Looking at parking

The City of Annapolis hired SP+ to manage its parking assets in 2016. These assets include three parking garages, meter parking on the streets, the Circulator Shuttle, and residential parking permits.

“The nature of our contract is straight forward,” company representative Jon Kemp said during a meeting with Homewood, Germantown and Admiral Heights residents in May at Germantown Elementary School. “It’s not a lease agreement. It’s a management agreement where all revenues go to the City and all expenses are paid by us. We bill the City a flat management fee plus more based on key performance indicators.” SP+ is not compensated based on parking enforcement revenue.

In addition to Annapolis, SP+ has contracts with two other state capitals – Richmond, Va., and Harrisburg, Pa.

Its goal is to make both on-street and off-street parking easier for Annapolis businesses, customers, residents and guests. “If we don’t have a constant dialogue, we won’t be as successful as we want to be,” said Kemp, who plans to meet periodically with all the Annapolis businesses and residential communities.

Currently, Annapolis residents can park for free for two hours in the off-street parking garages. They just have to stop by the office to get their exit tickets. In the future, the company would like to make it easier for residents to get this free parking either by eliminating the office stop or making it a less frequent stop.

SP+ is looking at additional payment options at parking meters. In 2016, SP+ worked with the Pantelides Administration to bring Parkmobile to downtown meters. Parkmobile is a pay-by-phone app that allows people to pay for up to 2 hours of parking at downtown meters with just a few clicks on their smartphone. Parkmobile also allows customers to pay for parking by calling a number found on each parking meter. If the customer still prefers to pay with cash or credit card at meters, they may still do so.

SP+ is pursuing more efficient parking enforcement. “Someone used to chalk the tires to determine how long a car had been parked. Now we cruise down the streets, using license plate recognition technology. This technology allows us to check a significantly greater number of cars for illegal parking.”

The company is also trying to find solutions for the serious lack of parking for workers downtown. The company is working with businesses, parking managers, the mayor and his staff, the director of transportation, and aldermen to come up with solutions. “In the past there haven’t been many options,” company representatives said. “Now, however, we’re working out employee parking packages, discounted options during under-utilized hours, and parking tailored to meet the needs of specific businesses.”

The company plans to try different approaches to parking. Some approaches may work. Others may not. The company welcomes feedback. It wants residents to share their ideas about parking problems and solutions. To share, call (443) 648-3087 or e-mail annapolisparking@spplus.com.

To learn about the company’s new approaches, go to www.AnnapolisParking.com.

“Feedback will color what parking recommendations we make down the road,” says the company representative. “We are experimenting. If a policy is not successful, we’ll try something else, and keep trying until we succeed in making Annapolis parking better.