Bellingham seeks to raise parking fees and add paid parking to a new part of town
Bellingham is considering changes to the hours for street parking downtown — doubling the hourly price, increasing the price of tickets and adding pay stations in the Fairhaven shopping district.
Hourly parking fees would rise from 75 cents an hour to $1.50 an hour, according to information about the proposal at the Engage Bellingham website that the city uses for public comment.
Current paid parking hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday, and the proposed new hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Parking would remain free on Sundays and city holidays.
Fees have not changed since 2008, and the city has been considering new fees and hours for several years.
Parking revenues pay for downtown improvements, including winter holiday decorations, flowers in summer and weeding of garden beds.
“Monitoring Bellingham’s business districts has shown that the rules for parking on public streets need to be adjusted to address community goals to continue to support a vibrant local economy,” the city stated at Engage Bellingham. “The proposed changes will also result in additional financial support for enlivening and beautifying the business districts.”
Parking fees aren’t aimed at creating a funding source, but rather at ensuring there’s adequate parking by creating turnover, according to previous Bellingham Herald reporting.
“Paid parking and time limits help encourage saving on-street parking spaces for customers and visitors by creating more turnover,” the city stated at Engage Bellingham. “Meanwhile, parking garages and permit lots are available — at a significantly reduced rate — for employees and others seeking longer-term parking.”
In addition to doubling the hourly rate for parking and adding meters for Fairhaven, the City Council will consider:
▪ Progressively more expensive parking fees, or “demand” parking.
▪ Fines for an expired meter will rise from $15 to $41, matching the price of a parking ticket at Western Washington University.
▪ A tire-booting program to collect overdue fees and fines.
A public hearing on the proposed parking changes is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 25.
City Council members will consider the measure at meetings in November.
If they are approved, pay stations for the PayByPhone app used elsewhere in the city will be installed in Fairhaven from December through March and enforcement of the proposed changes would start in spring 2022.
New fees for Fairhaven were the result of discussion and studies by the Fairhaven Parking Task Force, the city said.
In its final report in 2015, the task force said that fees can reduce demand by 20% to 40%.
“Parking-management strategies can also help achieve a community’s transportation goals by providing motorists with economic incentives for choosing other options to single-occupant vehicle travel,” the report said. “At the same time, these strategies can provide funding to improve conditions such as pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and resources to expand parking capacity.”
