Pay-to-park pilot test could be coming to the village

By Jim Newell

Review Editor

A pay-to-park parking system could be coming to downtown Lake Orion in the near future if a proposed pilot testing program is successful.

Village officials met twice this month with representatives from Municipal Parking Services (MPS) about the possibility of installing parking meters on the streets in downtown Lake Orion, said council President Ken Van Portfliet.

The meetings come at a time when Lake Orion officials are working to expand parking options in the village to accommodate the increased traffic to the downtown, and enforce the parking regulations.

MPS, a Minnesota-based company with area offices that specializes in paid parking monitoring for municipalities, would install the Sentry parking meters and CamSticks for free, maintain the meters and share the revenue from parking and violation fees with the village, 50-50.

Van Portfliet likes what he’s heard about the Sentry system. “Yes, it’s got all of the features we were hoping for.”

The meters use cameras to scan a license plate and record the time that the vehicle parked and when it leaves a spot, creating a digital and paper trail in case of an infraction.

The cameras on the parking meters/sticks can also help identity vehicles or people if there is an incident that police need to investigate. The meters/sticks also provide light along the sidewalks and parking areas.

Van Portfliet said if the village did pursue using the Sentry system, it would probably be with a combination of parking sticks and meters.

“I would not like to see the downtown have parking meter heads line the downtown,” Van Portfliet said, adding that one possible configuration would be a meter head and then three parking sticks.

“For me, the most important thing is that the software is flexible…it allows us to modify and adjust it in many different ways,” Van Portfliet said.

Some of the programmable options could include a grace period, so that customers can have an extra five minutes to get back to their vehicles if the meter has run out, and a cap on how long people could park at the meters.

Other options include giving discounts to veterans; deciding what hours are paid and which are not, such as after a certain time, like 6 p.m., parking would be free; free holiday parking; and parking fee forgiveness under certain conditions.

A key feature would be that people could also pay remotely from their phones (there is an app for that) or when they come back to the meter instead of paying when they first park.

“So, if it’s raining, or if a mother has kids with her and they need to run into a store, they don’t have to pay when they first park. They can pay when they come back, or by their phone,” Van Portfliet said. “It’s a good (parking) management tool for us.”

Customers would be able to pay for parking at meters by using coins, credit/debit cards or through their phones.

The first step would be a 30-60 day pilot test where MPS would install the meters/sticks on various locations to gauge the viability of the program.

“They would like to install some meters as a trial. We recommended three to four places (streets) in the village,” Van Portfliet said. “It will give everyone a good idea if it works and if it’s feasible for the village.

The meters also have touch screen features and can advertise businesses or events in Lake Orion.

Van Portfliet said if the village went with an MPS Sentry system it would likely be a five-year program.

The ultimate goal of the meters would be to help create turnover in short-term on-street parking and direct customers, employees and residents to the outer lots for long-term parking. The village has had an issue with employees parking in prime spots on street for long periods of time, spots that should have gone to customers.

“It’s pretty exciting, but there’s a lot of conversation that needs to be done yet,” Van Portfliet said. “There’s still a debate on whether there needs to be pay-to-park in the village. Some people don’t want to see pay-to-park, especially while M-24 (construction) work is going on.”

The village does not levy a road millage on residents for upkeep of local roads.

The village and DDA have also undertaken, in the past two years, efforts to expand parking options, repaving and restriping lots and entering into shared-use agreements with business owners.

While village Manager Joe Young said the goal of any pay-to-park system wouldn’t be to generate revenue, just enforce the parking guidelines,

With parking meters, the cost would also be generated by use and violation fees and would not be a tax on residents.

“We need the revenues for future maintenance,” Van Portfliet said, adding the village needs to pay for maintenance, paving and striping of the lots and street parking it owns.

The village does have long-term, 23-hour parking at the Children’s Park parking lot, the lot by the Art Center and the municipal lot behind Fork ‘n Pint. The municipal lot by 313 Pizza Bar and the lot on Anderson and Front streets are six-hour lots. On-street parking is limited to two hours in the business district.

Van Portfliet said he would not favor metering the parking lots right away, if at all, and would like to leave those lots free of charge. The parking meters would only be for on-street parking.

The village also has shared parking lot agreements with privately-owned lots, such as The Lake Orion Review, The Event Place and Caruso Chiropractic lots, for public parking after the posted business hours.

The city of Flint installed the parking system last year and has had success. Flint will receive an award, in part, for its parking system program and downtown improvements.