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There was free parking in downtown Chico for the holidays, more could be coming soon

Parking kiosk located on East First Street in Chico, Calif. on February 3, 2025.
Angel Huracha
/
NSPR
Parking kiosk located on East First Street in Chico, Calif. on February 3, 2025.

It’s hard to go to downtown Chico without a couple bucks to your name — at least if you’re driving there.

Downtown is one of the few areas in the city where you have to pay to park. But that could change.

After experimenting with free two-hour parking during the holidays, the city council is considering a free parking program downtown at their meeting Tuesday.

The item was requested by Councilmember Tom van Overbeek. The idea is to make the first hour of the city’s two-hour parking zones free.

For the most part these parking zones are located along the main thoroughfares of downtown.

“So you can go in and have lunch, you can pick up something at the Birkenstock store and not have to worry about paying for parking,” van Overbeek said.

But people won’t be able to run to their business of choice right after parking. People would still need to enter their license plate number into a kiosk or parking app.

“You still have to check in with the kiosk,” van Overbeek said. “It's just the first hour will be free, and if you're going to park for the second hour, you would have to pay for that hour.”

Why we pay to park downtown 

The short answer is we pay to park to pay for parking services. But council members say paid parking also keeps more parking open, and discourages Chico State students from taking up all of the spots.

Collected parking fees go to what is known as an enterprise fund, said Chico Councilmember Addison Winslow. The money does not leave that fund. Instead it goes into paying for parking services, including for kiosks and for employees who enforce parking rules.

“The point isn't to raise money for the city. It's not a revenue raiser,” Winslow said. “We can't use it for anything else.”

“The idea of having one hour be free would give people a chance … to drop in and have lunch, or pick something up at a store. But not be long enough that it would be used by a student.”
— Tom van Overbeek, Chico City Councilmember

In terms of more parking availability, that gets into the history of downtown.

Unlike other areas of Chico, downtown was built before vehicles were a preferred mode of transportation.

“The streets were not designed — and the development, the way that buildings are one next to another — wasn't designed to accommodate cars,” Winslow said.

The city has made adjustments to try to increase parking. It’s demolished buildings and built parking lots and structures, but downtown’s historical landscape still defines the area and has left parking limited. Parking enforcement is used to create more open spots.

Fees and time limits ensure people don’t take up spaces for longer than necessary and Winslow said, they also help free up desirable spots like those right next to businesses.

“The people who want to run in and out are the ones who we want to prioritize those spaces for,” Winslow said.

The two-hour free parking period during the holidays allowed people to park in desirable spots for a longer period. But if desirable spots are taken up, it may lead to people who want to quickly stop by a store to not stop by downtown at all.

“That can mean that people are just driving around in circles, which means that there’s worse traffic,” Winslow said. “Then people just get annoyed.”

If parking in busy areas like First, Second, Main and Broadway streets are taken, it could encourage people to park further away and walk.

“If a place is worthwhile enough to be in, then people will make a short walk to get to it,” Winslow said. “And so maintaining that two hour limitation still encourages some kind of turnover.”

Though van Overbeek said the ideal situation would be to have completely free parking, he said having Chico State so close to downtown could be an issue. If parking fees stop being enforced altogether, van Overbeek said students might take up most of the parking spots.

“The idea of having one hour be free would give people a chance to do what they mainly do downtown, which is to drop in and have lunch, or pick something up at a store,” van Overbeek said. “But not be long enough that it would be used by a student.”

An hour of free parking … with some complications

Most people who dislike parking downtown dislike it not because of the money but because it’s a pain to do.

“It's just the hassle,” van Overbeek said. “It's just another thing you have to do.”

One of these hassles are the kiosks recently installed by the city. Many residents and business owners have voiced that the kiosks are difficult to use, particularly the fact that you need to remember your license plate number.

This was also true for the free parking program during the holidays. Van Overbeek said that program was considered successful, though the sales tax revenue from people shopping at local businesses during that time won’t be available until March.

Another challenge is that free parking may be expensive for Chico.

That’s because the city still has to have parking enforcement. During the free holiday parking period, Winslow said that enforcement cost the city around $50,000.

“That's a cost that absolutely may be worthwhile to have downtown more accessible and not have people worry about the hassle of paying for parking,” Winslow said.

“If you really want to be able to get downtown — any area that is so popular that it can exceed the capacity of these spaces for cars — then you need to be encouraging other modes of transit.”
— Addison Winslow, Chico City Councilmember

If one hour parking becomes a fixture downtown, Winslow said it could be an ongoing cost — unless parking enforcement is cut down. But it’s unclear if that could happen.

If the free parking program is a mainstay, enforcement will likely still be needed so people don’t overstay their welcome in a parking space. While revenue overall would be less with free parking, Winslow said parking tickets could fill the gap.

Van Overbeek said city officials will give an estimate of the financial impact of the potential parking program at tonight’s meeting. Some money could also be diverted from the city’s general fund to make up any funding needs for parking services, he said.

In the meantime, drivers will still need to pay a dollar or two for parking, though Winslow said the city should also be encouraging things like walking and bicycling.

“If you really want to be able to get downtown — any area that is so popular that it can exceed the capacity of these spaces for cars — then you need to be encouraging other modes of transit,” Winslow said.

Bus options are available in some areas of the city that can bring people directly downtown for $2 per ride. Downtown employees can also receive a free bus pass from the city. Parking passes are also available.

Paid parking is enforced downtown Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. This does not include federal holidays.

Some spaces have specific restrictions, like two-hour parking. Payments are collected through a kiosk or the Passport Parking app, which can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Sarina recently graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in media arts, society and technology. She started writing for her school newspaper during her senior year of high school and has since dedicated her life to news.