The Park City Council approved plans Thursday to offer free parking at the China Bridge garage from April 1 to June 30. The promotion will not apply to special events like the Park Silly Sunday Market.
The paid parking holiday will align with a city project to replace aging water infrastructure in Old Town. The three-year project will be disruptive to Main Street businesses, according to Ginger Wicks with the Historic Park City Alliance. She said free parking will help mitigate the impacts.
“We love the idea of having it during shoulder season, having some incentives to bring locals back to Main Street,” Wicks said. “We feel like free parking is one of those things that could bring them back.”
The city offered free parking at China Bridge during the fall shoulder season, but data shows visitation did not increase compared to the prior two years.
Councilmember Tana Toly, who owns Red Banjo Pizza on Main Street, said the water main construction will also hurt the city’s sales tax revenue.
“In this case, we can’t compare what happened in the fall to this,” Toly said. “This is a big inconvenience for these businesses, this is going to be a big hit for the next three years. And not just for the businesses, but also for our tax revenue.”
The council also discussed Old Town parking rates. Councilmember Jeremy Rubell said the city’s system is confusing.
“It’s actually embarrassing to me,” Rubell said. “People ask me, ‘Hey, do I have to pay to park here today?’ I’m like, ‘I have no idea.’ Because we have all these different surface lots with all these different rates. We have the garage. We have the street parking. They’re separated by time of day, time of year. The variations are all over the place. So I’d love to see this whole thing simplified.”
Other councilmembers and Wicks echoed concerns about parking system confusion.
The council said it would consider offering free parking in other areas of Old Town when construction returns in 2025.
