For years, Athens residents have been required by law to move their cars parked on city streets every 24 hours, though that may be changing soon.
Joan Kraynanski, a member of the West Side Community Association, proposed a parking pass system to City Council in October. Since then, the proposed system has been in council a total of three times and more questions have been raised than answers.
According to Kraynanski, the proposed pass system would extend the 24-hour rule for residents living in neighborhoods in parts of the west and north sides of town.
“The proposed parking permit would exempt a resident’s vehicle for a 72-hour period,” Kraynanski said.
Councilwoman Chris Fahl, D-4th Ward, raised concerns over the legality of allowing only a small portion of the city to obtain parking passes.
“There’s a question of fairness,” Fahl said. “There’s certain constitutional requirements to make sure everyone is treated fairly under the law.”
Fahl said she supports change to the current 24-hour system, which she claims does not work for a large portion of the city.
“We’ve gotten an overall comment from the public that 24-hour parking is not working,” She said. “My question is; why don’t we do this all over the city?”
Kraynanski claimed the system would be a pilot project for later expansions.
“City council would then be able to look at it and see how successful it is and see if they want to make some changes,” she said.
Athens Mayor Steve Patterson said the proposal was under council's review, but said it still needed a lot of work.
“There’s still a lot of questions that are out there in regards to a permit, even in regards to a pilot program,” Patterson said.
Kraynanski based her proposal off of the systems of several other cities including Morgantown, West Virginia, where West Virginia University’s campus is located.
Dana Mckenzie, operations manager for the Morgantown Parking Authority, said Morgantown’s parking pass system, which is similar to the proposed system in Athens, has been beneficial for his city.
“The pass just gives you the privilege of parking in that specific neighborhood, but you still have to move your vehicle every 72 hours,” Mckenzie said. “It works really, really well.”
According to McKenzie, a parking pass in Morgantown is only valid for a year, but only costs $5 dollars per vehicle. No cost has been decided for Athens’ system. Like the proposed system in Athens, a house could have a maximum of two permits.
Mckenzie noted that Morgantown’s system only works because it is enforced.
“If you don’t have your checks in place, it doesn’t work that well,” she said.
According to Kraynanski, the parking pass system wouldn’t require a change in enforcement for Athens.
“The 24 hour rule would still be in effect, and the same system that enforces the 24 hour rule would enforce this parking permit,” Kraynanski said.
Kraynanski hopes to obtain signatures of West Side residents before the item comes up in council again in February.
“I feel at this point the thing that needs to be presented to City Council is that there are a number of people that would appreciate (the parking passes),” Kraynanski said.
