(Arnolds Park)– The Arnolds Park City Council Wednesday opted NOT to pursue a concept for paid parking at some city parking lots.
The council in June talked about the potential after hearing from Arnolds Park Amusement Park CEO Jon Pausley who indicated they would implement a paid parking system for all of their parking lots should the city adopt the concept. However, city council members indicated Wednesday evening the vast majority of people they heard from were opposed to paid parking. Pausley tells KUOO news they’ll abide by the council’s decision not to pursue paid parking…
“Free parking isn’t free. There’s costs that come to upkeep and maintenance and insurance and everything that comes with parking. We’re going to go back to the drawing board and say how can we make this work while keeping our prices as economical as we possibly can for folks.”
Pausley adds there had also been some confusion as to who owns what parking lots…
“We own the lot that’s up by Bob’s Dogs; we own the main parking lot; we own the lot by the raceway and the ones by the museums. In total we have 770 paved parking locations and so we have quite a few parking spots and provide quite a few for folks. And you know with free parking people can come to the amusement park and Historic Arnolds Park and they might park in our lot and walk elsewhere for businesses, too. So that’s why it made sense to try and partner with the city if we all wanted to do something together. Understandably the public’s voices was heard and we’re just going to say okay, let’s use this opportunity now to just people what we do own and provide clarity on what’s being maintained by Historic Arnolds Park and then encourage the city as hotel-motel tax funds become available maybe they can partner with us on some of the upkeep and ongoing maintenance.”
While it was decided not to pursue the paid parking concept, Pausley says it was a good experience in that it brought the issue to the attention of residents and visitors.
