Joliet looks serious about free downtown street parking this time

Joliet likely will make a decision in the next few months whether to make parking free on downtown streets.

The City Council this week agreed to spend $10,000 so its parking consultant can provide guidance on removing parking meters from downtown streets and converting the Ottawa Street parking deck to an automated garage.

Local skeptics point to past consultant reports on the downtown parking situation, questioning whether any change will come.

“Let’s pull the trigger or, if not, let’s put it to bed,” council member Larry Hug said at a meeting Monday, alluding to the skepticism that consultant parking studies will lead to action. “We make a decision to either do it or walk away from it.”

Unlike past studies into the downtown parking situation, however, this one is designed to lead to a decision on metered parking on the streets.

Public Works Director Greg Ruddy said the study is expected to take four to six weeks, with the results then going to the council for a decision.

“This is not an extensive study,” Ruddy said. “This is tying up loose ends on the existing study.”

Consultant WGI in October already recommended that the city switch to free parking on downtown streets. The city is asking WGI to provide additional advice on what it would cost, how to enforce time limits once meters are removed, and what it would take to convert the Ottawa Street parking deck to full automation.

Parking downtown is not expensive, as $1.50 will buy an hour’s worth of time at the most expensive spots. But the penalty for letting the meter run out is not cheap.

“If you are five minutes late, you get a $30 ticket. It’s crazy,” John Bays said.

Bays, the biggest developer downtown with 400,000 square feet of space under his control, bought the Scott Street parking deck from the city in 2021 so he could provide free parking to businesses that rent space from him.

He pays the city a kind of rent for sections of streets outside some of his buildings so visitors don’t have to pay for parking.

“I do not want people who go to my buildings to pay anything for parking,” Bays said.

Most downtown business owners feel the same way, although they may not have the financial resources to cover parking costs for their customers.

The Joliet City Center Partnership, which promotes downtown business, is an advocate for the move to free street parking.

“Our business owners, residents and visitors have been asking for this for years,” CCP Executive Director Priscilla Cordero said.

Paid parking on the streets is “an impediment” to business for downtown restaurants and retailers, Cordero said.

Heavy construction downtown this year and next adds to the need to make parking easier for downtown visitors, she said.

The CCP is pushing for the city to make a move soon, and Cordero said she believes a decision one way or the other on free street parking will not be put on the shelf.

“The CCP has advocated for this in the past year and has been advocating for it to be done quickly,” Cordero said. “I feel positive about the direction in which they are moving.”