Municipal News & Jobs

As Wichita’s downtown paid parking plan has faced added heat in recent weeks, backers of the plan continue to say that the city is well behind its Midwest peers in the area of a coherent parking approach supported by modern technology. Omaha, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Kansas City and Des Moines are among those highlighted by city officials as being ahead of Wichita. “The parking management systems that are in place are not hindering development,” said Anderson, who served as Omaha’s deputy chief of staff for economic development prior to moving to Wichita in 2022. “In fact, there’s a cultural norm, a cultural expectation in a lot of these other communities, that it’s a given.” Hannah Adeponu, Omaha parking and mobility manager, indicates it wasn’t necessarily an easy route to get where the city is today. More than a decade ago, she said Omaha struggled with effectively managing parking across two separate departments, so it created a new parking division and embarked on a path of more enforcement and sophistication. “There were some times there where it was a struggle,” said Adeponu, who joined the division in 2018. “I think that that’s probably what everybody sees, because you go from, ‘I can park anywhere for however long I want, and I don’t have to pay for it,’ to ‘now I have to be more attentive.’” Adeponu said the predecessor in her current role, Ken Smith, spent considerable time communicating with businesses and the community about the value of a new approach to parking downtown. “I think it was within the first three years, the division turned itself around and became profitable,” she said. “It no longer needed to be supported by the general fund and additional dollars being pumped into it, and it was able to pay for all of the maintenance and the things that needed to be done in order to operate the system.” In recent years, Omaha has been able to overhaul its parking technology downtown — moving to a multi-space meter system, with some similarities to the kiosks being discussed in Wichita — and has been able to adapt its fee structure to user feedback and habits. “Something really positive that has come out of this parking and mobility management in Omaha is, because it is now self sustaining, additional dollars and funds can be put back into economic development of the community,” Adeponu said. Anderson said he sees a similar economic growth benefit if Wichita’s parking plan is implemented, and that it could be another draw to the core beyond incentive packages. “To also come alongside that and say we have a robust parking system that now we can respond to the demands and the needs associated with parking,” he said, “man, a city like Wichita could become even more competitive in attracting and retaining businesses in downtown Wichita because of a tool like that in our toolbox.” While not considered a peer city with its much smaller size, in Lawrence, Kan., there’s additional perspective on parking around fees and technology. That city has been used to downtown paid parking for years, Lawrence parking manager Brad Harrell says. But Harrell adds that the city’s low fees have hampered it. Even after it raised rates in 2021, fees now stand at $1 an hour on short-term meters and just 20 cents an hour on long-term meters and $2 a day on parking garages. Parking rates have “really handcuffed” his department’s efforts to further advance technology and customer service, he said, and there is now around $1 million in deferred maintenance in city-owned parking garages. “We literally can’t afford to keep the lights on,” said Harrell, adding it’s likely another fee increase could be requested as soon as next year. “That is the true statement in our parking garages. Our rates in the garages do not adequately fund half of our utility costs annually of those facilities.” That said, the new parking technology Lawrence has been able to add in recent years has allowed it to better assess its parking ecosystem thanks to real-time data, according to Harrell. “It’s really allowed us to make educated decisions as it relates to parking, parking durations, parking times and enforcement, hours and things like that,” he said. “It’s been tremendous.” While parking plan backers in Wichita have often highlighted comparisons to other cities as reasons to move forward, some small business owners and others have pushed back on those points. Mayor Lily Wu — who has said she sees a need for more community engagement before the parking plan is implemented — says Wichita is a “very car-centric” community which should be factored into the path forward. “I think we can’t compare ourselves with other major communities,” Wu said. “We’re very Wichita, and we’re going to have to find a Wichita solution.”
Source: Wichita Business Journal

Following public backlash in August to the city’s previously approved plan to implement more paid public parking throughout Wichita’s core, from Old Town to the Delano District, the City Council moved to delay the purchase of equipment tied to that plan. A Sept. 10 Council meeting is set to include a city staff update on the plan, including the latest on public feedback and alternative options to pay for downtown parking infrastructure needs. Caught in the uncertainty are business owners and operators. Some say increasing the prevalence of paid parking could deter customers from visiting downtown. “In this economy that we’re in right now — with all the costs that are going up — I think people just fear that this is another thing you have to pay for, and people just won’t come,” said Byron McSwain, who recently opened Greater Grounds Coffee & Co. at 922 E. Douglas Ave. “That is my fear.” Others — including those leading Wichita’s economic development efforts — say a new approach to downtown parking is critical as the city prepares for an expected boom from the under-construction Wichita Biomedical Campus. “We’ve got the biggest economic activity coming ever in the history of downtown Wichita,” said Alan Banta, veteran Wichita businessman, developer and longtime member of the Downtown Wichita board. “You can’t have 3,000 students and a $300 million investment in the center of Wichita and not have a parking plan.” City officials say the parking fund is not on a sustainable path to support the maintenance needs of garages, surface-level lots and street parking in the core, let alone needed security upgrades and modernizing parking infrastructure — much of which looks firmly entrenched in the 20th Century. “What we’re doing now isn’t working,” assistant city manager Troy Anderson said.
Source: Wichita Business Journal