Motorists parking in downtown Kalispell can expect higher fines for parking violations, while permit holders will have access to all permitted lots owned by the city after the Kalispell City Council approved a slew of new parking regulations.
The Downtown Kalispell Forward Coalition commissioned a report for the city on parking practices and policy suggestions after residents raised concern over a supposed lack of parking downtown. With 2,410 total spaces downtown, and 406 of those in often underutilized city lots, coalition members anecdotally found that confusing signage, differing time limits, and employees playing “musical cars” in street parking spaces created a “perception of shortage.”
The coalition and the Parking Advisory Board forwarded a list of recommended a number of solutions to the council.
During Monday’s meeting, councilors approved several of the group’s recommendations. Parking fines currently set at $10 per infraction in two-hour limit parking spots will be raised to $20 for the first offense, a second offense will be charged $40 and a third offense within a year will be charged $60. Parking infractions related to safety will be raised from $10 to $50, and the boot fine will increase from $35 to $100.
For city permitted lots, residents will be able to buy a monthly $30 permit to access all city lots instead of applying for permits for specific lots. The Valley Bank Lot will stay included as one of the permitted lots after public comment from Mike Smith with Glacier Bank prompted councilors to postpone turning the lot into public two-hour parking, one of the recommendations by the coalition.
“Given the central location, it is going to be one of those lots that likely has high demand,” City Manager Jarod Nygren said.
Another ordinance councilors approved Monday night is a “rolling rule” that requires motorists to move their vehicle at least 600 feet away from their previous parking spot to avoid a citation in two-hour spaces. Councilors also removed a 30-minute parking space south of the public safety building on Fourth Street East.
“The ticket on the street needs to be high enough that people don’t just say, ‘oh it’s just a cup of coffee,’” Mayor Ryan Hunter said.
Nygren noted there would be a grace period while city officials work with partners like Downtown Forward to help inform the public about the changes.
The Kalispell Police Department oversees parking infractions and citations. In addition to council’s efforts to optimize downtown parking, the department has started the process of purchasing mobile license plate recognition (LPR) software to track parking. Kalispell Police Chief Jordan Venezio said the software would only be used to track parking, which has historically been difficult to enforce.
“We haven’t been able to enforce much in the past,” Nygren added. “Certainly, there’ll be some bumps in the road we may have to address. With the ability to collect data we’ll have the ability to make adjustments if we need to.”