LexPark makes some parking concessions after public outcry over changes

Lexington, Ky.–The Lexington Parking Authority Board, in a hastily organized 10 a.m. meeting announced only a day earlier during the week before Christmas, heard community feedback and made two changes to the policy updates previously announced this week.

The adjustments made today:

1. Increase the allotted maximum stay at all meters from a 2-hour maximum to a 4-hour maximum after 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and all day on Saturday. (These times were unenforced times under the currently in-place policies.)
2. Decrease the hourly rate on Saturday from a maximum hourly rate of $2 per hour to a maximum hourly rate of $1 per hour. Areas that are $0.75 per hour on Saturday will remain unchanged. (Again, Saturdays were free under the currently in-place policies.)

The new policy, which will raise rates and do away with free weekend and evening parking downtown, goes into effect January 3, 2023.

Many members of the public spoke out against the new pricing and enforcement plans. They raised issues of affordability for workers, safety, and impacts to downtown businesses, among a multitude of things.

No one spoke in favor of the updated plan at the meeting, but there was online chatter in favor of it among local Urbanists, who said there is no “inalienable right” to parking and questioned the legitimacy of the safety concerns raised at the meeting.