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December 4, 2008

New parking meters going in on Main Street

Accountability, high-tech features make Placid system special

By KIM SMITH DEDAM

LAKE PLACID — The hunt here for precious quarters dropped under a car seat is over.

The village is installing new Pay and Display parking meters, with the first put in place at No. 1 Park, near Mirror Lake Drive.

Village Trustee Dave Jones said the new meters, spaced evenly at light poles, will bring a neater, more streamlined look to Main Street.

The price to park is the same.

"It costs 50 cents a half an hour," Jones said.

PAY POSSIBILITIES
But parking patrons can use credit or debit cards, cash or coins, including Canadian money to buy a parking permit.

"The meter prints out a receipt," Jones said, "and that receipt is put on the dashboard of the car."

The new meters are designed to maximize parking revenue by eliminating what's called "piggy backing."

"If a person buys for a half hour and leaves in 10 minutes, then the next person comes in and has to buy their own time," Jones said, "They can't pull into a meter with time left on it."

The new meters, slim-lined and stainless black steel with a blue parking "P" on the side, operate via wireless connection to a main-frame computer at the Lake Placid Police Station, where officers will monitor their use.

They will verify credit and debit cards online.

If the meters are full, they will signal for attention.

SOLAR POWER
The village bought 22 meters; each will cover about eight parking spaces.

Each attaches to a power source at the light pole.

"Three of the meters are solar powered," said Lake Placid Mayor Jamie Rogers, "one at the upper NBT Bank parking lot, one at the lower NBT lot and one at Mid's Park."

Montreal is the closest municipality using solar-powered parking meters.

MORE REVENUE
The cost is balanced by an anticipated increase in revenue.

"They usually create an increase in parking revenue of 20 to 30 percent immediately," Jones said.

In some municipalities, Pay and Display systems have proved a 50-to 70-percent increase in parking revenue, Rogers said.

The meters cost just under $8,000 apiece, compared to about $6,000 for the old-style meter. The village bonded the $182,000 to buy the new parking system, he said.

The village typically earns between $110,000 and $120,000 annually from parking-meter fees.

The money is used, in part, to fund the free municipal trolley system that is now running year-round.

charges start dec. 26
All 22 of the meters have arrived in Lake Placid and will be installed over the next week, Jones said.

"I think it's the accountability that's going to be the biggest improvement. We will know how many transactions transpire over the month, whether people are parking for 15 minutes or for an hour."

Tighter controls will mean added accounting efficiency. Parking-income calculations are also seamless, backed up by the meter-system computer log.

Main Street shoppers won't get to use the new meters immediately, however, since parking on Main Street in Lake Placid is free during the holidays.

"They will be wrapped to say Happy Holidays," Rogers said.

The new meters go online Dec. 26.

OLD METERS
As for the 100 or so old iron parking meters — some with two heads — village officials have a few ideas of how to put them to good use.

Some cities sold the old meters at $15 each and ended up with a waiting list.

Rogers said they may install one or two strategically in village parks to collect coin donations for the Lake Placid Beautification Fund.

"They make pretty cool piggy banks," he added.

For now, the village will keep the old meters in storage.

Missing too, next summer, will be the quaint spot for baskets of bright flowers that used to hang from each side of the old meters.

But village officials are considering new ways to place the flowering plants that brighten Main Street.

"We can make baskets for the light poles," Rogers said. "We're looking at a few different options."

E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at: kdedam@pressrepublican.com

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