Denver Strategic Parking Plan Update

In an effort to implement the goals of Blueprint Denver, the City’s adopted land use and transportation plan, the City and County of Denver has initiated a comprehensive review of the City’s parking system, with a special emphasis on parking regulation and management practices.  The Strategic Parking Plan will develop a framework for managing parking in Denver, recognizing the needs of drivers, pedestrians, business owners, and residents of Denver neighborhoods.  The plan will evaluate the applicability of innovative parking management strategies from other cities, recommend best practices for zoning requirements and design standards, and suggest new approaches to organizing partnerships and financing.

Purpose of the Project:  The 1967 Parking Code established many of the regulations that remain in effect today.  Now with a population of 573,000 and an employment population of 560,000, Denver’s guiding documents Comprehensive Plan (2000) and Blueprint Denver: An Integrated Land Use and Transportation Plan (2002) identified the need to update parking regulatory and management practices.  Parking regulation and management is at the forefront of Denver’s city-wide approach to strategic growth.

Goal of the Denver Strategic Parking Plan:  The City and County of Denver Strategic Parking Plan will provide a framework to manage Denver’s parking system. This comprehensive parking study will take into account the needs of drivers, pedestrians, businesses, and neighborhoods in Denver.  Public education and outreach will be essential to evaluating the parking needs of our community.

Opportunities to Participate:  Opportunities to participate will be provided throughout the development of the Strategic Parking Plan. The project team will host a series of public workshops to introduce the project, provide an overview of the process, and solicit your input on Denver’s parking issues and concerns. Information, updates and periodic surveys will be available on the project website to allow for convenient communication with the community. The project team will use the surveys to help prioritize important topics and obtain feedback.  Please get involved by telling Public Works what you think about Parking in Denver.  To learn more about the Strategic Parking Plan click here.  Use this link to take the Strategic Parking Plan Questionnaire.  To learn about dates and times for public meetings and watch recordings of past presentations please click here.  

Key Phases of the Denver Strategic Parking Plan: 

• Phase 1:  Public and Agency Outreach:  Public Workshops, focus groups and presentations are planned to gather input on the parking needs and issues of the Denver community.
• Phase 2:  Existing Parking and Policy Analysis:  Specific parking issues will be identified and analyzed in several types of districts in Denver. The project team will also review the parking policies currently implemented by Denver. This will allow them to structure a new parking policy which will optimize Denver’s parking resources.
• Phase 3: Parking Management Best Practices:  Research into parking management best practices will introduce innovative technologies, management techniques, and zoning strategies that make parking supplies more convenient and accessible for commuters, residents and business customers.
• Phase 4: Parking Partnerships and Finance Options:  The project team will research creative public and private financing opportunities.
• Phase 5:  Strategic Parking Plan Final Report: A final parking report will be submitted to the city with recommendations for implementing a comprehensive, city-wide parking policy that will support Denver’s community land use and transportation initiatives.

Motorists in the Mile High City now have a convenient, new payment option when parking in the Cherry Creek neighborhood.  The Pay-by-Phone parking alternative allows drivers to call in with their credit card information, allowing them to bypass the parking kiosks; however the kiosk payment option is still available.  The Pay-by-Phone option is available throughout Cherry Creek North at all kiosk-metered parking locations (1^st Avenue and 3^rd Avenue from Josephine Street to Adams Street).

Your Feedback is Needed

This six month pilot is designed to determine the impact Pay by Phone will have on customers, infrastructure management and Right-of-Way Enforcement.  Previously, we have heard concerns from drivers with small children that parking, walking to the parking kiosk and then back to the car is cumbersome and unsafe.  Hopefully, this pay by phone option will help ease some of that concern.  I strongly encourage drivers to provide Public Works with their feedback.  Public Works has established a brief survey at www.denvermeter.com aimed at collecting public opinion on this new option.  

How to Use Pay By Phone

• To use the service, motorists must first sign up for a free Pay by Phone account online at www.paybyphone.com or by calling Verrus at 1-888-480-PARK (7275).  Information requested will be the motorist's mobile phone number, license plate and credit card number.
• Once signed up with a free pay by phone account, users simply call the toll free number from their mobile phone and key in the location number that is posted on the meter or nearby signs and the amount of parking time desired.
• The appropriate total, plus a 35-cent service fee including the text message reminder cost, will be charged to their credit card.  A history of transactions is viewable any time the user logs into their account.

Reduce Parking Citations through Text Message Reminders The Pay by Phone system also gives citizens a way to reduce the chance of receiving a parking citation.  A text message reminder can be sent to the user’s phone minutes before their time expires, and parkers also have the ability to call back and add additional parking time remotely from any phone.