As Meadville City Council considers meter rates, parking garage maintenance and the future of downtown parking generally, one landlord is hoping to continue a one-of-a-kind free parking arrangement that he negotiated for his tenants with former city officials.
Under the arrangement, residents of apartments at 962 S. Main St. have obtained city-issued parking passes for more than five years, property owner Mike Wood told council last week. The passes are valid for metered spots nearby, allowing the residents to park in the designated spots for free during the day rather than feeding the meter 25 cents for each hour of parking, Wood said.
Three passes are currently in use by four residents of the building, but Wood recently learned that tenants using their passes had been told by city parking staff that they would be ticketed.
City Manager Maryann Menanno told council the residents had been given a grace period until June 1 to allow them to make other parking arrangements. The passes in question are the only ones of their kind, according to Menanno.
“I’m going to lose tenants. I’m going to lose income. I’m going to be limited to only taking on tenants that don’t drive — that don’t have a car,” Wood told council regarding the potential consequences of ending the free parking arrangement. “To me, this is a good arrangement not just for me, but for any resident in the city. Like Andy pointed out, people that live in the business district get penalized just because they live a couple of blocks away from somebody else.”
Wood was referring to former City Manager Andy Walker, who he said came up with the parking pass solution approximately seven years ago. The passes were issued directly to the tenants, Wood stressed, and neither he nor his business were involved with the passes being renewed. Wood owns Pizza Villa, which occupies the first floor of the building where the upstairs units are located. Walker resigned in 2021. In recent years, Wood said, the passes were renewed annually, which had not previously been the case.
The arrangement offered increased safety for tenants who might have to park further away without the passes, Wood continued, and also took advantage of parking spaces that were seldom used. While not incorporated explicitly into his leases for the units, Wood said he informs prospective tenants of the availability of the passes and that the leases were entered into with the belief they would remain available.
“I’d like to see that arrangement continue,” he said. Given the changing situation, he added, one tenant was already looking for a new place to live.
Councilman Jim Roha noted that none of the members serving on City Council today were serving when the arrangement Wood described was created.
“Prior to a few weeks ago when you gave me a call,” Roha said to Wood, “we didn’t even know that this issue existed.”
Transitioning what has been a unique understanding into part of the city’s official parking system could be challenging, according to Roha.
“If we start this program, then we’re going to have everybody in every business district wanting on-street parking at no cost,” he said. “If we start this, we’re going to have a real problem because there may not be enough spaces available and then there wouldn’t be any spaces for customers who patronize the various businesses.”
Picking up on Roha’s phrasing — “if we start this program” — Councilwoman Autumn Vogel pointed out, “It’s not a program that exists.” Continuing the arrangement, she added, would mean formalizing it and making it available to others. Such a possibility seemed to appeal to Vogel, though she acknowledged that engaging the larger challenges of parking for urban residents would not address the more pressing issues being faced by Wood’s tenants.
“I think long term we want to have more residential upstairs in downtown, right?” Vogel said. “We want to have second- and third-story apartments and places where people live.”
Menanno raised the possibility of converting the metered spots in question into reserved spots that could be rented by the tenants.
After nearly 30 minutes of discussion, council opted to table its discussion of the issue and return to it when additional input from City Planner Peter Grella, who was not at the meeting last Tuesday, is available.
The focus on the singular parking pass arrangement comes after city officials floated the possibility of doubling meter rates at a January town hall and as council awaits a structural assessment of the Market Square parking garage, with demolition — and the resulting loss of more than 200 parking spaces — among the likely recommendations.
Council meets today at 6 p.m. in the City Building, 894 Diamond Park. No parking-related topics are listed on the agenda. Among the items council members will vote on are a $199,000 change order for work underway at Huidekoper Park, an agreement with the company that owns Julian’s Bar and Grill to allow outdoor seating on a city street, and a contract with M&M Lawn Care of Cochranton to mow city-owned lots.
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