The four Park City Council candidates on Tuesday morning indicated they want to keep the paid-parking system on Main Street largely intact, telling a group of Main Street merchants there could be tweaks to the parking rules but not wholesale changes.
The candidates appeared alongside Mayor Dana Williams and his challenger, Brad Olch, during a wide-ranging campaign event in front of the Historic Main Street Business Alliance at the Kimball Art Center.
The City Council candidates essentially gave their support to the paid-parking system, which dates to the late 1990s and continues to upset some on Main Street even as the Pay and Display meters no longer elicit the harsh opinions they once did.
Cindy Matsumoto said the meters ensure Main Street workers do not park in the best spots. Mark Blue said there are alternatives close by, such as the China Bridge garage, for people who do not want to pay. Alex Butwinski said he was not sure whether removing the meters would lead to a boom in sales on Main Street. John Stafsholt said the parking regulations properly balance the paid spots on Main Street with free ones nearby.
The candidates, though, hinted they might support minor changes that could be a carrot to Main Street merchants. Some of the ideas included one from Blue that would create monthlong period when people would not be given parking tickets and another one from Matsumoto that would occasionally make parking on Main Street free.
The comments come as City Hall prepares to replace the aging Pay and Display meters now on Main Street with newer models that officials say will be easier to use. The local government will spend more than $300,000 on the new meters.
The City Council crafts paid-parking policies, and there have been several changes to the operations over the years, most notably the removal of meters from Swede Alley and the China Bridge garage.
The two mayoral candidates also mentioned the meters on Tuesday, with Williams saying he was unsure if scrapping the entire paid-parking system would expand sales on Main Street and Olch saying eliminating paid parking should be considered. The mayor typically does not hold a vote on such matters, though.
The candidates spent approximately two hours with the merchants, and they covered numerous topics broached by Main Street. There was lots of agreement between the candidates on overarching issues and Main Street’s importance to the wider Park City-area economy. The candidates portrayed themselves as supporters of the street.
Other topics that were touched upon included the Park Silly Sunday Market and the prospects of someday linking the mountain resorts through an interconnect that has long been envisioned by businesspeople and tourism boosters.
Five of the candidates indicated they spent money on Main Street during the weekly Silly Market. Stafsholt said he has not.
Olch, in response to a question from the audience, said there is an opportunity to begin discussing a connection between the resorts. Other candidates mentioned a connection as well. An interconnect, though, would rely heavily on the private-sector resorts first reaching an agreement to do so and then approaching the various government entities that would need to issue the necessary approvals.