City's $10 parking fee generated $19,000 in April but ill-will with downtown businesses

The city of Fayetteville generated about $19,000 in net profit by charging $10 for people to park in city lots in April during the Fayetteville Woodpeckers games, preliminary estimates show.

That's not enough revenue to justify the ill-will and the reduction in downtown business that the fee is causing, downtown employees, business owners and customers said this week.

They want the fee reduced or eliminated.

Hank Parfitt, owner of City Center Gallery & Books, said the revenues the city is making are a “drop in the ocean” when weighed against the negative impact it is having on businesses, customers and employees trying to park downtown during games.

“That's not going to offset any costs,” Parfitt said. “That's such a small amount. They've gotten that money at a very dear cost.”

Parfitt said merchants recognize that the city is going to have to have paid parking.

“But it needs to be gone about in a deliberate, collaborative fashion, and not just slapping a $10 fee on every paid parking lot," Parfitt said.

Parfitt and other business owners say the fee has become a financial burden for employees and a deterrent to people coming downtown during games to have dinner or shop.

They say the parking fee is defeating the primary purpose of the stadium. The city has invested $40.2 million in the stadium for the Houston Astros Class A-Advanced minor league team as an economic catalyst for the downtown area.

During home games of the minor league baseball team, the city has been charging $10 for people to park in city lots and in the city’s parking garage on Franklin Street. A proposal put forth by city staff calls for charging employees $5 for using the Donaldson Street lot, with the Cool Spring Downtown District handling the employee permitting.

Mayor Mitch Colvin said he will propose to council at Monday's 7 p.m. meeting that the fee be reduced to $5 for all city lots and garages for now.

Employees and merchants plan to air their concerns about the fee at the meeting. It started April 18 at the Fayetteville Woodpeckers home opener.

Colvin said that the city has been losing about $250,000 on its downtown parking enforcement that is being covered by property-tax payers, so it's nice to have some revenue stream to offset this expenditure.

“When you go from paying $250,000 for something to making $19,000 to $20,000 a month, it looks like you've cleared your problem of having a deficit,” he said. “But what I will say is that we've got to be mindful of the impact it will have on the people we are asking to visit the baseball stadium, the people we are asking to visit businesses.”

Colvin said it would be more practical to start out with a lower parking fee and raise it over time. “I think the City Council members I've talked to favor more affordability for people who visit our area and people who work down there,” Colvin said.

Some employees of downtown businesses –- particularly those that stay open later in the day such as restaurants and bars -– have been reluctantly paying the $10 fee. The more than 600 on-street parking spaces are free for now as the city develops a plan to make them paid spaces, which also has some businesses concerned. But the spots are often filled quickly before Woodpeckers baseball games. City officials say free parking spaces are still available to employees who walk several blocks, such as to the courthouse parking lot. But employees at places like Pierro's Italian Bistro said they are reluctant to do that after late at night after their shift ends for safety reasons.

Servers at Pierro's on Friday night said the best option for them would be for the city to continue to allow employees to park in the Franklin Street garage, which is right around the corner from the restaurant, for 50 cents an hour. The maximum charge there is $4 a day, and it's free after 5 p.m.

“We appreciate they are trying to lower the fee," said hostess Anna Marr. “It is affecting some of our business.”

Bar manager Lauren Thomas said the $10 fee is a real financial burden on employees. “I think it is super unfortunate for all of us workers because it's kind of like we are being penalized just for coming into work,” she said. “When we were just paying the regular fee of 50 cents an hour (in the Franklin Street garage), it was not that much of a burden.”

McLaurin Parking and Transportation, which operates Fayetteville Parking Service, has been put under contract to collect the $10 fee for the 70 Woodpeckers homes games.

“The city believes the information is not complete and is working to finalize the data,” a city news release last week said of the revenue numbers that The Fayetteville Observer has been trying to get for several weeks and filed a public records request to secure.

Preliminary documents indicate that event parking for April 2019 resulted in about $45,000 in collected revenue and approximately $15,000 in labor costs to the Fayetteville Parking Service, which resulted in approximately $30,000 remaining to the city. The events included nine Woodpecker games and three days of the Dogwood Festival. When Dogwood Festival numbers are subtracted, the fee during Woodpeckers games netted $19,000 for the city.

Other cities that charge for minor league baseball parking are charging less than Fayetteville.

The parking fee is $5 during most games of the Carolina Mudcats, who are in the same division as the Woodpeckers and play at Five-County Stadium in Zebulon.

Several parking lots surround the stadium of the Greensboro Grasshoppers, and on game days charge between $4 to $6. The parking deck is free after 6 until 9 p.m.

Parking for the different decks for Durham Bulls games costs $7, but there is VIP parking for $10.

Colvin said he is also concerned that Fayetteville's $10 fee could become a financial burden to a family with season tickets, especially on those weeks when there are six or seven games.

It's not only restaurants and bars that are being impacted by the $10 fee, but other businesses that stay open late, owners and employees said. Most Woodpeckers games begin at 7 p.m., and the parking fee kicks in at 5 p.m.

“It sucks,” barber Mark Joas of Sandhills Shave Shop on Franklin Street said of the parking fee. “Tell them we get no business when there is $10 parking.”

Giancarlo Antonella, the owner of Antonella's Italian Ristorante on Hay Street, said customers don't want to have to pay $10 to park before they pay for their meal.

He said the city may be making money on the parking, but officials should remember that businesses like that restaurant are also bringing foot traffic to the downtown.

Giuliano Giannone, a host and server at Antonella's, said the $10 parking fee is an inconvenience and expense for both customers and employees.

He said as people look for open free spaces near the restaurant during games, they often cannot find them and have to walk quite a ways to get there.

“For some guests it takes them 45 minutes to get here to avoid ($10) parking,” he said.

Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at jhenderson@fayoberver.com or 910-486-3596.