KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – After tabling proposed ordinances to expand parking, raise rates and extend meter hours downtown, Kalamazoo city commissioners will revisit the issue tonight.
Staff has now proposed revised ordinances that will permit the commission to vote on the proposals separately.
Commissioners could approve a plan to charge for overnight parking on downtown streets, setting the rates at $83 a month or $3 a night for visitors.
But it’s a proposal to raise meter rates and extend the hours that drew fire from commissioners at their last meeting, given all the road construction downtown.
Here are commissioners Quianna Decker and Don Cooney.
But downtown merchants support the proposals. Mayor Dave Anderson says the parking system is already running in the red, and road construction will be going on for the next 4 to 5 years.
City staff says their proposals will raise $300,000 more dollars per year, enough to cover the cost of providing free 90-minute parking and some maintenance projects in the ramps.
A proposal to set up parking kiosks on the Kalamazoo Mall is expected to go forward, regardless of what the commission does tonight.
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