Glendale Public Parking Rates to Rise After Holiday Season

The cost of parking in city lots and on downtown streets in Glendale will quadruple beginning in February, when new rates approved by the City Council this week take effect.

The council voted 4 to 1 Tuesday to approve the city’s first meter rate increase in the downtown in 10 years, but delayed its implementation until after the holiday season at the request of downtown merchants. Councilman Carl Raggio cast the dissenting vote without comment.

Parking meter rates will jump from 5 cents to 20 cents an hour in parking lots and from 10 cents to 40 cents an hour at street meters.

The rate increase for the city’s 1,755 metered parking spaces in the downtown is expected to add $400,000 a year to the city’s parking fund. Public Works Director George A. Miller said in August that about $2.2 million is in the fund, but more is needed. The parking fund is used to pay for maintaining present city lots and to build parking facilities.

City Traffic Engineer Ken Johnson said the rate increase is part of an overall plan to unsnarl traffic congestion and parking in the downtown redevelopment area. Johnson said the increase will induce more car pooling and encourage employees of downtown businesses to park in private lots rather than in the less expensive metered spaces in city lots and on downtown streets.

The council approved the increase in August, but reconsidered after a parking commissioner and merchants asked more time to study the issue. Merchant representatives said the combination of higher parking rates and extensive downtown construction would discourage customers from shopping in Glendale during peak season.