One of the national best practices being discussed and promoted around the country is called a "Parking Benefit District". This is a program through which the city or town returns all or a portion of the parking revenue generated through meters or non-resident passes in an area to an entity representing the district for extra maintenance, security, beautification projects, etc. The parking benefit district concept can be applied in both business districts and residential neighborhoods.
In a business district, meters charging market rates for on-street parking would help ensure that some parking spaces would always be available, and the revenue from the meters would be returned, in whole or in part, to a Business Improvement District (BID), downtown association, or similar entity. [1, pp. 397-403] This has been done with great success in Pasadena, California, where two innovative parking policies have played a key role in revitalizing Old Pasadena, the historic downtown, which had become a run down retail slum. One was implementing implementing parking meters and returning revenues to the district, and the other was allowing sites without off-street parking to pay a fee in lieu of providing required parking. Before the district installed parking meters, employees parked in free curb spaces and moved their cars periodically to avoid the two-hour limit, so customers had trouble finding places to park. Despite fears of driving customers away, once the city agreed to return all meter revenue to the district, the businesses and property owners came to support the idea and agreed to the relatively high rate of $1 per hour and to operating the meters on evenings and Sundays. The city and BID established a parking meter zone with the same boundaries as the BID. When the parking meters were installed, the city borrowed money to pay for improvements, and used the meter revenue to pay off the debt. In 2001, the meters generated $1.3 million, $1,867 per meter. The total capital and operating costs for collecting the revenue amounted to $383 per meter. Including investment earnings and revenue from valet parking at meters, Old Pasadena collected a net revenue of $1.2 million, or $1,712 per meter. That revenue goes towards paying the annual debt service on the money borrowed for improvements, increased public services in the district (some of which are provided by the city), and funding for BID activities such as added sidewalk and street maintenance and marketing. The district has been transformed into a busy and desirable shopping district. [1, pp. 403-418]
In San Diego, where parking meters were already in place, the city reached an agreement with BIDs in the older commercial areas to return 45% of total parking meter revenue to parking meter districts. Although this money was previously going to the general fund, allowing districts to keep some of the money they generate through parking meters gives them an incentive to install additional meters, extend hours of operation, and raise rates (to the extent that those things help rather than hurt business), increasing total meter revenue. In addition, if business improves with better parking management and increased investment, the city will benefit from increased sales tax. Thus the revenue sharing agreement can mean a benefit for the whole city as well as the district. [1, pp. 418-427]
In Massachusetts, the use of parking meter revenue is governed by M.G.L. Chapter 40 §22A-C. These sections generally provide that the revenue may be used for expenses related to the meters themselves, acquisition and maintenance of off-street parking areas, and for parking and traffic control. Revenue from the meter receipts must be kept in a separate account and accessed through appropriation. Current state law does not allow for parking benefit district programs per se, but a municipality may be able to make an agreement with a neighborhood or district that some of the revenue collected from parking meters in that area would be spent (by the municipality through the appropriations process) on transportation-related maintenance, improvements, or activities in the area as specified under M.G.L. Chapter 40 §22A-C. Possibilities might include street and sidewalk repairs, maintenance, and cleaning; street lights; improvements to crosswalks; striping; parking enforcement; and traffic calming measures. Ideally the meter revenue would go into a revolving fund that could be appropriated for general parking and traffic management as well as for specific projects.
The other way a parking benefit district can function is as a modification of a residential permit parking program. Rather than simply prohibiting non-residents from parking, non-residents can be allowed to pay to park in the resident permit district during business hours. The municipality can limit the number of non-resident permits issued based on the number of spaces that are usually available during the day. This is unlikely to be popular with residents unless they benefit from it in some way, which is where the parking benefit district idea comes in. If the revenue generated from non-residents paying fair market value for a parking permit is dedicated to fund improvement projects or additional public services in the district, residents will see a value in allowing non-resident parking in a limited and financially beneficial way. The city can use the revenue to clean the neighborhood's streets and sidewalks more frequently, repair sidewalks, remove graffiti, plant trees, add traffic calming features, etc. Residents benefit from the improved services, non-residents are offered more parking options, and the city may be able to alleviate a parking crunch or forgo adding additional parking lots or structures. Neighborhoods where spillover problems are the worst would stand to gain the most.
Residential parking benefit districts can be adopted incrementally, one block or street at a time, at the request of the residents. When neighboring blocks and streets see the results, they may decide to ask for the program as well. The neighborhoods should be allowed to decide how many non-resident permits should be issued, preferably with the knowledge of how many spaces are usually available during the day. The hours of the non-resident permit validity can be set so that these vehicles must be gone by the time most people in the neighborhood return from work and look for parking. This type of program is most appropriate for areas that have some parking availability during the day and a nearby employment area or transit station generating demand for parking.
This type of parking benefit district program does not seem to be expressly regulated under state law, thus a municipality should be able to make an agreement with one or more neighborhood groups to allow a certain number of non-resident permits and dedicate part or all of the revenue towards projects in the neighborhood.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, June 6, 2007