The Salida City Council (SCC), during its regular session on February 6, held two public hearings: the first on Ordinance 2024-02, approving an agreement with Interstate Parking Management (IP), which passed upon second reading.
The SCC’s consideration of Ordinance 2024-02 started with staff reports. “This ordinance would enable IP to work with city staff on implementing a parking program for the city,” City Administrator Christy Doon said. She reviewed the elements of the discussion with IP from the February 5 work session, including the establishment of parking zones, some paid, and some time-restricted but not paid.
“The [downtown] parking lots are paid for by the city but not owned by the city,” Doon continued: “The revenue coming from the parking program would help with expenses [related to leasing the parking lots]. The program is flexible – we can make adjustments to it.”
Mayor Dan Shore and member Dominique Naccarato asked Doon about the parking study that had initiated the parking program discussion. “In 2019, the city hired Walker Associates to do a parking study,” said Doon. “They found that there was a lack of parking turnover downtown, along with an unsustainable amount of surface lot parking. The only parking the city owns is on the streets, with limited long-term parking spots.
“The report recommended that the city begin to expand the amount of parking – by 2025, there should be 1,200 parking spots; there are only about 900 now.”
Proposed Salida Parking Zone Map. Image courtesy of the City of Salida.
Doon said that along with recommendations for how to add more parking spots, the report also recommended “identifying a more sustainable income stream from parking”: in other words, paid parking, with permit parking for residents.
While public comment fell largely into the “anti-paid parking” camp, opposition to the idea took several different forms, often in the form of what the speakers termed a wish for “creative solutions.”
Some citizens hearkened back to the days when Salida’s downtown parking meters were ripped out by the roots. They took the SCC to task as “newbies” who were somehow missing the essential point that Salida was “different” from literally every other mountain community that had ever instituted paid parking.
One of the “creative solutions” proposed was the construction of a parking garage downtown. Another suggestion was designating the parking lot behind Marvin Park as a place where downtown employees could park for free, possibly with a shuttle to get people back and forth; or parking lots constructed on U.S. 50 with bike stations so that people could bike to downtown.
Jim Miller, saying “I’m a citizen and I’m here to help the government”, criticized the IP agreement outlined in the ordinance as “half-baked”. He suggested that a working group be put together to study the parking issue and make recommendations.
Not all of the citizen comments were against the proposed IP agreement. Wayles Martin, referencing the leased parking lots downtown, asked: “If we lose those parking lots [to other development], what do we do? Paid parking is a way to build up a fund to deal with building something – this is a solution.”
“I just wanted to add one thing I heard at the work session,” said Salty Riggs. “STRs are telling people to park in the Touber Building parking lot. There was only one parking space open when I went there the other day. The parking lot at the Touber Building should be reserved for Touber Building business – I would like us to at least resolve that issue.”
“Realistically, a parking garage would cost about $100,000 to $200,000 per space,” said Community Development Director Bill Almquist in response to citizen comment. “It’s not a cheap thing to do.”
“I do appreciate the comments about being more creative. That is definitely something that we think about,” said Doon. “I appreciate the Marvin Park parking lot comments. There is quite a bit of use there doing the summer. This is not a program that would install parking meters [downtown]. There would be kiosks that are solar-powered. You can use a phone app. Enforcement would be geo-fenced [by zone].”
With regard to concerns about public notification Doon added, “I have been to What’s Up Salida meetings, I have brought this up to the citizens there – if you are not signed up for the Salida Standard, do that.” To the suggestion that the space at First and D Streets be turned into a parking lot, she said, “It is required that it be workforce housing – turning it into a parking lot would violate the law.”
The D Street Apartment complex rubble, waiting to be hauled off to the Chaffee County landfill. This space is not intended for parking. Photo by David Ramsdale.
Shore asked if the Council had any more questions. Suzanne Fontana asked about the three parking lots the city currently leases: “How long are the leases? Can we purchase them?”
“They are annual leases,” replied Doon. “We have asked for longer-term leases, but the owners aren’t interested. Then there’s the railroad [yard], where half the parking lot area is up for sale.”
“Do we have a plan to get to the 1,200 parking spots indicated in the parking study?” asked Fontana.
“There’s very little open space left downtown,” Almquist pointed out. “As to the Marvin Park parking lot, we did have a shuttle going downtown during FIBArk and there was zero use.”
“I have an unconventional perspective,” said council member Harald Kasper. “I don’t think we have a real parking issue. If the Marvin Park parking lot is empty during FIBArk, there’s not a parking problem. I think it does make sense to do paid parking in the lots downtown. I have heard that this plan is half-cooked, and that is true, but that’s because we need [IP’s] expertise to help make a plan.”
“We already do have a two-hour limit on parking downtown, it just doesn’t get enforced, or it’s enforced intermittently,” said Naccarato. “We have the opportunity to do a parking agreement to get the enforcement aspect done. [The plan] is not half-baked, we’re still making the recipe – and the public can help with that … oh, and I’m not a newbie either. I’ve lived here for 48 years.”
“I want to share a vision,” said Justin Critelli. He referred back to the Mumford and Sons “Gentlemen of The Road” tour stop of 2015, which took place out at Vandaveer Ranch. “20,000 people moving between U.S. 50 and downtown … nobody complained about parking with 20,000 extra people in town.
“We spent a lot of money on the new fire station,” he added. “Now we are going to go into the blame game if sales tax revenues go down. I don’t think the timing is good for making decisions about downtown now … so I have a hard time supporting this [proposal].”
“We are spending a lot on parking lots right now – that isn’t sustainable,” argued Alisa Pappenfort. “Does everyone love free parking? Yes – but there’s no such thing as a free lunch. It’s a pay-as-we-go society – nobody wants to pay for parking, but we have to.”
Western portion of public parking across the F Street bridge in Salida. The currently “free” lot is leased from the Union Pacific Railroad. Note “For Sale” sign in background. Merrell Bergin photo
“I really like the idea of creating a working group to discuss this further,” said Shore. “I also like the idea of putting paid parking in the lots that we pay $135,000 for a year – so start there and let the working group work on it further.”
“There’s been a lot of money going out and now this is a way of getting money coming in,” Aaron Stephens concluded. “Right now this is just a decision to start talking with IP. I don’t think we are moving too fast here.”
Pappenfort moved to approve Ordinance 2024-02, with Naccarato seconding. The motion passed with Critelli’s being the sole “Nay” vote.
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