During a Jan. 23 special meeting held via Zoom, the Manitou Springs City Council approved a resolution establishing a concrete plan regarding immediate next steps connected to downtown parking if the Metropolitan District, a special district formed in 1989 to solve a downtown parking shortage, is dissolved. City Council voted to apply for dissolution of the district in February, and last month an El Paso County judge ordered a special election on March 3 for voters to decide the fate of the district.
“We’re here tonight because our constituents were asking for details now rather than after the election,” said Mayor Natalie Johnson. “We’re sort of responding to that request. Another point of clarity – this election is about a governmental entity transferring or merging assets with another governmental entity. It is not a steal. It is a legal and natural transfer.”
Councilors voiced support for the resolution. “I believe this resolution just takes the next logical steps of fleshing out, essentially, some of the programs and benefits that we think would accrue to the community, and in particular the residents, business owners, and the employees downtown,” said Councilor John Shada.
Newly elected Councilor Nate Nassif expressed concerns over the lack of a budget impact statement for the proposed resolution. “I’d propose to the group for discussion that this resolution be deferred until we have clarity around the budget impact – that we’re so focused on – along with the potential resource impact to Denise [Howell, City Administrator] and her team,” he said. “I don’t have clarity around that. I think that would serve us well to have it before we give this a green light.”
Shada clarified that the functional impact on the general fund in the budget would be negligible. “I just want to clarify that essentially this merger – should the voters basically approve it – puts funds into a city enterprise,” he said. “This does not directly affect our general fund. In fact, not one nickel of this is affecting our general fund except to the degree that the way we have structured the Mobility and Parking Enterprise is that we may use funds from that that have to do with micromobility, and transit, and streets and things like that. So that enterprise fund is able to support those functions, but we cannot take $1 that would be from a parking meter, or from any other thing that comes into us, and we cannot spend that at the swimming pool. We can’t give Denise a raise, okay? A well-deserved raise or any of those kinds of things. So the way the Enterprise is constructed, it is fairly well constrained.”
The resolution outlines the creation of a Downtown Benefit Parking Program within 30 days of the March special election. According to the resolution, the Program shall be for residents living on Manitou Avenue, Park Avenue, Canon Avenue, Ruxton Avenue, Lafayette Road, and Lovers Lane, who do not qualify for a current Resident Parking Program zone. The Downtown Benefit Parking Program shall also be available to downtown business employees. The Downtown Benefit Parking Program shall enable downtown residential permit holders to park in the City’s Canon lot free of charge. Residential permits shall be approved based on need by application. The Downtown Benefit Parking Program shall enable downtown residential permit holders to park on Manitou Avenue, Park Avenue, and Canon Avenue from 5 p.m. through 10 a.m. the following day free of charge in areas that are not already designated as RPP zones.
Employees of downtown businesses may obtain permits allowing them to park in the Canon lot free of charge from 5 p.m. through 10 a.m. the following day, as part of the Downtown Benefit Parking Program. They may also pay for permits to park in the Canon lot between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Business employee permits shall be approved based on need by application.
Progressive Parking, a tiered pricing strategy where parking rates increase the longer a vehicle remains in a spot, will allow for an additional hour of standard parking fees before increasing hourly to encourage downtown visitors to spend an additional hour downtown. Funding generated through the downtown parking lots will contribute to the beautification and maintenance of Mantiou Springs’ historic downtown.
