St. Augustine City Commissioners are considering big changes to manage crowds and traffic during events like “Nights of Lights.”
Among the ideas are higher fees for the city parking garage and steeper fines for illegal parking.
They’re also proposing set parking for downtown employees to make sure workers aren’t scrambling for spots during busy times.
Two parking lots might be converted to permit-only, a move Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline says businesses have wanted for a long time.
“We all know a lot of the businesses just say, ‘Oh, employee, it’s on you,’ and we can do better than that. They can do better than that,” Sikes-Kline said.
City Commissioner Jim Springfield was also a fan of the proposal for employee-designated parking.
“I really like the idea of workforce permits for those lots for the employees. That’s one of the most difficult things that can happen for somebody that works downtown to try to get to work,” Springfield said.
The city is also considering raising the rate at the downtown parking garage from $20 to $40 or even $60 as a way to push more people to use the city’s free shuttle service.
The city has already said it plans to expand its free shuttle service to ease traffic, but some commissioners are concerned that raising rates might not be the answer because shuttle wait times in the past have been more than an hour for visitors.
Another change they’re considering is raising the penalty for illegal parking from $35 to $100 during the peak season.
It’s a plan... that has drawn mixed feelings.
St. Augustine Assistant City Manager Reuben Franklin thinks that’s a reasonable solution.
“I think that would be a huge disincentive for people parking,” he said.
But City Commissioner Cynthia Garris said she’s worried about how visitors will react.
“I’m getting emails about people whining about a $35 ticket and wanting to challenge it,” Garris said. “I know that people have confronted parking attendants in the past about a $35 ticket, so that concerns me if they realize that the ticket is $100.”
The city is also proposing resident-only parking zones during “Nights of Lights,” which is something communities there have petitioned for.
It’s not clear how that would be enforced just yet. Franklin said it’s a major effort that hasn’t been done before, but it’s something they’re exploring, whether for this year or in the future.