Updated Downtown Parking Enforcement Moving Forward
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WHEELING - Legislation to update the city of Wheeling’s parking code is expected to be introduced tonight before city council, bringing forth amendments that will address downtown parking where meters have been removed.
A new ordinance amending the city’s traffic code is scheduled to be introduced during tonight’s Wheeling City Council meeting, which is slated to begin at 5:30 p.m. The new parking enforcement program has been discussed at length over the past several months before the Rules Committee of Council.
City officials have noted that the updated approach to enforcement of downtown parking has been anticipated since sections of the state of West Virginia’s ongoing Downtown Streetscape Project have been completed. The refreshed configuration of downtown parking spaces do not include parking meters.
Designs for the $35 million Streetscape work called for the removal of old parking meters downtown. They were never intended to be replaced with new meters, but city officials have noted that overtime parking must be enforced in order to create turnover and availability of parking spaces.
According to city leaders, many of the new spaces downtown where meters have been removed are being occupied by people who work downtown, and they are occupying those spaces all day. This hinders access to downtown businesses by visitors who need to park for shorter periods of time.
New language in the amended ordinance addresses these issues and offers a new benefit to visitors downtown - free parking for a limited time. Designated time in certain areas will be posted depending largely on the nature of the adjacent businesses and the time needed for most visits by customers. Some spaces will offer free parking for 120 minutes, while certain others may offer 60-minute, 30-minute or even 15-minute periods of free parking.
To enforce this new meter-free concept, the city has purchased two new electric vehicles that have been equipped with Automatic License Plate Recognition Systems. This new technology will not only automatically recognize license plate numbers via mounted cameras, it will also mark vehicles’ parked locations and use a digital time stamp to monitor overtime parking.
If vehicles parked in these designated spaces violate the overtime parking rules, tickets will automatically be generated.
Those found to be in violation of the overtime parking rules will be subject to a $10 fine for the first recorded violation in a single day, a $20 fine for the second violation in a single day and additional $20 for each violation thereafter.
Some areas of downtown and other sections of the city where commerce is common - including parts of East Wheeling, Centre Market and other areas of Center Wheeling - will continue to have parking meters for now. Motorists can continue to feed these meters with coins or utilize the ParkMobile app in designated areas to pay for parking electronically. Visitors to the downtown area can also use parking garages.
If the new parking program proves to be successful, it may be expanded to other areas of the city where existing meters can be removed in the future, officials indicated.