Changes to downtown parking are underway. A press release from The City of Auburn is below with all the details on these new downtown parking regulations.
AUBURN, Ala.- The City of Auburn has collaborated with the Downtown Merchants Associations and the community to refine changes to downtown parking regulations to make parking more available in downtown Auburn.
To improve parking conditions in downtown Auburn, the following projects are underway or have been completed:
· The East Glenn Avenue Parking Lot has opened, which includes 88 free public parking spaces within a 10-minute walk of Toomer’s Corner.
· A downtown employee parking lot is scheduled to open this month with 97 spaces for downtown employees.
· Auburn Bank’s surface parking lot on Magnolia Avenue, which has approximately 185 spaces, will be available for public use by Aug. 20. The lot will be open to the public Monday-Saturday after 6 p.m.
· Construction is underway on a 600- to 650-space parking deck fronting Wright Street on the former Baptist Student Center property.
· Downtown valet parking will be available Thursdays through Saturdays at times to be announced. Valet parking will be $1.00 per hour during lunch hours on Thursdays and Fridays and free on evenings and Saturdays.
The council approved the following changes at its Aug. 7 meeting, which will go into effect on Monday, Aug. 20:
· All metered parking will be limited to two hours to make parking more available by increasing parking turnover.
· Parking meter rates will increase to $1 per hour to help offset the cost of parking regulation enforcement, operation and maintenance. Mechanical meter rates will remain 25 cents until they are replaced by kiosks.
· Parking meter hours of operation will extend to 8 a.m.–6 p.m. Monday through Friday to encourage parking turnover and to provide consistency with free parking in the evening that will soon be available at Auburn Bank.
· Parking meter violation fines will increase to $20 for the first violation, $30 for the second and $50 for the third on the same day in the same parking space to further deter violations.
· The maximum accrued fine to tow a vehicle from a metered parking space will be lowered to $100.
All parking regulation changes are based upon recommendations made in the 2017 Parking Study, amended by input from stakeholders including the Downtown Merchants Association and business and community input. The goal of the changes is to be responsive to community input asking for more available parking downtown.