Roseburg’s City Council voted Monday to replace its downtown parking meters with time-limited spots.
The move came during a larger discussion of potential changes to the city’s downtown parking program, which lost more than $160,000 last fiscal year.
The city says meter payments made up less than eight percent of that program’s revenue, while citations were more than 43 percent.
City councilor Andrea Zielinski said the current policies are discouraging people from spending money downtown.
“We get so many complaints from people who are getting cited,” said Zielinksi, “and all they want to do is enjoy the downtown, shop, have a good time.”
At Monday’s meeting, City Council opted to keep its contractor Ace Parking for the time being, despite criticism from some councilors.
Roseburg paid more than $240,000 last fiscal year for its contract with Ace, according to city data.
Meanwhile, the councilors tabled some potential changes for votes at a later date.
Moving forward, the council plans to discuss potential adjustments to parking permits, other payment strategies, and whether the city can switch to internal enforcement of its parking rules.
