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Mesa will add downtown parking
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Mesa may spend $1.3 million so there will be enough parking for the Mesa Arts Center and other new major downtown projects.
The City Council on Monday unanimously approved a plan to build several "temporary" parking lots over the next several years with up to 765 spaces for $450,000. The remainder of the money will be used for lighting, signs and other improvements to existing lots and garages.
The largest will be built at First Avenue and Macdonald, where the canceled outdoor aquatics center would have gone, a block west of the arts center.
The council will need to approve each project’s construction contract separately.
There are about 5,000 spaces in city-owned lots and parking garages downtown. Of those, 2,300 are reserved for city employees and local businesses, and 2,700 are for customers.
The money for the new parking will come from parking permit fees and tickets.
Business employees who buy monthly parking permits also may see a 5 percent increase every two years for their spots, beginning this year. Currently, the fee is $30 for an uncovered space or $41 for a spot in one of four parking garages.
Some of the permit spaces are used by Mesa city employees who do not have to pay, but some may have to walk farther to work because their spaces could be relocated.
The plan also calls for shifting the burden of downtown parking enforcement from the police department to a private company.
City Councilwoman Janie Thom said she would not be in favor of shifting "police powers to a private contractor, similar to photo radar."
Mayor Keno Hawker said it would depend on exactly what the contracted employees would be doing, but "if we’re talking about tickets on the car-parkers, it’s almost a no-brainer."
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