After four years of discussion – Roseburg city leaders are still struggling to decide how to handle downtown parking.
The city’s parking program, which includes a garage and street parking, has an ongoing deficit.
Previously, city staff have presented ideas and the company Roseburg contracts with to enforce existing parking rules, Ace Parking, has made suggestions. Most recently, a committee of volunteers appointed by the City Council made recommendations.
During Monday’s meeting, Roseburg Community Development Director Stuart Cowie told the city council that if they still have concerns, they should consider asking for outside advice.
"There are a myriad of different ways to have a parking program, and we've talked about a lot of them,” Cowie said. “The public has brought a lot of them, I think it may be now where you say, ‘let's look for a professional that may have different solutions than we would as staff, who are not parking professionals."’
Over the last several years revenue from parking enforcement hasn’t kept up with the cost of maintaining the city's more than 40-year-old parking structure and paying for a contractor, or city employees, to enforce the rules. Some areas of downtown are free to park at for the first several hours, and businesses have complained that people who work downtown take the spots in front of their storefronts, making it harder for customers to reach them.
Roseburg has discussed charging businesses a parking fee, installing kiosks or creating different types of permits for people who work downtown or own businesses.
For now, City Councilors agreed to continue parking discussions at future meetings.
