TO: Mayor and City Council
THROUGH: Krishna Namburi, Interim City Manager
FROM: Kristin Retherford, Community, Planning and Development Director
SUBJECT:
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Modification of parkade parking permit fees for employees in the downtown parking district. Resolution 2025-17.
Ward(s): Ward 1 2
Councilor(s): Councilor Tigan , Nishioka
Neighborhood(s): CANDO
Result Area(s): Good Governance; Welcoming and Livable Community.
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SUMMARY:
summary
Resolution No. 2025-17 would modify the City’s Master Fee Schedule to expand the parttime employee parking permit discount at the Marion and Chemeketa parkades to all employees earning $25 or less per hour within the downtown parking district for six months beginning July 1, 2025.
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ISSUE:
Shall the City Council adopt Resolution No. 2025-17 modifying the City’s Master Fee Schedule to expand the parttime employee parking permit discount at the Marion and Chemeketa parkades to all employees earning $25 or less per hour within the downtown parking district for six months, beginning July 1, 2025?
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Adopt Resolution No. 2025-17 modifying the City’s Master Fee Schedule to expand the parttime employee parking permit discount at the Marion and Chemeketa parkades to all employees earning $25 or less per hour within the downtown parking district for six months, beginning July 1, 2025.
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FACTS AND FINDINGS:
Starting in July 2025, the on-street parking system in the Downtown Parking District will be modified with new pay stations. The new pay stations allow for payment of up to 12 hours of continuous parking, and the existing 3-hour free parking will be eliminated for all on-street parking. To pay for their parking, vehicle operators will be required to provide their vehicle license plate number at the pay station to generate an electronic record of their parked vehicle in the new system, and enforcement officers will enter the license plate number to verify paid time for the vehicle has not expired.
Currently, employees within the Downtown Parking District are not permitted to park on the on-street parking spaces. Enforcement has been challenging and many employees park on-street and move their vehicles to comply with the three-hour time limits for on-street spaces. This reduces the availability of parking for customers and other downtown visitors. With the transition to on-street paid parking, employees have been encouraged to obtain parking permits for the City’s parkades. Monthly permits for the City’s parkades range from $61/month for the Marion Parkade to $80/Month for the Liberty Parkade. The City currently offers a discount for parttime employees (defined as less than 25 hours a week), effective July 1, 2025 those rates are $31/month for Marion to $46/Month for Liberty.
Concerns have been raised that many fulltime employees will be unable to afford monthly parking permits. As a temporary solution while the paid on-street parking system is implemented, the proposed resolution will expand the parttime employee discount to all employees earning $25 or less per hour in the downtown parking district. Employees must provide a letter from their employer attesting that their hourly wage meets this requirement. This discount will be available only in the Marion and Chemeketa parkades. The Liberty parkade is currently at high capacity and only limited permits would be available for that garage. Pringle Parkade is outside of the downtown parking district and funded through permit revenue for that facility. Reductions in revenue for Pringle would negatively impact the general fund, so Pringle is not included in this proposal.
The expanded discount would apply for six months, through December 31, 2025. The six-month period will address the impact on downtown employees that may face a hardship to pay for a parking permit, give time for the City’s to assess the transition to the paid on-street system, monitor the financial impact of the expanded discount, and develop better long-term solutions.
Additional concerns have been raised concerning safety and security in the City’s parkades, particularly for employees who may work late at night and are concerned to park in the parkades. Currently, the City provides 24-hour monitoring of three parkades (Marion, Liberty and Chemeketa) at a cost of $410,000 for FY26. The current plan is to assess revenue from on-street parking and increase parkade security once that revenue is secured, thereby reducing this expense from the general fund. City staff will actively monitor security concerns and police call volume to determine whether additional security is needed during critical times. Adding an extra 8-hour shift, seven days a week, would likely cost an additional $140,000 annually from the General Fund.
BACKGROUND:
At the February 27, 2023 City Council Meeting, City Council directed staff to implement paid on-street parking in the downtown parking district.
Dana DeKlyen
Assistant Director of Urban Development
Attachments:
1. Resolution No. 2025-17.