by

Jeff Jellison

Publisher

Hamilton County Reporter

At Tuesday evening’s city council meeting, Noblesville Police Chief Kevin Jowitt outlined a proposed new downtown parking plan.

Jowitt said the new plan would change and simplify the parking ordinance.

“When it comes to parking in our historic downtown, there is no magic solution that addresses everyone’s needs because each driver and business has different requirements,” Jowitt said in a statement released by the city. “We tried to create a scenario that works for the largest number of people and I believe this plan achieves that goal by incorporating feedback from the downtown merchants.”

Noblesville’s current parking ordinance has been in place since 1989 when there was no Hamilton County Judicial Center downtown and the city’s population was one-third of today’s size.

Downtown parking will be separated into three locations: Paid parking lots, free on-street spaces and the new tic-tac-toe board or hashtag area (yellow zone on the map) that includes the Downtown Square and one block away in each direction for two consecutive hours of free parking per day. By capping it at two consecutive hours, the hashtag area encourages turnover of parking as supported by data collected in the Downtown Parking Study. It also prevents drivers from moving their cars from space to space every two hours in this zone. This zone would be enforced from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays – a change from the previous start time of 8 a.m.

When you pull into a space, the clock starts. The time expires in two hours whether you are in that area or not. If you exceed two hours in the hashtag area, that will be a violation.

Jowitt told city leaders at Tuesday’s meeting that, under the new plan, first-time offenders would not be ticketed. “First-time offenders will be provided information on what they can do next time to be in compliance with the ordinance.”

The city also is creating new 20-minute spaces on Logan, Conner and Ninth streets for quick stops, which will not count toward a driver’s two consecutive hours. The purpose of these spaces is for those who make short, quick stops to run in, grab something and leave the two-hour zone.

Drivers who intend to stay longer than two hours in a single day should park in the lots or on the streets that have no time restrictions (blue zone on the map). By shrinking the current two-hour restricted parking area, it has added 250 to 300 free on-street parking spaces.

“I think this is a pretty good compromise – there’s something for everybody. I don’t think we can present a better plan at this time than what is being proposed to us,” said Common Council Member Rick Taylor, who also serves on the parking task force.

“While we realize change can be scary, the city will use 2020 as a one-year ‘pilot’ to study the impact of these changes in order to set a permanent strategy after the Levinson parking garage opens,” Noblesville Mayor John Ditslear said in a statement released Thursday.

Jowitt described parking kiosks that would be installed in two pay lots.

With the new kiosk, visitors to the downtown area will be able to pay for parking with a mobile app, credit card or coins.  Parking in these lots will remain 25 cents per hour; however, a 35-cent transaction fee will be charged with each parking purchase for those using the parking app or credit card.

The new plan does come with a cost.

Noblesville recently purchased a parking enforcement vehicle with license plate reader technology used track the number of hours a vehicle has been parked.  The cost of the vehicle and license plate reader totaled $55,572.

Other expenses include $84,000 for the parking kiosks, $11,000 for parking signage and $55,000 for resealing and restriping all downtown parking lots.

“Noblesville doesn’t make money from our parking and fine system, but does provide enough revenue to pay for enforcement,” said Jowitt.

In 2018 Noblesville collected $124,721.20 in parking revenue.  This includes annual parking permit fees, parking meters and ticket fines.

Noblesville Chamber of Commerce President Bob DuBois said, “For folks that want free parking, less than 500 feet from any downtown business there is free parking.

“This isn’t a government solution. This is a solution that was generated from listening to the public.  I appreciate the willingness of the city to listen to what the public has said during this process,” concluded DuBois.

The city will hold a public meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at City Hall to discuss the proposal and answer questions. The ordinance will not be back before the Noblesville Common Council until its Oct. 15 meeting. If approved, the new parking changes would begin Jan. 1, 2020.