|
Lincoln City Council
Installing parking meters downtown a big topic on Tuesday night
[October 29, 2026]
Installing parking meters in the
downtown shopping district in Lincoln became a lengthy discussion at
the Tuesday night, October 27th Committee of the Whole meeting of
the Lincoln City Council. There was no conclusion reached, and the
topic will come back to a second committee of the whole meeting
later.
The question of parking meters was brought up by Lincoln Police
Chief Joe Meister. The intent is to discourage business owners,
employees and county employees from taking up spaces that should be
utilized by shoppers by imposing a 50 cent per hour charge on
parking around the downtown square and a block off of the square in
all directions. If an employee chooses to park near the place of
employment it will cost them around $4 per day or $20 a week, to do
so.
Meister explained that parking control issues are not high priority
on the police department list when there are only three officers on
duty at any given time. He said there was not the manpower to have
officers patrol the square, check plates, and issue citations. It
was also explained that while there used to be volunteers who walked
the square and marked tires, that is, by law no longer permitted.
Therefore, if a car is parked for a prolonged time it is hard to
determine, and once it is determined, the officers have to run the
license plate and do investigation into whether that vehicle is a
shopper or an employee.
Currently parking around the Logan County Courthouse square is free
on both sides of the street. There are designated parking spots for
certain county officials, but all other employees are requested to
utilize the municipal parking areas. Business employees are
encouraged to park in the alleys behind their place of employment or
at one of the municipal lots. The problem is most of the time this
is not happening, which means when people come into town to shop, it
is difficult to find parking anywhere around the square.
Meister did say that by ordinance, the parking spaces are limited to
customers only with a few exceptions. There is signage posted around
the square indicating this. And it is unlimited parking for
shoppers.
Meister said that because the ordinance is hard to enforce and labor
intensive, the end result is that he sends officers to the downtown
area when a complaint is received.
Meister said that Mayor Tracy Welch had done some additional
research, and Meister intends to take that information and do
further research on methods of parking control.
Some of those suggestions include a
camera-style system that would take a photo of a license plate,
record the time, and report to the LPD when a vehicle had exceeded a
time limit on parking. He said that this was worth thinking about
because those citations could be written at the LPD headquarters and
mailed to violators when the officers had time on their shifts to do
so.
Lincoln City Attorney John Hoblit had suggested to Meister an annual
parking pass. The pass could cost $500 per year and would be
purchased only by owners and employees who were willing to pay the
fee for the convenience of parking in front of their place of
employment.
Mayor Welch said that he came to the city council as Ward 1 alderman
in 2016 and that year downtown parking was a hot topic. He said it
has been a hot topic often since then. He explained that the end
goal is to help the downtown business owners who want and need
parking spaces near their businesses for their customers. He said
that was also important to the city because of the sales tax revenue
generated by those customers.
Welch said there was no way to sugar coat it so he wouldn’t try. He
said “We just simply have people who park in the downtown, who work
in the downtown, who just simply don’t care about the rules. I have
tried repeatedly, I have sent letters to businesses and across the
street to our friends at the courthouse. I think the letters did get
distributed, but it really doesn’t matter because people are going
to park where people want to park. I like the issue of a parking
pass because maybe what we’ve been trying to do is enforce the issue
the wrong way. And instead, if these people would like to be
habitual offenders of downtown parking, let’s give them an option to
pay for that privilege.” In regard to the use of camera technology
instead of meters, he said, “unless the council wants to pay for
another employee, another salary and benefits, we don’t have the
police officers to walk around the downtown parking area and look at
meters all day.”
[to top of second column] |
Welch added that
even when a complaint is called in, the person calling must be
willing to testify to the violation for the city to do anything
at all.
Alderman Steve Parrott asked if any of the businesses are
concerned about loosing shoppers. He used the downtown Mexican
restaurant as an example, noting there is another Mexican
restaurant on the city’s west side with a private lot and free
parking. Would people go there instead of paying for a meter to
eat downtown?
Meister said that eating out is expensive. The bills add up for
larger families and even a date night scenario is going to run
$50 to $60. So it would appear to him that paying a dollar for
two hours would not hinder partons from visiting a downtown
eatery.
Meister said that one of the downtown business owners had sent
an email letter to the mayor regarding the topic and had voiced
similar concerns. Meister said it was a good letter, with good
thoughts and suggestions, but that several of those suggestions
had already been tried and failed in Lincoln.
He said business owners are also a problem. He said he had
written a ticket last week to a business owner who had protested
and said that Meister “should have known better,” because that
business owner also shops downtown.
Alderman Kevin Bateman said that he was in favor of the annual
parking pass, because the fact was people are not willing to
walk, so if they want to park in front of their place of
employment they need to pay the price.
Alderman Sam Downs said he wasn’t sure how he felt about it
because the issue is parking for customers and allowing
employees to buy a pass does not solve the real problem. He also
said he was seriously opposed to the photo option and would
absolutely say no if it came to the vote.
Meister said that on the street there is “no expectation of
privacy.” Downs said he understood that, but he was still a no.
Alderwoman Robin McClallen said that perhaps the city should
speak to the downtown merchants collectively. She noted that
there is a downtown businesses group that could be visited.
Bateman said that the owner who wrote the letter sent the letter
out to all the downtown business owners, so he feels they are
probably informed. McClallen said that it should be the city
that has that discussion and gets the owners’ input. She noted
that it has happened in the past that the city made a decision
then shared it with the public. Constituents then came and said
they did not want that. Welch said he understood and agreed with
McClallen.
Alderman Dennis Clemons asked about doing away with the parklets
to provide additional parking. Welch said that the parklets are
widely used by patrons, and to eliminate them would cost the
restaurant owners a goodly sum of revenue. He said he was not
willing to do something that would hurt the businesses, and
removing the parklets would do just that. Furthermore, he said
that increased business revenue generates sales tax revenue that
goes to the city.
City Clerk Peggy Bateman asked why no one seemed to be holding
the business owners and the county accountable for their
employees’ parking habits. Welch said that the city has no
jurisdiction to force an employer to discipline an employee.
Bateman said none-the-less, if her staff park on the street
instead of the lot next to city hall, she gets on them and tells
them to move.
Welch brought the discussion to a close saying that there were
no decisions being made in the next week. There is further
research to do, and other options to explore and those will come
at a future committee of the whole meeting.
[Nila Smith]
|
