Parking in Golden’s downtown corridor has become more and more difficult during the past few years, but the hope is that 2017 will bring better options for businesses, residents and potential shoppers.
City Council recently passed several resolutions that will limit the amount of time cars can be parked on the street or in city garages. It will also sell residential permits with the hope of freeing up more spaces for shoppers visiting the area.
These resolutions go into effect in January 2017 when the city will implement a structure that includes two-hour free parking on some city streets and all parking garages, a permit system for downtown employees and paid long-term visitor parking on some streets and garages.
“We really want it to be for customers who are shopping, dining and visiting, and we want high turnover in those spaces,” said Steve Glueck, Golden community and economic development director. “If successful, it can relieve congestion downtown and we won’t have to look at building more parking for some time.”
The city’s two parking garages — both on Jackson Street — will charge $2 per hour after the free two-hour period. There is an $8 maximum for the day between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Side streets such as Jackson and Arapahoe between 11th and 14th streets will have the same structure, while Washington Avenue will keep its two-hour limit, but will add on to include the limit on Sundays and holidays.
Parking permits will be available for some residents of apartment buildings along Washington Street and the price will vary depending on the age of the building. For older buildings that didn’t have parking including when built, residents will pay $225 per year for their first car, $450 for the second car.
Newer condos were built with 1.5 parking spaces per unit, so if any residents in those buildings apply for a street permit, the cost is $450 for the first car, $900 for the second.
Golden Mayor Marjorie Sloan said the change is not considered a revenue-generator for the city, but any profit it does make will go toward further improving the parking situation in the city.
Golden police will have to appoint employees to oversee the ticketing system and the city will buy payment kiosks for streets and garages.
“We have worked on this a long time,” Sloan said. “We know there will be modifications that need to be made, but itap been a very thoughtful process.”
The city partnered with Colorado School of Mines to look at the issue after there had been complaints of Mines students parking in the downtown area and on neighborhood streets because it was either free or closer to classrooms.
“Itap gotten to a point where Mines tries to manage their parking, but itap hard to get people to park on campus when itap more convenient and cheaper to park in downtown spaces,” Glueck said.
Mines facilities director Gary Bowersock expects more Mines students to park in campus lots starting in 2017.
“We believe we’ll have plenty of parking on campus to absorb what happens when the changes go into effect,” he said.
Sloan said Mines students have gotten a lot of blame for the parking woes, but much of it is unjust and cited the overuse of garage space with cars that mostly stayed parked in the structures.
Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum executive director Karen Roxburgh noted that parking for her business on Washington Street has been bad for around five years. However, she remains unconvinced these changes will impact the situation greatly.
She noted that she’s lost some business due to the fact that customers have a hard time finding parking.
“With number of people coming to downtown, I think even with doing their new parking regulations, itap not going to have that big of an impact,” Roxburgh said. “I still think there will still be a lot of people who can’t find parking spaces and don’t come because of that.”