Newark’s Parking Advisory Committee delivered a set of short-term recommendations to City Council members at a meeting Monday.
The Parking Advisory Committee’s goal is to improve parking experiences in downtown Newark while being as close to revenue neutral as possible.
Committee chair and former Council member Robert Gifford said he and his team members are looking forward to problem solving.
“I know when I was on City Council, it was kind of hard to dig into parking and all the other things that were in front of you,” Gifford said. “So, we could recommend code changes, or we could propose infrastructure improvements, community concerns or public input we could bring to you.”
Gifford added the Committee can also promote new practices and help monitor the effectiveness of parking policies moving forward. Public comment was largely supportive of the recommendations.
Their short-term recommendations include surveying parking patrons, improving signage and app functions and putting 15-minute courtesy parking in place.
Members started meeting in April. They intend to continue developing the survey and start distributing it by September.
Newark-based Home Grown Cafe owner Sasha Aber is a parking committee member. She said she and the team have personally experienced the stresses parking creates in the city.
“This was the best council meeting that I have ever been to in my whole entire life, getting positive feedback about moving in a direction that's positive for downtown that will change habits of people,” Aber said. “... I really appreciate that employee parking is going to be a game changer. We're having trouble finding a daytime host because who wants to come for a few hours and give part of their check for a couple hours to parking?”
Council member Corinth Ford said employees are top of mind when thinking about parking issues.
“There has to be relief [for] them, because it can't cost people money to go to work,” Ford said.
Aber said fewer people visit Newark after COVID, parking cost hikes and repaving. She added she is eager to bring more ideas to Council after the initial short-term goals are addressed.
Council members were encouraged by the Committee’s findings. They had considered implementing a 15-minute courtesy parking period before but have had issues putting that in place.
“Getting systems to do what we want them to do, sometimes there's just a little more to it,” Gifford said. “So I think it's going to be pretty easy. So that's the good news. It's just hard to turn it right on at the instant we think about it… We just have to take a little bit of time to make sure we do it correctly.”
There are still three open seats with two-year terms on the Committee, which meets at least once a quarter.
