By Joe Bachman
Editor

STEVENS POINT — City officials were presented with options and ideas what to do about the future of parking in Stevens Point on Monday night, including kiosk and overnight parking.

According to city comptroller/treasurer Corey Ladick, the city saw an increased net revenue of $32,649 with the switch from a meter program to a kiosk program. From Sept. 2016 to April 2017, the city made $17,758 from meters alone, compared to a Sept. 2017 – April 2018 figure of $66,900.

A parking kiosk on Illinois Avenue.

An overwhelming 60 percent of residents paid for their kiosk parking via credit card at the kiosk, with 23 percent coming from the smartphone app, and 17 percent in cash. The best sources of revenue coming from the area of Franklin Street and Isadore, and in the area of Fourth Avenue and Reserve Street.

Ladick noted the importance of “utilizing modern technology to increase efficiency.”

“This has been going on internally with the help of a couple of alders, and with the help of every single person on city staff to address the comprehensive parking needs of the community.” said Mayor Mike Wiza.

Another subject of discussion was the issue of overnight parking. According to Assistant Police Chief Tom Zenner, the practice of calling in overnight parking to police will soon come to an end, due to an overload of calls to county dispatch.

In 2017, alone, the county handled approximately 9,855 requests for overnight parking, with an average of 27 calls per night. Once this practice comes to an end, this leaves the city with one of two options: either come up with a new system, or eliminate overnight parking entirely.

City officials have the ability to utilize online permits to issue overnight parking; such permits would come with a price to be determined. Snow emergencies would not apply to this potential practice. “Alternate side parking” is another option, where a vehicle would have to switch sides of the road once a day. This would prevent abandoned vehicles and would not be allowed in “no parking” zones.

Weekly, or monthly permits have also been proposed, with a three-day limit per permit to discourage long-term use.

No official decision has been made on the issue, and discussion on this issue is ongoing. City officials, and law enforcement would like feedback on the matter from residents going forward.

“We’re just putting the idea out there; soliciting feedback, and see where this takes us.” said Wiza.