SANFORD, Fla. — At a regular work session meeting on Monday, the Sanford City Commission once again discussed whether to charge for parking downtown. Assistant City Manager Craig Radzak laid out the city’s 2020 study and parking management plan.
Under that plan, a little over 600 parking spaces would remain free in some public lots, while much of the on-street parking and some lots would be converted to paid parking, namely along Sanford Avenue, First Street, and Second Street. The city of Sanford currently provides over 900 free parking spaces in its downtown area.
However, no official plan or course of action has been proposed. Radzak noted that the city has already made significant additions to downtown parking infrastructure, including the purchase of three public parking lots and the leasing of numerous others.
The 2020 parking management plan did not recommend a payment system, whether by app, pay-by-plate, or meter. It also did not specify a price point for parking, although city staff currently estimate that adding paid parking could generate an annual income of $1–2 million.
The City Commission remained hesitant to impose parking fees before they knew what the income would fund for parking infrastructure improvements. One idea floated by Commissioner Claudia Thomas was to utilize parking fee income to fund a parking garage, however she said she first wanted to study if such a project would be “feasible”, and that it would be built in the right location.
The City Commission eventually decided to first explore alternative methods for managing high-traffic areas, such as establishing staff parking lots for local business employees.
They also advised staff to study how the two-hour maximums for on-street parking could be better enforced, a policy that currently exists between 9 am and 6 pm, but Commissioner Patrick Austin says is “not at all enforced.” Austin hopes that better enforcing that rule, and providing employee-parking, would allow traffic to “get moving” and “free up parking”.
Commissioner Claudia Thomas stated to Channel 9 after the meeting that “It might seem to some people that we’re just throwing the ball down the road, but we want to make the best decision we can for our constituents, and for us given our budget.”
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