Write-On Sarasota.

The commission was not swayed by those arguments. City Commissioner Suzanne Atwell fought back against the suggestion that the city is experiencing a uniquely inopportune moment for installing paid parking downtown.

“I have concerns about, ‘Let’s wait until we don’t build anymore.’” — Suzanne Atwell

“There’s always going to be something going on,” Atwell said. “I have concerns about, ‘Let’s wait until we don’t build anymore.’ I don’t know what that means.”

Both staff and commissioners suggested the problem with the previous paid parking program was with the meters themselves. Lyons said the city would aggressively vet any meters before committing to a vendor.

Vice Mayor Shelli Freeland Eddie was the only vote against moving forward with the search for paid parking equipment.

Although there are still many details associated with paid parking that need to be finalized, the majority of the commission remains committed to the return of meters.

“There is no free parking,” Commissioner Susan Chapman said. “It’s subsidized parking; we’re subsidizing it. The question is, how do we subsidize it?”