Is Paid Parking the Solution to Snider Plaza’s Parking Crunch?

The University Park City Council discussed the thorny issue of Snider Plaza parking — a problem almost as old as the Plaza itself — during a Sept. 25 special meeting.

Council members considered increasing enforcement or implementing paid parking to free up spaces in the Plaza’s surface lot. 

About 230 of Snider Plaza’s parking spaces, more than half of the 435 available, are used by employees, according to an August 2023 survey. Another 192 employees park in the surrounding neighborhood.

Finding a workable solution to Snider Plaza’s parking crunch means providing employees with another place to take their cars, Snider Plaza employee parking task force chair David Rejebian told the council.

“It’s like you got a little piece of ground here with a bunch of bugs on it,” he said. “You want to get rid of them, so you throw a bunch of water on them, and they just go ‘swoosh.’ Well, where are they going to go? They’re going to the neighborhood, which then makes the people that live in the neighborhood more upset, probably, than they already are.”

Rejebian said that the task force tried to locate additional parking spots for employees, but was unable to find a solution that didn’t come at an additional cost. 

In April, it recommended a $3 per hour fee to park in the Snider Plaza surface lot, with no charge for the first 15 minutes. The money collected would fund the hiring of a parking management company and pay for employee parking elsewhere. Any excess income would remain in Snider Plaza. An advisory board would be created to oversee the parking program and help determine how funds should be spent. 

Task force committee member Dallas Cothrum, who has worked with Highland Park Village as president of real estate services firm Masterplan, called paid parking in Snider Plaza “the best bad choice.”

“In a perfect world, sure, the owners should pay for the parking of their people,” he said. “But they should have done that 100 years ago, and we’re just kind of stuck.” 

During the meeting, the council viewed a presentation from representatives of Parking Systems of America, a parking management company based in Dallas. The council has approved a contract with Parking Systems of America to discuss Snider Plaza, but has not committed to using the company’s services or spending any funds.

Council members asked questions about the need for paid parking, and the impact it would have on the Plaza and its merchants.

“I’m concerned it will hurt businesses,” council member Melissa Rieman said after the meeting. “I want to really think through it, because I have a lot of faith in the special parking committee.” 

Council member Phillip Philbin said after the meeting that paid parking would be “a shift for the city,” and one that had to be carefully considered. He emphasized that the council should work through all the ways of addressing the problem of employee parking in Snider Plaza before going to a paid parking model.