New Parking Management Program Being Considered for Provo City

Proposed Provo City Code Chapter 9.90 is being considered at the November 16, 2021, Provo Municipal Council meeting. On-Street Parking Management (OSPM), if adopted, will create a new parking management tool for Provo City. This would be an addition to current parking management tools the city already uses, such as permit parking areas.

Chapter 9.90 creates the structure for future parking management areas to be created and enforced through a paid-timed parking system. Charging for parking is certainly not a popular idea, as was seen in public input on a recent Open City Hall survey, but the active management of on-street public parking is needed to preserve the benefits and discourage the abuse of this public resource.

Key components of Chapter 9.90

●     Parking on a public street within OSPM zones may be restricted by either of the following parking management strategies:

○     Paid timed parking or

○     Paid timed parking with optional permits

●     Vehicles that are parked in a timed parking zone must pay the established rate.

○     Timed rates will be market driven; high enough that parking spots are regularly freed up, but not so high that on-street parking is not being utilized fully.

○     Payment would be made through a mobile app. City staff are working on options for drivers without a mobile device.

●     Vehicles with valid permits are exempted from the timed parking rate in that OSPM zone

○     Permit holders pay for one year of access to an OSPM zone rather than paying the timed rate.

■     To obtain a parking permit, the permit holder must prove ownership of, or residence at, a building with frontage along the OSPM zone with a maximum limit of two permits per property/occupant.

●     The boundaries of all OSPM areas shall be shown on an official On-Street Parking Management Area Map adopted by the Municipal Council.

What Chapter 9.90 does not do

●     Create the actual OSPM zones.

○     The process for creating an OSPM zone is detailed in Chapter 9.90 but the actual designation of a zone will need to brought to the Council for a vote of approval.

○     Chapter 9.91, creating an OSPM zone in the Joaquin Neighborhood (just south of BYU campus) is currently being drafted. A Town Hall about this proposal will be held on November 18 at 6:00 pm in the Council Chambers.

●     Regulate parking on private property.

●     Guarantee a specific parking space for OSPM permit holders.

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