City Council Approves Change to Parking Rates, Enforcement Hours

At last night's Ferndale City Council meeting, Council unanimously voted to implement a new parking pricing structure as well as a modification of enforcement hours. With the approval, hourly parking rate will increase from fifty-cents to $1 dollar per hour for metered parking throughout the city, and parking enforcement hours will change from the current 10 a.m. through 9 p.m. to 11 a.m. through Midnight. The parking increase—the City’s first in more than fourteen years—and the new enforcement hours will go into effect in April of 2019.

“The City’s parking system pays for itself, which fourteen years ago consisted only of surface lots and coin meters,” said Joseph Gacioch, the City’s Assistant City Manager. “With downtown growth comes the need for more parking, and our proposed rate increase reflects that.”

This past weekend the City broke ground on The dot, a mixed-use parking development located on W. Troy St. The new development, which will replace the existing W. Troy surface lot, will bring 400 parking spaces, active street-level commercial space, and a pedestrian-oriented streetscape.

Gacioch said that great care was taken to ensure that the proposed increase would be just enough to meet increased parking needs.

“Even with the increase, Ferndale will remains the lowest parking rate of any comparable parking system in the Detroit metro area,” Gacioch said. “The goal is always to keep our prices as low as possible while still providing the best possible service.”

The City has worked closely with Ferndale’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) staff and Board of Directors on the proposal. The DDA Board voted to approve the rate increase and enforcement time adjustment at their Jan. 10 meeting.

“The DDA Board was supportive of the new rate structure and enforcement hours because they align with the overall plan for downtown parking improvement,” said Barry Hicks, Executive Director of the DDA. “After listening to the business community, which asked for more parking, better services, and options for their customers, the changes make sense.”

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