Parking rate increase at 415 W Washington helps staunch meter expansion

The money has to come from somewhere. That’s the thinking behind a recent rate increase for parking on Ann Arbor’s 415 W Washington parking lot.The City Council approved raising the rates on the lot earlier this month as way of boosting parking revenue and filling holes in budgets. Had the city left rates at that level on that lot, it would have seriously looked at expanding parking meters or other parking restrictions further into the neighborhoods that surround downtown as a way to increase revenue.Parking meters and other restrictions have been creeping into the general downtown area for years. For instance, parking meters travel north along First Street practically to West Kingsley Street into an area that has a sprinkling of businesses but is dominated by residential housing. Limiting parking to a few hours is also common place for on-street parking spots in the Old West Side neighborhood. An expansion of the downtown-area parking web might be in store anyway. The city is looking for proposals to redevelop the 415 W Washington lot. Dozens of parking spaces (read revenue generators) will disappear when a project for that property begins.Source: Wendy Rampson, city planner for Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke