COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Columbia City Council has approved increases to parking fees in the city that it says are needed to ultimately improve parking services in the town. But they made some added changes before passing it, including delaying when the start of the new enforcement will take place.
The council approved the change to the city's parking ordinance Tuesday afternoon on a 6-1 vote. The parking changes will go into effect on March 1, 2025, which was a change from the original proposed start date of January 1.
Among the key changes are an increase in fines for getting caught with the meter expired, That will now be $25, up from the previous rate of $8. On street parking will increase from 75 cents to $1.50. However, that's a smaller margin that the originally proposed increase to $2.
That increase dropped after the city got feedback from residents about the ordinance. The city went back and amended the ordinance in November, making that changes as well as several other adjustments.
For the first two weeks of the enforcement tickets that are issued will be given a zero dollar fine on them, in an attempt to let people know that the change is in effect without facing a penalty. The city will also not enforce parking on Saturdays except in Five Points after getting a request from business owners there to patrol that area.
Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann said in the days before the vote he talked to a mayor in another part of the country who made a similar change. He told Rickenmann it was necessary so that there was turnover in spaces throughout the day.
"He said we went from $8 to $25 too because we had to modify behaviors because when you just had it at $8 people would sit there all day, they started calculating that it was cheaper for them just to stay there then move and then it created problems for their retailers and their restaurants," Rickenmann said. "People weren't turning over, people even leaving it there for 24 hours."
Before the vote, the city heard from those for and against the changes. One business owner said she currently has to pay $800 a month for her employees to park in the city, and was concerned about the increase. Rickenmann said the city was going to work with all business owners downtown and in the Vista to see if they can utilize all available spaces, including some that may be vacant in some business parking lots, to help alleviate that problem.
The city said they'll use the money to modernize the city's parking services. That includes infrastructure improvements, maintenance, repairs, and added security cameras.
"What we are gonna do is and invest in the system, make it better and easier for people to use," Rickenmann said. "And I think at the end of the day, that's gonna be part of that growth that we want to see as we build up this downtown because the reality is we want 15,000 more people living downtown."
Here are some other changes in the ordinance, according to the city:
- Reduced owner occupant residential permits from $120 to $30 per vehicle (24-month period)
- Reduced owner occupant visitor permit from $48 to $24 per vehicle (24-month period)
- Increased the fire lane initial fine from $200 to $500.
Other notable items in the proposed ordinance include:
- 1st hour free in all City of Columbia parking decks
- Reduced on-street parking rate from $2.00 to $1.50
- No proposed changes to hospitality rooftop-only parking; $35/month
