The parking garage for The Madison, which also includes public parking spaces, is nearing completion in downtown Greenwood. The city council approved public parking rates for the facility on Wednesday.
Daily Journal File Photo
Public parking fees for Greenwood’s new parking garage are now set ahead of its opening later this month.
The Greenwood City Council voted 8-0 with one member absent Wednesday night to approve parking fees for the new city-owned garage at The Madison. The 36,000-square-foot garage’s street address is 520 S. Meridian St.
Hourly rates for the garage start at $2 for up to two hours, increasing to $3 for two to three hours. The fees increase two more times for longer periods, with the maximum fee being $25 for 10 to 24 hours, according to city documents.
The fees were previously approved by the city’s Board of Public Works and Safety on Dec. 18, in a unanimous 3-0 vote.
A majority of the 354-space garage — about 275 spaces — is reserved for residents of The Madison. The remaining approximately 80 spaces, all located on the first floor, will be public parking, Greenwood Capital Projects Manager Kevin Steinmetz previously said.
As part of the project agreement for the parking garage, the developers of The Madison will pay the city a prorated amount of the operations and maintenance costs in exchange for the 275 reserved spaces, Steinmetz said.
City officials wanted to charge a rate for public parking at the garage to discourage people from leaving their cars parked for several days, which happens in the city’s other lots. The garage will have a higher overnight rate in those cases to help recover some of the operations and maintenance costs, he said.
The parking garage is nearing opening, with establishing the rates being one of the final steps. Security cameras and all of the equipment has been installed, City Controller Greg Wright told the city council Wednesday. Earlier on Wednesday, the city’s Board of Public Works and Safety approved a three-year contract for Denison Parking, Inc. to manage the garage.
The management fee Denison will pay for itself through the gross revenue for the garage. The contract is $15,000 for the first year — $1,250 a month. This will increase each year based on the previous year’s increase in the “Midwest Urban” Consumer Price Index. The remaining revenue from the garage will be given to the city, according to the contract.
During Wednesday’s city council meeting, member David Hopper questioned why the ordinance didn’t address what fee someone would pay if they lost a ticket. Wright said he assumed that the person would probably be charged the maximum fee, $25.
Hopper then presented another scenario; what if someone parked for a year and claimed they lost a ticket? Corporation Counsel Sam Hodson said the city has an overnight parking ordinance for city lots, so the car would probably be towed.
But Hopper questioned how the city could distinguish the guests who stay with people in the apartments from those who are just leaving the cars to sit indefinitely. Hodson said it was a good question.
Later, Hopper said that he didn’t want to hold up the ordnance, but the city does need to develop regulations for long-term parking. That would be something that the city could consult with Denison on, Wright said. Particularly, officials can work on with them how to track how long a car is parked there and towing procedures, he said.
Council member Steve Moan said he imagined Denison would have some redundancy built in to locate cars that have parked and had a ticket but hadn’t paid. Wright said he would get back to the city council with more information later.
The city council later unanimously voted to suspend the rules to push the ordinance through to second reading so the fees could be in effect by the time the garage opens. The hope is for it to be open before the end of January, Wright said.
AT A GLANCE
Greenwood Parking Garage Rates
Here’s a look at the rates approved for public parking at the new garage, 510 S. Meridian St.:
Up to 2 hours: $2
2 to 3 hours: $3
3 to 4 hours: $5
4 to 10 hours: $8
10 to 24 hours: $25
