STARKVILLE — If you walk around downtown Starkville, you can see a reminder of the past and, perhaps, a glimpse of the future.
During Friday’s work session, Starkville’s Board of Aldermen listened to a presentation from Sherry Fountain of San Diego-based IPS Group Inc., one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of parking meters.
IPS developed the first parking meters that accepted credit cards in 2005, and today offers meters that accept payment by coins, credit cards or phone app. Because it is a programmable system, rates can be adjusted to provide free or discounted parking on certain days.
The technology is new. The concept of parking meters is not, as a tour of downtown will confirm. All along the sidewalks, you’ll find the remnants of parking-meter polls, sheered off at the level of the concrete.
It’s no small irony: The meters were removed to lure people downtown as malls and shopping centers in outlying areas began to draw customers away.
Today, the meters are going back up in many cities as an effort to lure those shoppers back.
“I know you guys have been looking at parking for a while,” Fountain said. “I’ve had phone calls from people in Starkville for probably the last six of seven years who are interested in ways to manage parking better. Hopefully, we’ll address some of that today.”
Installation would cost $700-900 per meter, depending on the type of parking meter, Fountain said.
But Vice Mayor and Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins and Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn expressed reservations even as Fountain began her presentation.
“Over my 26 years on the board, there have been questions about downtown parking,” Perkins said. “In the past, we’ve always resolved the matter. We have a downtown parking officer. If there is an issue about downtown parking, we can increase the number of hours for that parking officer. Why are we looking at meters? What about the cost of the meters and the upkeep of the meters? This always seems to come up from time to time, but we’ve always managed to do this without meters.”
Mayor Lynn Spruill responded by saying Fountain’s presentation was simply informational.
“There has been dialogue about this,” Spruill said. “I think information is always good for us to consider. I think we have an obligation to look at all kinds of ideas.”
Oxford’s story
Robyn Tannehill, the mayor of Oxford, is familiar with both the pros and cons of adding parking meters.
For years, Oxford’s popular Square had serious issues with parking.
“There were just far more demand for free parking than what was available,” she said. “For us, it was really an issue of employees parking on the Square and staying all day long. There simply wasn’t anywhere for visitors to park.”
In 2013, the city approved the installation of parking meters. In September 2014, 200 meters around the square became operational. The city has added another 99 meters since.
To pay for the meters, Oxford borrowed $350,000 on a five-year loan.
Most of the meters are double-meters, or two meters on one poll controlling two spaces.
Since 2014, the city has collected $3,423,502.41 from the meters and $1,470,228.60 in revenue after expenses. That revenue is going to a new $12 million parking garage, which will open this September. On average, the city earns $38,000 in revenue after expenses each month.
Jeff Howorth operates Square Books, a fixture on the Square for the past 30 years. He, too, was concerned about how the meters would affect business, even though he understood the motives for the move.
“It’s like a lot of other things, some good and some bad,” Howorth said. “The good thing is, we had a real parking problem. We just didn’t have enough space. It was all taken up by employees of the businesses on the Square, plus a lot of office workers from the courthouse, city hall.
“We used to have a guy that went around marking tires, but people would just run out and move their cars every two hours,” he added. “It wasn’t very effective.”
After five years, Howorth said he believes the meters have been a success.
“As a business owner, I want my customers to have a place to park,” he said. “I like (the meters). You can usually find a place to park. It’s a lot better than before.”
Tannehill said the city understands there is a delicate balance to maintain.
“You have to have a place for employees to park, too,” she said. “I hate the idea that those employees would have to pay to park. Our survey showed us that there are 900 people who are working on those four blocks. So we’re in the process of opening up more free parking. There will be some free employee parking in the new garage.”
Otherwise, she said, metered parking has proven to be a success in Oxford.
“We came into this understanding that people want convenient and free,” she said. “Sometimes, those don’t always go hand-in-hand. I think we’ve found a good solution.”
Alderman reactions
Ward 3 Alderman David Little said he had mixed feelings about the idea.
“I know personally, if I’m going to a restaurant downtown for lunch I know I have to be there by 11 a.m.,” he said. “If I get there at noon, I know I’m not going to find a place to park.
“On the other hand, I worry (if) the cost is reasonable enough for people who come downtown,” he added.
Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver said he likes the idea of parking meters in the Cotton District.
“That property has continued to increase with the addition (of) apartments,” he said. “It’s going to be a real challenge for places that don’t have a lot of off-street parking.
“Quite frankly, I don’t think parking should be free in those areas,” he added. “How far you want to extend (paid parking), whether it’s to downtown or not, I don’t know. But it’s something we’re going to have to think about and see what solutions might be out there.”
Fountain said the ideal situation is to have two vacant parking spaces per block at any time of the day.
She said the hourly rate should be 75 cents to $1.
“Anything less than that, you’re treading water or losing money,” she said. “That’s also usually enough to get employees to move over to a parking lot that’s been designated for them instead of parking out in the front door of the business.”
Fountain said she understands that people have reservations about paid parking.
“Everyone thinks parking should be free, clean, safe and available,” she said. “That’s not the case. … Parking is government expenditure. It’s government property and the city is having to pay to keep clean, available and safe.
“Somebody has to pay for it,” she added. “Not everyone uses the parking spaces, so why not get the people who use them to pay for the upkeep on them?”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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