Retailers Get City to Adjust Parking Proposal

DENVER-The city has approved several modifications to parking meters in and around the Central Business District. All of the modifications are expected to be completed by June 15, although some new pay stations won’t be installed until next year.

The majority of the plan reflects the recommendations of a task force convened by Mayor Wellington E. Webb by local businesses, residents and neighborhood groups affected by meter changes and is vastly different than the one floated earlier this year by the city.

One proposal, to extend the meter hours citywide from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. citywide, was dropped. In downtown, meter hours will remain at the current 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. As recommended by the task force, there will be even more relaxed hours in outlying areas such as East Colfax Avenue, the Golden Triangle and South Broadway.

The city will increase meter rates in Downtown, including LoDo, from $1 per hour to $1.50 per hour.

Webb met with local LoDo business owners who say the increase in the meter fees was not as big a concern as the lack of convenience for visitors who would need to plug the meters with 12 quarters for the entire two-hour allotted time. At the business owners’ request, the city has agreed to replace meters in LoDo with parking pay stations similar to those that are being used in Larimer Square. The pay stations accept credit and debit cards as well as cash. Meanwhile, the city is urging visitors to Downtown to purchase the CashKey, a changeless computerized key that can be inserted into the back of a meter to pay for allotted meter time.

“The vast majority of meter modifications reflect the recommendations of the parking meter task force and the communities that would be impacted by meter changes,” Webb says. “We have tried our hardest to be accommodating to the concerns of the task force and believe that overall this plan is more fair and more reasonable for Denver as a whole.”