Following multiple days of public outcry over previously approved plans to implement more paid public parking throughout Wichita's downtown, the topic took center stage during Tuesday's City Council meeting with members split on how to move forward.
At the conclusion of the 10-hour meeting — with two hours involving parking discussion and public comment — the Council landed on a near-term move that was unanimously approved: instructing the city to delay purchasing equipment tied to the plan until the Sept. 10 Council meeting, where additional policy changes could be considered.
At that point, several additional public informational meetings will have taken place where concerns and questions about the impact to residents and businesses can be further heard.
"I do believe that there needs to be more of a robust conversation," mayor Lily Wu said.
The public backlash came following city social media posts over the weekend stating that all public parking in the downtown, Old Town and Delano areas would convert to paid parking on Jan. 1. That continued follow-through on a plan that was first approved by the City Council in March 2023.
Under the plan — which allows the city to collect parking revenue in new ways, including smartphone app technology and credit and debit cards — metered spaces that have been 25 cents an hour could rise to 75 cents to $2 an hour. Updates also include minimum fines increasing from $10 to $35 for parking meter violations and $35 to $50 for other violations.
The parking plan rollout covers an area spanning from Washington Street to the east, Seneca to the west, Central to the north and Kellogg to the south.
City officials have said the parking fund is not on a fiscally sustainable path to support the maintenance needs of garages, surface-level lots and street parking in downtown Wichita. The city, which is navigating a future budget shortfall, has shared an estimated $3.3 million in annual revenue will be generated from the new plan, starting in 2025.
In January, the Council approved ordinance updates necessary to move forward with the long-discussed parking plan, which had momentum in the late 2010s before being interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
An additional vote tied to parking took place in a June public meeting, where the City Council approved an amended and restated operations and management agreement with The Car Park, a private vendor tasked with overall operation and management of all city-owned parking facilities in the core, including parking code enforcement and equipment oversight.
Glassco*ck was the only council member to vote against that updated contract, noting his concerns were specific to outsourcing parking enforcement to a third party.
Tuesday's attempt to change direction
Wu joined Glassco*ck on Tuesday in sharing concerns about how the parking plan was proceeding, both suggesting earlier in the meeting that a vote should be held to reconsider the ordinance updates.
"I wasn't elected to maintain the status quo... I'm not here to blindly accept staff's recommendations all the time," Glassco*ck said. "If there are changes that need to be made, I'm responsible for my vote, and my vote only."
The Jan. 2 vote on parking occurred during the last meeting of the previous Council, before Wu and council members Glassco*ck and JV Johnston took office. Mike Hoheisel was the only current member to vote against the ordinance updates, alongside former council member Jeff Blubaugh.
Wichita City Council Meeting Screenshot
Current members Becky Tuttle, Brandon Johnson and vice mayor Maggie Ballard voted to approve — as did former mayor Brandon Whipple and former council member Bryan Frye.
Members of the new Council unanimously approved a second reading of the ordinance updates in its Jan. 9 meeting.
But on Tuesday, Wu said there was an error made in the printed agenda packet she received prior to that meeting with the ordinance update omitted, and she pointed to that as a reason for a new vote. City attorney Jennifer Magana later said the ordinance approval was still legal.
Wu and Glassco*ck's comments drew frustration from Tuttle and Johnson, in particular.
"I think that now that we have taken all of these years and have a plan we put forth, we voted on it, we have agreements signed — we need to go forward with public engagement, see what the community continues to think about it," said Johnson, noting it could impact the city negatively with businesses to back out of an already-approved contract with The Car Park. "... Not everybody's going to like change, but there are times we can make things better. Trying to halt this now on a technicality, that we've heard is actually lawful, I think is a step in the wrong direction."
By the end of the marathon meeting, Glassco*ck opted against a motion for the ordinance to be reconsidered.
Business owners weigh in to reaction
Local government and economic development officials have said modernizing public parking in the core is an important component for Wichita's expected downtown growth spurred by the $300-million Wichita Biomedical Campus.
In recent days, the city began holding a series of public information meetings around downtown parking. After the backlash, the city announced Monday that it would postpone another public information meeting that was set for Tuesday, so that Anderson could present to the Council.
Beyond the online uproar — a Saturday city of Wichita Facebook post had generated more than 1,100 comments as of Tuesday — some residents walked out of an informational meeting the city held on Monday.
At Tuesday's meeting, multiple downtown business owners spoke about what the public's negative reaction to paid parking could mean for their businesses.
Dan Norton, owner of Nortons Brewing Company at 125 St. Francis, said he's proud to be in downtown but the last few days raised big issues.
"It's a scary thought when ... what seems like 99% of the comments online are, 'I guess we're not going downtown anymore,'" he said during the meeting.
Josh Rathbun, owner of Lotte restaurant at Fidelity Bank’s RISE Car Park downtown, said his business is trying to succeed until the anticipated boom comes from the nearby biomedical campus' first phase, expected to open in early 2027.
"In the meantime, to find out that we have another obstacle coming in our way — as far as the public response of this parking plan — does bring that uncertainty," Rathbun said to the Council.
Anderson said the city is open to flexibility with the parking, including ideas such as free parking on the weekends. He added that the city is considering a 6-9 month pilot program that could ease the transition for businesses and residents.
"We're looking at solutions," Anderson said. "We get it. Nobody wants to pay for parking, right?"
While some have called for the Council to revisit the parking plan, it appears that any backtracking would be complicated.
Along with the plan and ordinances having already been approved by the Council, the updated Car Park contract, which is specifically tied to the parking plan, went into effect July 1.
The city will pay nearly $10 million in management fees over the course of a six-year agreement, in addition to infrastructure costs. There is a clause in the contract that allows for termination without cause if the city gives The Car Park 180 days notice, and then pays a prorated portion of the management fee and reimburses the company for expenses during that period.
City of Wichita
The city has said revenues generated from the parking approach will go toward supporting the parking fund and will help tackle "significant" deferred maintenance on existing assets, as well as increased security, safety and cleanliness of facilities.
Anderson has continued to emphasize that Wichita currently has an abundance of parking, with occupancy that lags, and the city is trying to "right-size" that.
As for the Sept. 10 meeting, it's possible the Council could weigh in on notable changes to the parking plan. How big is not yet known, but based on Tuesday's discussion, one area could be how the city would fund parking maintenance and operations.
One idea brought up was called a "hybrid" plan, where not just users of parking downtown would fund maintenance and operations — through paid parking — but taxpayers across the city would assume some of that burden.
"If you believe that public parking should be at least partially shared as an amenity downtown by all taxpayers, then we could bring back a hybrid plan for you that covers a certain percentage of the revenue from user fees, and a certain percentage is underwritten by the general fund or by property tax," city manager Robert Layton told the Council.
But he added, "Throughout all of our planning efforts, the Council has said, 'We don't want to do that. We know the pressure is on the property tax, and so we're going to try to do it through user fees.' Obviously, this weekend, you heard a lot of people say they're not necessarily comfortable with the results of that."
